Born of God
"Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
JOHN 3:5
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Born of God
This birth is different from the one which occurs among men through the instrumentality of father and mother. Of course, when a man is born in the natural way, it is God's work too . . .. But since no human being can contribute anything to the birth of Christians, it must be, as we read in John 1:13, "not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." . . . Christians are "born of God," through a new and heavenly birth, namely, of water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5) . . .. It is like the dew of heaven, which fructifies the earth, and the wind, which cools it. No one sees or experiences the dew or knows how and out of what it is made until the droplets lie on the earth, just as no one knows or feels whence the wind comes or where it goes, except that one hears it howl or blow. Thus it also happens in the case of a divine birth from water and the Spirit. You can see the water of Baptism as you can see the dew, and you can hear the external or spoken Word as you can hear the wind; but you cannot see or hear or understand the Spirit, or what He accomplishes thereby: that a human being is cleansed in Baptism and becomes a saint in the hands of the priest, so that from a child of hell he is changed into a child of God.
From Commentary on Psalm 110 (Luther's Works 13:302-3)
JOHN 3:5
+
Born of God
This birth is different from the one which occurs among men through the instrumentality of father and mother. Of course, when a man is born in the natural way, it is God's work too . . .. But since no human being can contribute anything to the birth of Christians, it must be, as we read in John 1:13, "not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." . . . Christians are "born of God," through a new and heavenly birth, namely, of water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5) . . .. It is like the dew of heaven, which fructifies the earth, and the wind, which cools it. No one sees or experiences the dew or knows how and out of what it is made until the droplets lie on the earth, just as no one knows or feels whence the wind comes or where it goes, except that one hears it howl or blow. Thus it also happens in the case of a divine birth from water and the Spirit. You can see the water of Baptism as you can see the dew, and you can hear the external or spoken Word as you can hear the wind; but you cannot see or hear or understand the Spirit, or what He accomplishes thereby: that a human being is cleansed in Baptism and becomes a saint in the hands of the priest, so that from a child of hell he is changed into a child of God.
From Commentary on Psalm 110 (Luther's Works 13:302-3)
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