The Seed of Immortality and the Elixir of Life

spora = seed, sowing

                                      

I give you above the key Greek word found in 1 Peter 1:23 — spora, seed. This is central to the saving Gospel as Jesus preached it (Heb. 2:3: “salvation was first preached by the Lord Jesus”). Before defining the seed in the teaching of Jesus, we note that Christian sermons do not show constant interest in the staggering and stupendous words of Paul in 2 Timothy 1:10. Let me give you this below in several versions, for impact.

Presumably every believer in God would want to be sure he or she has obtained the immortality seed. This is the one and only key to living forever and ever, gaining immortality, obtaining indestructible life. Paul stated that immortality is found in the Gospel and that this immortality was brought to light in the Gospel preaching of Jesus! No Gospel of the Kingdom, no seed!

2 Timothy 1:10: “…through the appearance of our savior, Christ Jesus. He destroyed death and brought life and immortality into clear focus through the good news.” “But made [salvation] public only now through the appearing of our Deliverer, the Messiah Jesus, who abolished death and, through the Good News [Gospel], revealed life and immortality” (CJB).

 “This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (CSB).

Peter, who spent hours listening to Jesus as the Savior and teacher (Isaiah 53:11: Messiah’s “knowledge makes us right”), naturally also explained the secret of immortality to the public:

1 Peter 1:23: “You have been born again by means of the living word of God. His word lasts forever. You were not born again from a seed that will die. You were born from a seed that can’t die” (NIRV).

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (NIV).

“For your new birth was not from any perishable seed but from imperishable seed, the living and enduring Word of God” (NJB).

So where is the secret of immortality to be found? In the Gospel-words of Jesus and the words of all the apostles. Quite simply: go back to the precious Gospel words of Jesus in Luke 8, Mark 4 and Matthew 13 — the parable of the Sower. In Luke 8:11 we have this from Jesus: “The seed is the word of God.”

“The word of God is the word about the Kingdom” (Matthew. 13:19; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43; 5:1).

By no means be deceived by the idea that “word of God” is a vague synonym for the Bible! It is not. The “word of God” as preached by Jesus is defined by him as “the word about the Kingdom” (Matthew 13:19), which is equivalent in Mark and Luke to “the word” and the “word of God.” It is this word/Gospel of the Kingdom as Jesus preached it (cp. also Acts 8:4, 5, 12, 14), which is the “seed of immortality”; the key to living forever, the means to indestructible life, which all of us desire!

Peter had heard Jesus preach this supreme saving truth everywhere, and he relayed it to us in 1 Peter 1:23- 25. Here we find the same key words (spora, seed, word, logos) and gospel: “preached to you as Gospel” (1 Peter 1:25). Peter understood from Jesus that being born again (“having been born again,” 1 Peter 1:23) depends on the intelligent reception of the seed message/Gospel of the Kingdom, which Jesus said was the whole point of his whole Christian mission (Luke 4:43).

In churches today we do not hear the phrase Gospel of the Kingdom! This should be cause for alarm, The saving Gospel has not been rooted in Jesus’ own words. (Hebrews 2:3 states that Jesus was the first and original preacher of the saving Gospel.) A subtle shift has taken place — away from Jesus. Tract after tract misleadingly convinces the public that the death and resurrection of Jesus was the entire Gospel.

But Paul said that Jesus’ death and resurrection were “among things of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3), which is obviously true. They are not the whole Gospel. Jesus preached the saving Gospel for 12 chapters in Matthew, introducing his death and resurrection only in Matthew 16:21: “he began to say…” This is a staggeringly interesting fact, little known.

A false distinction has been imagined in the mind of many. The truth is that “the Gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) is identical with the Gospel of the Kingdom (Acts 20:25). I must repeat this, if I may. The Gospel of the grace of God is precisely the same for Paul as heralding the Gospel of the Kingdom! Acts 20:24-25 puts this point beyond argument. There is absolutely no difference between the Gospel of the grace of God and the Gospel of the Kingdom! There is one saving Gospel given first to Jews and then to the whole world. We mortals all need to find and believe in that “seed” which is the vehicle of immortality, being the very seed of the immortal God (“God’s seed,” 1 John 3:9).

Is it not it fascinating that the word spora (seed) in 1 Peter 1:23 is found uniquely in the OT Greek in 2 Kings 19:29: “sowing, planting, reaping, eating fruit”? Jesus with his Gospel of the Kingdom was the ultimate sower, planter of immortality. His seed and sowing was the sowing of the germ of immortality. Sound interesting?

We do not have immortality; we have to gain it through seeking, finding and taking in the seed of immortality. Tell your friends about this Good News discovery in the Gospel teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom (Luke 4:43; Acts 8:12).