John 3:3

And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order 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 him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.

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." 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.

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.

And this is why in many places Christ speaks obscurely, because He wishes to rouse His hearers to ask questions, and to render them more attentive. For that which is said plainly often escapes the hearer, but what is obscure renders him more active and zealous. Now what He saith, is something like this: "If thou art not born again, if thou partakest not of the Spirit which is by the washing of Regeneration, thou canst not have a right opinion of Me, for the opinion which thou hast is not spiritual, but carnal." But He did not speak thus, as refusing to confound one who had brought such as he had, and who had spoken to the best of his ability; and He leads him unsuspectedly up to greater knowledge, saying, "Except a man be born again." The word "again," in this place, some understand to mean "from heaven," others, "from the beginning." "It is impossible," saith Christ, "for one not so born to see the Kingdom of God"; in this pointing to Himself, and declaring that there is another beside the natural sight, and that we have need of other eyes to behold Christ.

Nicodemus saith, "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God, for no man can do the miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." He thought he had said something great when he had spoken thus of Christ. What then saith Christ? To show that he had not yet set foot even on the threshold of right knowledge, nor stood in the porch, but was yet wandering somewhere without the palace, both he and whoever else should say the like, and that he had not so much as glanced towards true knowledge when he held such an opinion of the Only-Begotten, what saith He?

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

That is, "Unless thou art born again and receivest the right doctrines, thou art wandering somewhere without, and art far from the Kingdom of heaven." But He does not speak so plainly as this. In order to make the saying less hard to bear, He does not plainly direct it at him, but speaks indefinitely, "Except a man be born again": all but saying, "both thou and any other, who may have such opinions concerning Me, art somewhere outside the Kingdom." Had He not spoken from a desire to establish this, His answer would have been suitable to what had been said. Now the Jews, if these words had been addressed to them, would have derided Him and departed; but Nicodemus shows here also his desire of instruction. And this is why in many places Christ speaks obscurely, because He wishes to rouse His hearers to ask questions, and to render them more attentive. For that which is said plainly often escapes the hearer, but what is obscure renders him more active and zealous. Now what He saith, is something like this: "If thou art not born again, if thou partakest not of the Spirit which is by the washing of Regeneration, thou canst not have a right opinion of Me, for the opinion which thou hast is not spiritual, but carnal." (Tit. iii. 5.) But He did not speak thus, as refusing to confound one who had brought such as he had, and who had spoken to the best of his ability; and He leads him unsuspectedly up to greater knowledge, saying, "Except a man be born again." The word "again," in this place, some understand to mean "from heaven," others, "from the beginning." "It is impossible," saith Christ, "for one not so born to see the Kingdom of God"; in this pointing to Himself, and declaring that there is another beside the natural sight, and that we have need of other eyes to behold Christ.

[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].

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Therefore to them who have been born again does Jesus trust Himself. Behold, those men had believed on Him, and yet Jesus trusted not Himself to them. Such are all catechumens: already they believe in the name of Christ, but Jesus does not trust Himself to them. Give good heed, my beloved, and understand. If we say to a catechumen, Dost thou believe on Christ, he answers, I believe, and signs himself; already he bears the cross of Christ on his forehead, and is not ashamed of the cross of his Lord. Behold, he has believed in His name. Let us ask him, Dost thou eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink the blood of the Son of man? He knows not what we say, because Jesus has not trusted Himself to him.

Therefore mark, my brethren, what answer this man who came to Jesus by night makes. Although he came to Jesus, yet because he came by night, he still speaks from the darkness of his own flesh. He understands not what he hears from the Lord, understands not what he hears from the Light, "which lighteth every man that cometh into this world." Already hath the Lord said to him, "Except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born again when he is old?" The Spirit speaks to him, and he thinks of the flesh. He thinks of his own flesh, because as yet he thinks not of Christ's flesh.

In these words he supposes that he can attain complete piety, and imagines that it will be sufficient for his salvation, to marvel merely at those things which call for wonder: nought else but this does he seek. Calling him a Teacher from God, and a co-worker with Him, he does not yet know that He is by Nature God, nor understand the plan of the dispensation with Flesh, but still approaches as to a mere man, and hath but slight conception of Him.

In baptism then our Lord fulfilled the way of the righteousness of the law, and from the Jordan He made the beginning of the way of His own rule of life; for until the Jordan it was bondage, that is to say, He was subject unto the law as a servant, but from the Jordan and henceforth His life and conduct were in the freedom which He delivered, and not in the commandments of the law. For Jesus was born again by baptism, and from the womb of the law the spiritual country received Him, even as He Himself said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"; and therefore, after His baptism, He began to preach the kingdom of heaven. And in this manner also, everyone who wisheth to become a perfect disciple of Christ, when he hath left the world and hath come outside himself, is born again out of the world of the body into the world of the Spirit, and from riches into poverty, and from pleasures into afflictions, and from the possession of family into the lack of kith and kin, and from an abundance of friends into the life of a Solitary, and from happiness into trouble, from the life of the body into the life of the Spirit, from converse with men unto converse with God, and from one kind of knowledge unto another, and from one course unto another; and to speak briefly, a man is born from nothing into something when he departeth from worldly life to the discipleship of Christ, and from the state of being master of riches to that poverty which God commandeth.

And well did our Lord say, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," for except a man becometh destitute of everything which is in the world, and casteth off from him the carnal rule both outwardly and inwardly, after the manner that a child casteth off the natural womb, and is born into this world, he cannot see the kingdom of God, that is to say, he must feel the living motions of the spirit which are in the power of the body to perceive. And let this be an example unto thee: as the child is shut up in the womb's belly, even so the man who is in the world is shut in by the carnal rule of the world, with all its heaviness, and darkness, and density, and cares, and anxieties. And as the child is born from the womb by the door of the belly into the light of creation, and when he is born into the light, which he findeth before him, he seeth all things, the beauty of the world, and all the variety of created objects, and the diversity of natural things in this composite creation, and he receiveth this sight, and he feeleth the experiences thereof by the gradual growth of his bodily stature, even so he that is born again from the rule of the world, and who goeth forth to the other world of the spirit by the door of poverty, immediately he is born receiveth that world, and the light of knowledge beginneth to appear unto him; and as the things of this world are seen by the light of nature, and each object is distinguished from its fellow thereby, even so also by that knowledge of the spirit which a man beginneth to receive, he seeth all spiritual things, and boundaries, and countries, and grades, and orders, and everything which is above the perception of the body. This, then, is the new birth, which cometh from the baptism of which our Lord spake to Nicodemus.

It seems that the Lord's words to Nicodemus have nothing in common with Nicodemus's words to Him. But to the attentive reader much in common will be revealed. Since Nicodemus had a lowly conception of Christ, namely that He is a Teacher and that God is with Him, the Lord says to him: it is natural for you to have such a conception of Me. For you have not yet been born "from above," that is, from God, by a spiritual birth, but are still fleshly, and the knowledge you have of Me is not spiritual, but natural and human. And I say to you that both you and everyone else will be outside the Kingdom if you are not born from above and from God and do not receive the proper conception of Me. For birth through baptism, bringing light into the soul, gives it the ability to see or to know the Kingdom of God, that is, His only-begotten Son. For the Son can be called both the wisdom of God and the Kingdom of God. But this Kingdom, Nicodemus, no one can see or know unless he is born of God. So you too, because you have not yet been born spiritually, do not see Me — the Kingdom of God — as you ought, but have a lowly conception of Me.

Then when he says that Jesus answered, Amen, amen, I say to you, he sets down the necessity for spiritual regeneration, because of the ignorance of Nicodemus. And so he says, Amen, amen. Here we should note that this word, amen, is a Hebrew word frequently employed by Christ; hence out of reverence for him no Greek or Latin translator wanted to translate it. Sometimes it means the same as "true" or "truly"; and sometimes the same as "so be it." Thus in the Psalms 71 (v 19), 88 (v 53), and 106, where we have, "So be it, so be it," the Hebrew has "Amen, amen." But John is the only Evangelist who duplicates or makes a twin use of this word. The reason for this is that the other Evangelists are concerned mainly with matters pertaining to the humanity of Christ, which, since they are easier to believe, need less reinforcement; but John deals chiefly with things pertaining to the divinity of Christ, and these, since they are hidden and remote from men's knowledge and experience, require greater formal declaration.

Next we should point out that at first glance this answer of Christ seems to be entirely foreign to Nicodemus' statement. For what connection is there between Nicodemus' statement, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, and the Lord's reply, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

But we should note, as has already been stated, that Nicodemus, having an imperfect opinion about Christ, affirmed that he was a teacher and performed these signs as a mere man. And so the Lord wishes to show Nicodemus how he might arrive at a deeper understanding of him. And as a matter of fact, the Lord might have done so with an argument, but because this might have resulted in a quarrel—the opposite of which was prophesied about him: "He will not quarrel" (Is 42:2)—he wished to lead him to a true understanding with gentleness. As if to say: It is not strange that you regard me as a mere man, because one cannot know these secrets of the divinity unless he has achieved a spiritual regeneration. And this is what he says: unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Here we should point out that since vision is an act of life, then according to the diverse kinds of life there will be diversity of vision. For there is a sentient life which some living things share in common, and this life has a sentient vision or knowledge. And there is also a spiritual life, by which man is made like God and other holy spirits; and this life enjoys a spiritual vision. Now spiritual things cannot be seen by the sentient: "The sensual man does not perceive those things that pertain to the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:14), but they are perceived by the spiritual vision: "No one knows the things of God but the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:11). So the apostle says: "You did not receive the spirit of slavery, putting you in fear again, but the spirit of adoption" (Rom 8:15). And we receive this spirit through a spiritual regeneration: "He saved us by the cleansing of regeneration in the Holy Spirit" (Ti 3:3). Therefore, if spiritual vision comes only through the Holy Spirit, and if the Holy Spirit is given through a cleansing of spiritual regeneration, then it is only by a cleansing of regeneration that we can see the kingdom of God. Thus he says, unless one is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. As if to say: It is not surprising if you do not see the kingdom of God, because no one can see it unless he receives the Holy Spirit, through whom one is reborn a son of God.

It is not only the royal throne that pertains to a kingdom, but also the things needed for governing the kingdom, such as the royal dignity, royal favors, and the way of justice by which the kingdom is consolidated. Hence he says, he cannot see the kingdom of God, i.e., the glory and dignity of God, i.e., the mysteries of eternal salvation which are seen through the justice of faith: "The kingdom of God is not food and drink" (Rom 14:17).

Now in the Old Law there was a spiritual regeneration; but it was imperfect and symbolic: "All were baptized into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:2), i.e., they received baptism in symbol. Accordingly, they did see the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but only symbolically: "seeing from afar" (Heb 11:13). But in the New Law there is an evident spiritual regeneration, although imperfect, because we are renewed only inwardly by grace, but not outwardly by incorruption: "Although our outward nature is wasting away, yet our inward nature is being renewed day by day" (2 Cor 4:16). And so we do see the kingdom of God and the mysteries of eternal salvation, but imperfectly, for as it says, "Now we see in a mirror, in an obscure manner" (1 Cor 13:12). But there is perfect regeneration in heaven, because we will be renewed both inwardly and outwardly. And therefore we shall see the kingdom of God in a most perfect way: "But then we will see face to face," as is said in 1 Corinthians (13:12); and "When he appears we will be like him, because we will see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2).

It is clear, therefore, that just as one does not have bodily vision unless he is born, so one cannot have spiritual vision unless he is reborn. And according to the threefold regeneration, there is a threefold kind of vision.

Note that the Greek reading is not "again," but anothe, i.e., "from above," which Jerome translated as "again," in order to suggest addition. And this is the way Jerome understood the saying, unless one is born again. It is as if he were saying: Unless one is reborn once more through a fraternal generation.

Chrysostom, however, says that to be "born from above" is peculiar to the Son of God, because he alone is born from above: "The one who came from above is above all things" (below 3:31). And Christ is said to be born from above both as to time (if we may speak thus), because he was begotten from eternity: "Before the daystar I begot you" (Ps 109:3), and as to the principle of his generation, because he proceeds from the heavenly Father: "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (below 6:38). Therefore, because our regeneration is in the likeness of the Son of God, inasmuch as "Those whom he foreknew he predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29), and because that generation is from above, our generation also is from above: both as to the time, because of our eternal predestination, "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4), and as to its being a gift of God, as we read below (6:44), "No one can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him"; and "You have been saved by the grace of God" (Eph 2:5).

And there really is this ultimate unmorality behind the metaphysics of Asia. And the reason is that there has been nothing through all those unthinkable ages to bring the human mind sharply to the point; to tell it that the time has come to choose. The mind has lived too much in eternity. The soul has been too immortal; in the special sense that it ignores the idea of mortal sin. It has had too much of eternity, in the sense that it has not had enough of the hour of death and the day of judgment. It is not crucial enough; in the literal sense that it has not had enough of the cross. That is what we mean when we say that Asia is very old. But strictly speaking Europe is quite as old as Asia; indeed in a sense any place is as old as any other place. What we mean is that Europe has not merely gone on growing older. It has been born again.

It must be admitted by anyone who accepts Christianity, that an increased interest in it, or even a growing measure of intellectual assent to it, is a very different thing from the conversion of England or even of a single soul. Conversion requires an alteration of the will, and an alteration which, in the last resort, does not occur without the intervention of the supernatural. I do not in the least agree with those who therefore conclude that the spread of an intellectual (and imaginative) climate favorable to Christianity is useless. You do not prove munition workers useless by showing that they cannot themselves win battles, however proper this reminder would be if they attempted to claim the honor due to fighting men. If the intellectual climate is such that, when a man comes to the crisis at which he must either accept or reject Christ, his reason and imagination are not on the wrong side, then his conflict will be fought out under favorable conditions.

They mean that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you. It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has. At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity.

In a way, it is like the crisis of birth. Until we rise and follow Christ we are still parts of Nature, still in the womb of our great mother... I wonder what an ordinary baby would do if it had the choice. It might prefer to stay in the dark and warmth and safety of the womb. For of course it would think the womb meant safety. That would be just where it was wrong; for if it stays there it will die.