1Pet.1: "22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you *have been born again,* not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."
The seed of our new life, is the Word of God... divine truth. Are we only to accept that seed and the spirit life it provides (John 6:63) upon the return of Christ?
Jesus said that we need to take his truths into ourselves, or we have no life in us (John 6:55,53). That life, results from the incorruptible seed, the Word.
That "seed" is also mentioned at Luke 8:11. There Jesus said...
"11 ‘This is the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God.15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."
--Jesus is indicating that if we accept the Word of God (Jesus is the Word/Logos and his teachings were of God -John 12:49). The time to cultivate that truth in our heart, is now. If we do, we are alive in a new birth, a spiritual one.
John6:63 "63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and are life."
--Going back to our first scripture, 1Pet.1:22 describes those who are born again, as practicing the greatest command of Jesus (John 13:34,35). They love deeply and sincerely, their fellow Christians.
1John 3:14 agrees.
"14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death."
The time for learning from and obeying Jesus, is now. We can then be born as spirit, and have the spiritual life that results. At John 6:63 quoted above, Jesus told us that his teachings are full of spirit, and life is the result from that spirit.
Rom.8:9 again states that option as current, also referring to it in the past tense...
"9 But you are no longer in realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."
John 5:24 "24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."
