Peter shares that their rebirth happened “not of perishable seed but of imperishable.” Birth is the necessary consequence of pregnancy, which is in turn the result of seed implanted in the womb. This seed perishes, as does also the life generated from the seed (1 Peter 1:24). Rebirth (being born again) is the result of imperishable seed (God’s word), and so this new life is also imperishable (hence the “living hope” and the “inheritance that is imperishable” mentioned in 1 Peter 1:3–4).
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;