Close

What is the New Birth? (Endnote)

1. This verse is a wonderful example of the figure of speech Ellipsis, which is when a word that would ordinarily be in the text is left out to emphasize another word. In this verse, “imperishable” is an adjective and needs a noun to modify. We would expect the verse to read “born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed.” By leaving out the second “seed,” God emphasizes the imperishability of the seed. For more on Ellipsis, see E.W. Bullinger’s Figures Of Speech Used in the Bible. Close