ACC ~ John 3 v5
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**.
Jn