ACC ~ John 3 v1 - 12

OVERVIEW:

Nicodemus was among those who saw the previous miracles, hoping to learn more about who Jesus was (BEDE). Although he appears elsewhere in the Gospels as a follower of Jesus (CHRYSOSTOM), at this point he does not understand the divine origin of Jesus (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). Only those who are born again, having been illuminated, can understand who Jesus really is (CHRYSOSTOM, JUSTIN). When the soul is born again, it is born and created anew in the likeness of God’s image (ATHANASIUS, GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, THEODORE). The first birth is from Adam and Eve; this second is from God and the church (AUGUSTINE). Nicodemus, however, is astonished, objecting to the kind of birth Jesus is speaking about and to this new kind of kingdom, which was unheard of among the Jews (CHRYSOSTOM). This birth recreates us, making us new instead of old and like God instead of like what we are now (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). We are transformed as the unjust seed is born again from the just seed (AUGUSTINE).

As one of little faith, Nicodemus is slow to understand the meaning of this new birth and how it can take place (CHRYSOSTOM), but Jesus explains to him how the Spirit exercises his power through the water (THEODORE). If anyone asks how one is born of water and the Spirit, that person could just as easily ask how Adam was born of the dust of the ground (CHRYSOSTOM). The baptism Jesus commands is the washing of regeneration, which brings about a radical break with the past (JUSTIN, TERTULLIAN, BASIL). This use of water is indispensable and intimately connected with the Word (CHRYSOSTOM) and the Spirit (AUGUSTINE) in the renewing of the mind (AMBROSE). We obtain by grace what we do not have by nature as our decaying flesh is born again (LEO) through that water which, when enabled by the Spirit, brings life as it did at creation, just as a womb brings life to an embryo (CHRYSOSTOM).

According to Augustine, a baptized believer whose sin is forgiven still begets a child burdened with Adam’s sin since what is born of the flesh is flesh (AUGUSTINE). However, there is also more to baptism than forgiveness of sins. There is also life and salvation as we participate in Christ’s resurrection (THEODORET). Just as death comes from what is born of the flesh, so life comes from what is born of the Spirit (GREGORY OF NYSSA). The Spirit accomplishes God’s work of begetting in us, making us spiritual (CHRYSOSTOM), as our minds are transformed by Christ so that they are completely at one with God who is Spirit (AMMONIUS). And the water joined to the Spirit is the outward sign of that interior and incorporeal generation (THEODORE). Christ does not exclude himself from this statement concerning flesh and spirit, although in his case he was born of both in a unique way (TERTULLIAN).

Jesus uses the everyday phenomenon of wind to help Nicodemus understand the analogous power of the Spirit, which cannot be restrained (CHRYSOSTOM). We do not understand the movement of the Spirit any more than we understand our own regeneration (HILARY). The Spirit blows where it pleases without limit, acting according to its own will (THEODORE), not according to another’s order (AMBROSE), although its will is in common with the Father and Son from whom it is sent and proceeds (BEDE). You hear its sound just as those in Jerusalem did at Pentecost (THEODORE). You hear the Spirit’s voice, who spoke by the prophets (AMMONIUS), when you are filled with it (BEDE) and partake of the means of grace in Word and sacrament (AUGUSTINE). The Spirit knows in whom it dwells and cannot be deceived (IGNATIUS). We may be ignorant of its movements, since they cannot be tracked, but they can be seen, as evidenced in the events of the gospel and Pentecost (TREATISE). It comes and goes in the saints, who do not always remain pure, but it constantly remains on Christ, who is totally pure (BEDE). If we do not even understand the operation of the wind, why do we become so concerned about understanding how the Spirit works (CHRYSOSTOM)?

Those who are born of the Spirit are not understood by those who are not born of the Spirit. In failing to understand this, Nicodemus learns humility from Jesus (AUGUSTINE) since, as Israel’s teacher, he should have known about this from the numerous occurrences in the Old Testament regarding births outside the womb and cleansings with water (CHRYSOSTOM, EPHREM). But we also learn from Jesus to teach only what our students can handle. When Jesus taught, he had the trinitarian witness to testify to his veracity. If Nicodemus could not understand the earthly things of which Jesus spoke, there is no way he would be able to understand heavenly things (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). But Jesus here charges Nicodemus not only with a lack of understanding, but also a lack of belief, since what Jesus is teaching is beyond understanding, and so it is only faith that could comprehend it (CHRYSOSTOM).

3:1 | A Pharisee Named Nicodemus

NICODEMUS SAW THE PREVIOUS MIRACLES

BEDE: Nicodemus was one of the many who believed in Jesus, [1] and therefore he came at night, and not during the day because he was not yet illumined with the gracious heavenly light. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2. [2]

[1] Jn 2:23.

[2] PL 92:667.

3:2 | Nicodemus Came to Jesus at Night

HE HOPES TO LEARN MORE OF CHRIST’S MYSTERIES

BEDE: This ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night, hoping, that is, by so secret an interview, to learn more of the mysteries of the faith; the late public miracles having given him a rudimentary knowledge of them. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 3. [1]

[1] PL 92:667.

NICODEMUS APPEARS ELSEWHERE IN THE GOSPEL

CHRYSOSTOM: This man [Nicodemus] appears also in the middle of the Gospel defending Christ when he says, “Our law judges no man before it hears him.” [1] The Jews in anger replied to him, “Search and look, for out of Galilee arises no prophet.” Again after the crucifixion he bestowed great care upon the burial of the Lord’s body: “And there came also Nicodemus,” says the Evangelist, “who first came to the Lord by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight.” [2] And even now he was disposed toward Christ, but not as he should have been, nor did he yet have a proper regard for Jesus, being still entangled in Jewish misunderstanding. This is why he came by night, because he feared to do so by day. Yet our merciful God did not reject or rebuke him for this, or deprive him of his instruction. Rather, with much kindness Jesus talked with him and disclosed to him rather enigmatically some highly exalted doctrines indeed—nevertheless, Jesus still disclosed them. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 24.1. [3]

[1] Jn 7:51.

[2] Jn 19:39.

[3] NPNF 1 14:84.

NICODEMUS DOES NOT KNOW WHO JESUS TRULY IS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Nicodemus imagines that he can become pious enough to attain salvation merely by marveling at the wonders Jesus had done…. Calling Jesus a teacher from God and a co-worker with him, he does not yet know that Jesus is by nature God, nor does Nicodemus understand the plan of salvation according to the flesh. Instead, he still approaches Jesus as a mere man and has only a slight conception of who he is. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1. [1]

[1] LF 43:167*.

3:3 | Unless One Is Born Again

ONLY THOSE BORN AGAIN CAN UNDERSTAND WHO JESUS IS

CHRYSOSTOM: In other words: Unless you are born again and receive the right instruction, you are wandering somewhere out there far away from the kingdom of heaven. But he does not speak as plainly as this, preferring to make what he says easier to hear by generalizing, “Unless one is born again.” In this way he does not specifically address his remarks at Nicodemus…. Now, if he had spoken to the Jews this way they would have ridiculed him and then left. But Nicodemus shows he wants to learn…. And so what Christ says to him is something like this: If you are not born again, if you do not share in the Spirit that comes through the washing of regeneration, everything you think about me will be from a human point of view, not a spiritual one…. Now, some take the expression “again” [1] to mean “from heaven”; others think it means “from the beginning.” Either way, it is impossible, Christ says, for someone who is not born in this way to see the kingdom of God. By these words our Lord discloses his nature, showing that he is more than what he appears to the outward eye. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 24.2. [2]

[1] Gk anōthen (“again” or “from above”).

[2] NPNF 1 14:85**.

THE ONE WHO IS ILLUMINATED IS WASHED

JUSTIN MARTYR: At our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice by our parents coming together. We were brought up with bad habits and wicked training. However, so that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over the one who chooses to be born again and has repented of his sins the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe. The one who leads to the font the person that is to be washed calls him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God. And if any one dares to say this name, he raves with a hopeless madness. Also this washing is called illumination because those who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. The one who is illuminated is thus washed in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus. FIRST APOLOGY 61. [1]

[1] ANF 1:183.

PORTRAIT AND IMAGE IN BAPTISM

ATHANASIUS: Once the likeness painted on a panel has been effaced by stains from outside itself, the one whose likeness it is needs to come once more to enable the portrait to be renewed on the same wood. And, for the sake of his picture, even the mere wood on which it is painted is not thrown away, but the outline is renewed upon it. In the same way, the most holy Son of the Father, being the image of the Father, came to our world to renew humankind once made in his likeness. He came to find such lost individuals by the remission of their sins. He says as much himself in the Gospels: “I came to find and to save the lost.” [1] This is why he also said to the Jews, “Except one be born again,” not meaning, as they thought, birth from a woman, but speaking of the soul born and created anew in the likeness of God’s image. ON THE INCARNATION 14.1-2. [2]

[1] Lk 19:10.

[2] NPNF 2 4:43-44**.

SPIRITUAL REGENERATION LEADS US TO CHRIST

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: And indeed from the Spirit comes our new birth, and from the new birth our new creation, and from the new creation our deeper knowledge of the dignity of him from whom it is derived. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 5(31).28. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 7:327.

A NEW BIRTH INTO THE IMAGE OF THE RESURRECTION

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: [Jesus seems to be saying to him], “If you believe that I was sent as a teacher from God, and the miracles I accomplished convince you of this, as you say, our teaching then requires another way of life and expects the beginning of a new generation.” So we hope indeed to see the kingdom of God, because, while we are mortal, we cannot go there if we are not raised incorruptible after our death. We believe that this happens typologically through baptism: we are born again in an image of the resurrection, that is, of a new state [of being]. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.3.3. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:66.

THE TWO BIRTHS

AUGUSTINE: [Nicodemus] knew only one birth from Adam and Eve. He did not yet know [the birth] from God and the church. He knew only the parents who beget death. He did not yet know the parents who beget life. He knew only the parents who beget those who will succeed them. He did not yet know the parents who, living forever, beget those who will remain. Therefore, although there are two births, he only knew one. One is from earth, the other from heaven. One is from the flesh, the other from the Spirit. One is from mortality, the other from eternity. One is from male and female, the other from God and the church. But these two are each individual instances. Neither the one nor the other can be repeated. [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.6.1. [2]

[1] This last remark is directed against the Donatists, a North African Christian sect at the time of Augustine that insisted upon rebaptizing persons who had been baptized by unworthy or sinful ministers, particularly by those who renounced the faith under duress from the Roman persecution. Like many of Augustine’s tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 11 is devoted to demonstrating that the validity or sanctifying power of baptism and the other sacraments comes“from God through the church,” not from the individuals through whom they are administered.

[2] FC 79:16*.

3:4 | How Is It Possible to Be Born a Second Time?

TWO POINTS OF ASTONISHMENT FOR NICODEMUS

CHRYSOSTOM: [Nicodemus] coming to Jesus, as to a man, is confused and startled and perplexed on learning greater things than any human being could speak, things no one had ever heard before. For a while, he is impressed by the sublime character of the sayings, but his mind is darkened and unstable, borne about in every direction and on the point of falling away from the faith. Therefore he objects to what he has heard as being impossible in order to bring out a fuller explanation from Jesus…. There were two difficulties for him. The first concerned the kind of birth Jesus was talking about; the second, this idea of the kingdom since neither had the name of the kingdom ever been heard among the Jews, nor of a birth like this. But he stops for a while at the first, which most astonished him. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 24.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:85-86**.

A TWOFOLD CLEANSING

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: We are a compound of both body and soul. The one part is visible, the other invisible. In the same way, our cleansing also is twofold, that is, by water and the Spirit. The one is received visibly in the body, the other concurs with it invisibly and apart from the body…. The one that comes to the aid of our first birth makes us new instead of old and like God instead of what we now are. It recasts us without fire and creates us anew without breaking us up. For… the virtue of baptism is to be understood as a covenant with God for a second life and a purer conversation. ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40.8. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 7:362**.

A SINNER REBORN FROM THE SEED OF THE JUST

AUGUSTINE: You wonder why a sinner should be born of the seed of a just person. Don’t you also wonder why a wild olive is born of the seed of an olive tree? Here is another comparison: think of the baptized righteous person as a grain that has been gleaned. Don’t you observe that from this gleaned grain wheat is born with the chaff, without which it was sown? Again, while the propagation of those who are reborn is a matter of spiritual regeneration, do you really want a person to be born circumcised of a circumcised person? Certainly this kind of generation is a bodily act, and circumcision is a bodily act. And yet the offspring of a circumcised man is not born circumcised. So in the same way the offspring of a baptized person cannot be born baptized, because nobody is born again before being born. SERMON 294.16. [1]

[1] WSA 3 8:191.

NICODEMUS’S QUESTION INDICATES A WEAK FAITH

CHRYSOSTOM: You call him “Master” and say that he “comes from God,” and yet you do not receive his words but utilize a word with your master that brings in endless confusion. For the “how” is the doubting question of those who have no strong belief and are still earthbound. Therefore Sarah laughed when she said, “How?” [1] And many others who have asked this question have fallen from the faith.

Some ask, “How was he begotten?” others, “How was he made flesh?” They subject that infinite essence to the weakness of their own reasonings. Knowing this, we ought to avoid this unseasonable curiosity because those who search into these matters will, without ever learning the “how,” fall away from the right faith. Nicodemus here asks from anxiety…. But observe how ridiculous anyone talks when he commits spiritual things to his own reasonings. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 24.2-3. [2]

[1] See Gen 18:12.

[2] NPNF 1 14:85**.

JESUS EXPLAINS THE MEANING OF THE NEW BIRTH

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Since Nicodemus had asked, “Can one enter again into the mother’s womb and be born?” our Lord explained that this occurs through both water and Spirit. He said water because the action takes place in water, Spirit because the Spirit exercises his power through the water. This is called the Spirit of adoption, not water, because we receive new birth through his power. For this reason in baptism we name the Spirit together with the Father and the Son, but we do not mention the water, so that it may be clear that water is employed as a symbol and for a [visible] use. But we invoke the Spirit as the effective agent together with the Father and the Son. That is why, in reply to Nicodemus’s question, “Can one enter again into the mother’s womb and be born?” our Lord answers, “Through both water and Spirit.” Just as in the instance of natural birth, where the womb is the place in which the child is formed and then perfected by the divine virtue that forms it from the beginning, so also in this place, the water is referred to in place of the womb and the Spirit in place of the Lord as the effective agent. Baptism is said to be a symbol of death and resurrection, and so it is called a new birth. Just as one who is resurrected is considered to be created again after death, so also one who is begotten in baptism is said to be born again, because first he dies in water and in a similar way is resurrected by the power of the Spirit. The immersion represents the burial while the raising of the head out of the water at every invocation of the name represents the resurrection that takes place through the Spirit. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.3.4-5. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:67-68.

3:5 | The Birth of Water and Spirit

BORN OF WATER AND SPIRIT

CHRYSOSTOM: If anyone asks how is someone born of water, I ask in return, how is someone [like Adam] born from the earth? How was the clay separated into different parts? How were all different kinds of things, like bones, sinews, arteries, veins, and so on made from one kind of material (which itself was only earth?)… For, as in the beginning, earth was the subject matter [1] but the whole fabric of the human body was the work of him who molded it, so now too, though the element of water is the subject matter, the whole work is done by the Spirit of grace…. Then, humanity was formed last, when the creation had been accomplished. Now, on the contrary, the new person is formed before the new creation. He is born first, and then the world is fashioned anew…. Then, he gave him a garden as his place to live. Now, he has opened heaven to us…. The first creation then, that is, that of Adam, was from earth; the next, that of the woman, from his rib; the next, that of Abel, from seed, yet we cannot comprehend any of these…. How then shall we be able to account for the unseen generation by baptism, which is far greater than these, or how can we require arguments for that strange and marvelous birth?… The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit do everything. Let us then believe the declaration of God. That is more trustworthy than actual seeing. Sight often is in error; it is impossible that God’s Word should fail. Let us then believe it. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 25.1-2. [2]

[1] Gk hypekeito stoicheion.

[2] NPNF 1 14:87-88**; PG 59:149-50.

BAPTISM AND REGENERATION

JUSTIN MARTYR: As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true,… [these] are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again.” Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers’ wombs is clear to everyone. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins is declared by Isaiah the prophet: “Wash, make yourselves clean. Put away evil from your souls; learn to do good. Judge the fatherless and plead for the widow and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they are as crimson, I will make them white as snow.” [1] FIRST APOLOGY 61. [2]

[1] Is 1:16-20.

[2] ANF 1:183.

REBIRTH TIES FAITH TO THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM

TERTULLIAN: For the law of baptizing has been imposed and the formula prescribed: “Go,” he says, “teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” [1] The comparison with this law of that definition, “Unless one has been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens,” has tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers used to be baptized. ON BAPTISM 13. [2]

[1] Mt 28:19.

[2] ANF 3:676.

NEW BIRTH MANIFESTS A RADICAL BREAK WITH THE PAST

BASIL THE GREAT: First of all, it is necessary that the continuity of the old life be cut. And this is impossible unless one is born again, according to the Lord’s word. For the regeneration, as indeed the name shows, is a beginning of a second life. So before beginning the second, it is necessary to put an end to the first. For just as in the case of runners who turn and take the second course, a kind of break and pause intervenes between the movements in the opposite direction, so also in making a change in lives it seems necessary for death to come as mediator between the two, ending all that goes before, and beginning all that comes after. ON THE SPIRIT 15.35. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 8:21.

WHY IS WATER INCLUDED IN BAPTISM?

CHRYSOSTOM: That the need of water [in baptism] is absolute and indispensable, you may learn in this way. On one occasion, when the Spirit had flown down before the water was applied, the apostle did not stand idle at this point, but, as though the water were necessary and not superfluous, observe what he says, “Can any one forbid water so that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?” [1] Why then is water needed?… In baptism, the pledges of our covenant with God are fulfilled: burial and death, resurrection and life. And these all take place at once. For by the immersion of our heads in the water, the old person disappears and is buried as it were in a tomb below and wholly sunk forever. Then as we raise them again, the new person rises in his place. As easy as it is for us to dip and to lift our heads again, that is how easy it is for God to bury the old person and to show forth the new. And this is done three times so that you may learn that the power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit fulfills all this. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 25.2. [2]

[1] Acts 10:47.

[2] NPNF 1 14:89**.

REBIRTH TAKES PLACE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

AUGUSTINE: And then that rebirth, which brings about the forgiveness of all past sins, takes place in the Holy Spirit, according to the Lord’s own words, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter the kingdom of God.” But it is one thing to be born of the Spirit, another to be fed by the Spirit; just as it is one thing to be born of the flesh, which happens when a mother gives birth, and another to be fed from the flesh, which appears when she nurses the baby. We see the child turn to drink with delight from the bosom of her who brought it forth to life. Its life continues to be nourished by the same source which brought it into being. SERMON 71.19. [1]

[1] WSA 3 3:257.

REBIRTH IS THE REBIRTH OF THE SPIRIT IN ONE’S MIND

AMBROSE: Who is the one who is born of the Spirit and is made spirit but he who is renewed in the spirit of his mind? [1] This certainly is he who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, since we receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. [2] And elsewhere the apostle Peter says, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” [3] For who is the one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit but the one who is born again through water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit: “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” And therefore he declared that we are born of him in the latter case, through whom he said that we were born in the former. This is the sentence of the Lord. I rest on what is written, not on argument. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 3.10.64. [4]

[1] See Eph 4:23.

[2] Tit 3:5.

[3] Acts 11:16.

[4] NPNF 2 10:144.

DECAYING FLESH BORN AGAIN

LEO THE GREAT: Whoever of you, therefore, takes pride (with devotion and faith) in the name of Christian, ponder, by an accurate judgment, the grace of this reconciliation. To you once “cast aside,” to you driven out from the thrones of “paradise,” [1] to you dying from long exiles, to you scattered into “dust” and ashes, [2] who had no longer any hope of living—to you has “power” [3] been given through the incarnation of the Word. With it, you can “return from far away” [4] to your Maker, can recognize your Father, can become free from slavery and can be made again a child rather than an outsider. With this power, you who were born of flesh that is subject to decay can be “born again from the Spirit” of God and can obtain through grace what you do not have through nature. SERMON 22.5.1. [5]

[1] See Gen 3:23-24.

[2] See Gen 3:19.

[3] See Jn 1:12.

[4] See Lk 15:13, 17.

[5] FC 93:85.

A WOMB IS TO AN EMBRYO AS WATER IS TO A BELIEVER

CHRYSOSTOM: There is no longer a mother, or birth pangs, or sleep or coming together and embracing of bodies. From here on out, all the fabric of our nature is framed above, of the Holy Spirit and water. The water brings about the birth of the one who is born. What the womb is to the embryo, the water is to the believer because the water is where the person is fashioned and formed. At first it was said, “Let the waters bring forth the creeping things that have life.” [1] But from the time that the Lord entered the streams of the Jordan, the water no longer gives the “creeping things that have life” but souls that are rational and endued with the Spirit…. But that which is fashioned in the womb needs time, whereas that fashioned in the water is all done in an instant…. For the nature of the body is such as to require time for its completion, but spiritual creations are perfect from the beginning. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.1. [2]

[1] Gen 1:20 LXX.

[2] NPNF 1 14:90**.

3:6 | Flesh from Flesh, Spirit from Spirit

CHILDREN AND BAPTISM

AUGUSTINE: “But why,” they ask, “does a baptized believer, whose sin has already been forgiven, beget a child who is still burdened with the first person’s sin?” Because he begets him from the flesh, not from the spirit. “What is born of the flesh is flesh.” “And if the outer self,” says the apostle, “is decaying, yet the inner self is being renewed from day to day.” [1] It is not from what is being renewed in you that you beget a child. You beget a child from what is decaying in you. You, in order not to die forever, were born and reborn. This child is already born, not yet reborn. If you are alive as a result of being reborn, allow it too to be reborn and live…. Why oppose this? Why try to smash the ancient rule of faith with new objections? After all, what is this that you are saying: “Little children don’t have even original sin in the least degree”? What does this that you say amount to, but that they should not come to Jesus? But Jesus cries out to you, “Let the little children come to me.” [2] SERMON 174.9. [3]

[1] 2 Cor 4:16.

[2] Mk 10:14.

[3] WSA 3 5:262-63. Augustine here enunciates the doctrine of original sin, which states that Adam’s sin and its curse is passed on to his descendants generation after generation at birth. There is little evidence among the Greek fathers, however, that they held any notion of inherited guilt or transmitted sin. See the Theodoret quote which follows. See also Augustine On the Baptism of Infants 1.58 (NPNF 1 5:37-38).

MYSTERY OF BAPTISM NOT LIMITED TO FORGIVENESS

THEODORET OF CYR: If the only meaning of baptism were remission of sins, why would we baptize newborn children who have not yet tasted of sin? But the mystery of baptism is not limited to this. It is a promise of greater and more perfect gifts. In it are the promises of future delights. It is the type of the future resurrection, a communion with the master’s Passion, a participation in his resurrection, a mantle of salvation, a tunic of gladness, a garment of light, or rather it is light itself. COMPENDIUM OF HERETICAL MYTHS 5.18. [1]

[1] PG 83:512. The translation is taken from John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology (Fordham University Press: New York, 1974), 194, to which the reader is directed for further comment on this passage from the Eastern Father’s perspective.

FLESH IS DEATH, BUT THE SPIRIT IS LIFE

GREGORY OF NYSSA: We know too that the flesh is subject to death because of sin, but the Spirit of God is both incorruptible and life-giving and beyond death. As at our physical birth there comes into the world with us a potentiality of being again turned to dust, plainly the Spirit also imparts a life-giving potentiality to the children begotten by himself. What lesson, then, do we learn from this? We learn that we should wean ourselves from this life in the flesh, which has an inevitable follower, death; and that we should search for a way of life that does not bring death along with it. ON VIRGINITY 13. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 5:359**.

THE SPIRIT DOES GOD’S WORK OF BEGETTING

CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see the dignity of the Spirit? It appears performing the work of God. For above he said that some “were begotten of God.” [1] Here he says that the Spirit begets them. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” He means, “The one that is born [2] of the Spirit is spiritual.” For the birth of which he speaks here is not that according to essence [3] but according to honor and grace. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.1. [4]

[1] Jn 1:13.

[2] Or“begotten.”

[3] Gk ousian.

[4] NPNF 1 14:91**.

CHRIST TRANSFORMS US INTO SPIRITUAL BEINGS

AMMONIUS: As God the Father is Spirit and as God the Son is Spirit, therefore our God and Father begets by the Spirit the one who is Son and God. Therefore Christ is of one substance with the Father according to his divine nature and of one substance with his mother according to his flesh. The one and the same Christ is from both, unchangeably and without confusion [of the two natures]. But according to what is now canonically held concerning the Logos of the Lord, our minds too are then to be transformed by Christ to be completely conformed to that which is spiritual. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 75. [1]

[1] JKGK 216.

JESUS SPEAKS OF SPIRITUAL GENERATION

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He means that the work of generating is necessarily similar to the nature of the generator: when flesh generates flesh, necessarily the generation is bodily. When the spirit is the generator, it is necessary that we understand the generation as incorporeal and spiritual. Through this he also demonstrates that the water, which he united to the Spirit, does not operate with him but is mentioned as a symbol and for a [visible] use. Therefore he did not add “what is born of water” but only says “what is born of the Spirit” by clearly attributing the work of generating to the Spirit. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.3.6. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:68.

CHRIST WAS BORN OF SPIRIT AND FLESH

TERTULLIAN: The Lord himself axiomatically and distinctly pronounced, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” because it is born from the flesh. But if he here spoke simply of a human being and not of himself, then you must deny absolutely that Christ is man and must maintain that human nature was not suitable to him. And then he adds, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” because God is a Spirit, and he was born of God. Now this description is certainly even more applicable to him than it is to those who believe in him. But if this passage indeed applies to him, then why does not the preceding one also? For you cannot divide their relation and adapt this to him and the previous clause to all other people, especially as you do not deny that Christ possesses the two substances, both of the flesh and of the Spirit. Besides, as he was in possession both of flesh and of Spirit, he cannot possibly—when speaking of the condition of the two substances that he himself bears—be supposed to have determined that the Spirit indeed was his own but that the flesh was not his own. Forasmuch, therefore, as he is of the Spirit, he is God the Spirit and is born of God; just as he is also born of the flesh of man, being generated in the flesh as man. ON THE FLESH OF CHRIST 18.5-7. [1]

[1] CCL 2:906-7; ANF 3:537. See also Against Praxeas 27.

3:7-8 | The Wind Blows Wherever It Pleases

THE POWER OF THE WIND, THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

CHRYSOSTOM: By saying, “Do not be amazed,” he indicates [Nicodemus’s] confusion and leads him by way of example to something lighter than the body…. He speaks neither of dense bodies nor of things that are purely incorporeal. For if Nicodemus had heard this there is no way he could have received it. Instead, he found something in between what is and what is not a body, namely, the motion of the wind…. Although he says “it blows where it pleases,” he does not say this as if the wind had any power of choice. He is simply declaring that its natural motion is powerful and cannot be hindered…. The expression, therefore, “blows where it pleases,” is that of one who would show that it cannot be restrained, that it is spread abroad everywhere and that no one can stop it from passing here and there. It goes abroad with great might, and no one is able to turn aside its violence…. It establishes the power of the Comforter. For no one can hold the wind; it moves where it pleases. And so, whether it is the laws of nature or the limits of bodily generation or anything else like this—they have no ability to restrain the operations of the Spirit. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.1-2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:91**.

REBIRTH AND SPIRIT’S MOVEMENT ARE BEYOND UNDERSTANDING

HILARY OF POITIERS: Though I have received faith by my regeneration, I am still in ignorance. And yet, I have a firm hold on a reality I do not understand. I am born again, capable of rebirth, but without conscious perception of it. Moreover, the Spirit has no limits. He speaks when he wants, what he wants and where he wants. We are conscious of his presence when he comes, but the reason for his approach or his departure remains unknown to us. ON THE TRINITY 12.56. [1]

[1] HE WORD IN THE BEGINNING | JOHN 1:1

THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT IS ITS FREEDOM

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The Holy Spirit, because it is omnipotent, performs everything as it wants, and nothing can resist its operations. You hear its voice, that is, perceive the sound of its coming. You cannot ascertain in which place its person is contained so that you might otherwise understand its way of operating. Its nature is immense, and therefore it is everywhere it chooses to be. In the same way, its action is beyond comprehension because it does everything according to its own will. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.3.7-8. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:68-69.

THE SPIRIT HAS ABSOLUTE FREEDOM, AS HAS THE SON

AMBROSE: “Where it chooses,” says the Scripture, not “where it is ordered.” If, then, the Spirit does breathe where it chooses, cannot the Son do what he wills? Why, it is the very same Son of God who in his gospel says that the Spirit has power to breathe where it chooses. Does the Son, therefore, confess the Spirit to be greater, in that it has power to do what is not permitted to himself? ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 2.6.47. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 10:229*.

THE SPIRIT’S WILL IS ONE WITH FATHER AND SON

BEDE: When the grace of the Spirit is given to human beings, the Spirit is unquestionably sent by the Father and sent by the Son, and he proceeds from the Father and proceeds from the Son. [1] [The Spirit] also comes of his own accord, because just as he is equal to the Father and the Son, so he has the same will in common with the Father and the Son. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.16. [2]

[1] There will be a much fuller discussion of the Spirit’s procession in comments from East and West on Jn 14:26; 15:26.

[2] CS 111:150. But see also comments on Jn 15:26.

THE SOUND OF THE WIND AT PENTECOST

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He said rightly “you hear the sound of it,” because by descending first on the apostles it came with a noise. They heard the sound of a strong wind and spoke different languages through the power of the Spirit that was over them. Thus, after speaking in such lofty language of the generation of the Spirit, he concluded perfectly: “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit,” that is, such is the generation of the Spirit. It cannot be comprehended by the thoughts of humankind. Since it is beyond their grasp, it can only be perceived through its sound for their apprehension. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.3.7-8. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:69.

THE SPIRIT SPOKE BY THE PROPHETS

AMMONIUS: One hears the voice of the Spirit through the prophets. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 77. [1]

[1] JKGK 216.

FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

BEDE: “The Spirit breathes where he wills” because he has in his power [to choose the] heart he will enlighten by the grace of his visitation. “And you hear his voice” when one filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in your presence. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.18. [1]

[1] CCL 122:313; CS 111:181.

THE WORD AND SACRAMENT ARE THE SOUND OF THE SPIRIT

AUGUSTINE: A father, a man who will one day die, begets through his wife a son to succeed him; God begets from the church sons, not to succeed him but to remain with him. And [the Gospel] continues: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Therefore we are born spiritually, and in the Spirit we are born by word and sacrament. The Spirit is present that we may be born. The Spirit is present invisibly from whom you are born, because you too are born invisibly. For [the Gospel] continues and says, “Do not wonder that I have said to you, ‘You must hear his voice but do not know where he comes from or where he goes.” No one sees the Spirit. And how do we hear the voice of the Spirit? A psalm sounds forth: it is the Spirit’s voice. The gospel sounds forth: it is the Spirit’s voice. God’s word sounds forth: it is the Spirit’s voice. “You hear his voice, but do not know where he comes from or where he goes.” But if you too should be born of the Spirit, you will be such that he who is not yet born of the spirit has no idea where you come from or where you go. For he continues and says, “So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:82-83*.

THE SPIRIT IS NOT DECEIVED

IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH: For though some would have deceived me according to the flesh, yet the Spirit, as being from God, is not deceived. For it knows both where it comes from and where it goes, and it detects the secrets [of the heart]. EPISTLE TO THE PHILADELPHIANS 7.1. [1]

[1] ANF 1:83.

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH

ANONYMOUS: The Spirit, indeed, continues to this day invisible to people, as the Lord says, The Spirit breathes where he will, and you know not where it comes from or where it goes.” But in the beginning of the mystery of the faith and of spiritual baptism, the same Spirit was manifestly seen to have sat upon the disciples as fire [at Pentecost]. Moreover, when the heavens were opened, the Spirit was seen to have descended upon the Lord like a dove. Many things… are shown to the eyes and to the incredulity of people, either partially, or at certain times or in symbols, for the strengthening and confirming of our faith…. From all these manifestations it is shown that hearts are purified by faith but that souls are washed by the Spirit. It is further shown that bodies are washed by water and, moreover, that by the blood of Christ we may more readily attain at once to the rewards of salvation. A TREATISE ON REBAPTISM 18. [1]

[1] ANF 5:677**.

HUMAN LIMITS IN RECEIVING THE SPIRIT

BEDE: The Spirit comes to the saints [and] goes from the saints, so that they may be refreshed from time to time by the frequently recurring light of the return of him whom they are not capable of having always. However, the Spirit remains continually in the only Mediator between God and human beings, the man Jesus Christ, [1] in whom he does not find any stain of unclean thought, which he would shun. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.15. [2]

[1] 1 Tim 2:5.

[2] CS 110:153.

ANALOGY BETWEEN WIND AND SPIRIT

CHRYSOSTOM: Here is the conclusion of the whole matter. If, he says, you do not even know how to explain the motion or path of this wind, [1] which you perceive by hearing and feeling, why are you so over anxious about the working of the divine Spirit, when you do not even understand how the wind works, although you hear its voice?… As then the wind is not visible, although it utters a sound, so neither is the birth of that which is spiritual visible to our bodily eyes. And yet, the wind is a body, although a very subtle one. For whatever is the object of our senses is bodily. If then you do not complain when you cannot see this body and you still believe, why, when you hear of “the Spirit,” do you hesitate and demand such exact accounts, although you do not act this way in the case of a body? HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.2. [2]

[1] Or “spirit.”

[2] NPNF 1 14:91**.

3:9-10 | The Teacher of Israel

THOSE NOT BORN OF THE SPIRIT

AUGUSTINE: If you are born of the Spirit, you too shall be like the Spirit, that is, that one who is not born of the Spirit does not know where you come from or where you go. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:83*.

NICODEMUS IS TAUGHT HUMILITY

AUGUSTINE: Do we think that the Lord meant to insult this master of the Jews? The Lord knew what he was doing. He wanted the man to be born of the Spirit. No one is born of the Spirit if he is not humble, for humility itself makes us born of the Spirit since “the Lord is near to those who are of a broken heart.” [1] The man was puffed up with his mastery, and it appeared of some importance to him that he was a teacher of the Jews. Jesus pulled down his pride so that he might be born of the Spirit. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.6. [2]

[1] See Ps 51:17 (50:19 LXX, Vg).

[2] NPNF 1 7:83*.

AS A TEACHER OF ISRAEL, NICODEMUS SHOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD JESUS

CHRYSOSTOM: Observe how Jesus never accuses Nicodemus of wickedness but only of simplicity and a lack of wisdom. But someone will say: What connection does this birth have with Jewish doctrines? What doesn’t it have in common with them? The first man that was made, the woman that was made out of his rib, the barren that bare, the miracles that were worked by means of water, for instance, Elisha’s bringing up the iron from the river, the passage of the Red Sea, the pool that the angel troubled and Naaman the Syrian’s purification in the Jordan—these were all types and figures of the spiritual birth and purification that would take place in the future. Many passages in the prophets too have a hidden reference to this birth, as for instance… “your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” [1] … and “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.” [2] Isaac also was a type of this birth…. Referring to these passages, our Jesus says, “Are you a master in Israel, and you do not know these things?” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.2. [3]

[1] Ps 103:5 (102:5 LXX).

[2] Ps 32:1 (31:1 LXX).

[3] NPNF 1 14:91-92**.

TYPES OF CLEANSING BAPTISM IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Indeed, he [Nicodemus] should have known what came from the Law and the Prophets: the cleansing with hyssop, the waters for ceremonial sprinkling, the baptisms for cleansing, and all the rest. If these had not been signified as types before the coming of the Son, our Lord would have been accusing Nicodemus falsely because of them. But if they were hidden from him in his Scriptures, and he did not clearly identify them, he [our Lord] rightly put to flight his sleep, healed his infirmity by his gentle voice, and reminded him of the baptism of atonement that existed in Israel….

But this was done gently, because he [our Lord] saw that he [Nicodemus] was sick but close to healing. And since he did not understand what was previously written down in the Law, our Lord showed him the baptism of complete atonement for both body and soul. Truly, Nicodemus, did you not perceive that Jacob was born into the right of the firstborn without [the aid of] belly or womb, [1] or that Naaman was renewed apart from a womb when Elisha spoke to him? [2] … And likewise for Miriam. [3] Come now, was it not known that this was a sign of baptism given to the nations, for hyssop makes what was stained white? COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 14.13. [4]

[1] See Gen 25:25.

[2] 2 Kings 5:14.

[3] See Num 12:9-15.

[4] CB709. 172-74.

3:11 | Not Receiving Testimony

TEACH ONLY WHAT YOUR HEARER CAN HANDLE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He advises Nicodemus to accept in simple faith what he cannot understand. Jesus testifies that he himself knows clearly what he says because of who he is, and to doubt what he says is a very dangerous thing. For it was not likely that Nicodemus would forget that he had earlier affirmed that our Savior Christ was a “teacher who had come from God.” But to resist one who is both from God, and God, is terribly fraught with peril since one is clearly fighting with God. That is why we, who have the authority to teach, should rather provide simple arguments for those who have just come to faith, rather than the more elaborate explanations… not applying doctrine indiscriminately but appropriately adapted to what each can handle. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1. [1]

[1] LF 43:171**.

THE TRINITARIAN WITNESS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Since he has the Father and the Spirit naturally, the Savior set forth the person of the witnesses in the plural number so that, as in the law of Moses, [1] by the mouth of two or three witness what is said may be established. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1. [2]

[1] Deut 19:15.

[2] LF 43:171**.

3:12 | Earthly Things and Heavenly Things

HEAVENLY THINGS ARE BEYOND THE REACH OF FOOLS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: If you out of extreme foolishness did not receive a doctrine that does not exceed the understanding human beings are capable of, how can I explain things more divine? For if people are foolish in their own matters, how do they expect to be wise in matters above them? How do those who are powerless in lesser matters expect to find the greater things intolerable? And if, he says, you do not believe me when I speak alone but rather seek many witnesses for everything, whom shall I bring to you as a witness of the heavenly mysteries? COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1. [1]

[1] LF 43:172**.

THE CHARGE OF UNBELIEF

CHRYSOSTOM: Do not be surprised that he calls baptism earthly, for he calls it this either because it is performed on earth or as comparison with his own most awesome birth. For though this birth of ours is heavenly, yet compared with that true birth that is from the substance of the Father, it is earthly.

And he has not said, “You have not understood,” but “You have not believed.” For when the understanding cannot take in certain truths, we attribute it to our own natural deficiencies or to ignorance. But when a person does not receive things that cannot be apprehended by reasoning but only by faith, the charge against him is no longer lack of understanding but unbelief…. These truths, however, were revealed so that posterity might believe and benefit from them, even though the people then did not. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:93**.