The holy spirit gives birth

THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES BIRTH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 3:6 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit
gives birth to spirit.
F. B. MEYER
A PSALM OF LIFE
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit."--John 3:6.
BORN! That is true of us all. We were not asked if we would be born, or
of whom we would be born. But we awoke gradually from months of
almost unconsciousness to find that we had been born. And birth was
the gate into life. Through birth we entered the blessed kingdom of life.
But what life? There are many kingdoms of fife, rising one above
another. Into which of these were we born? The lowest is the kingdom of
vegetable life, with fungus and palm, with lichen and oak, with hyssop
and cedar. But our kingdom is higher than this. The next is the kingdom
of animal life, separated by an impassable gulf from that beneath it,
embracing all riving things, from the microscopic organisms of deep-sea
dredgings, or the invisible kingdoms that exist in drops of water, to the
noblest forms of creature-fife around the throne of God. But our
kingdom was higher than this. The next is the kingdom of mind and
soul: in which there are the faculty of reason; the rudiments of
conscience; the sparkle of wit; the aurora-glory of the fancy; memory as
librarian; poetry as minstrel; hope, as fresco-painter; love (to use

Spenser's exquisite simile) as mother of all. Into this kingdom we were
born, when in our first birth we passed into the light of life. If we were
to adopt the phraseology of the New Testament, we might call this the
kingdom of the flesh; for the flesh is employed in a very wide and
special sense, and includes the whole drift of human fife, even to its
thoughts, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (Ro 8:6, 7-note).
But above this kingdom there is another--the kingdom of the spiritual
and eternal. This is the supreme realm of fife, the element and home of
God. Our Lord alludes to it twice in the same breath as "the kingdom of
God" (John 3:3, 4, 5). The kingdom into which we are born as babes is
filled with bright and beautiful things; but it is shut off from this by a
gulf as vast as that which severs the vegetable from the animal, or the
animal from the moral nature of man. As easily might the water-lily
become the spaniel that dived for it, or the spaniel the poet Cowper, who
sings his exploit, as that which is born flesh become spirit. As there is no
entrance into the kingdom of the flesh-life save by natural birth; so
there is no entrance into the kingdom of the spirit-life, save by spiritual
birth. Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. And this made our
Lord so emphatic in repeating his announcement, "Ye must be born
again."
Nicodemus was an admirable type of the world of men outside the
kingdom of the spirit-life. He believed in God, having no sympathy with
the cold infidelity of the Sadducees. He was, probably, like another of
the same school, blameless in all the righteousness of the law, and
irreproachable in moral character. He would be classed among the high-
churchmen of his time. Courtly, thoughtful, inquisitive; willing to
consider the claims of any new system; prepared to acknowledge Christ
as a teacher; perplexed at spiritual truth; thinking that it was only
needful to know in order to be--how apt a type is he of the children of
the flesh!
See him as he muffles his face in his cloak, and steals along in the
shadows cast by the full Passover moon, startled by his own footfall,
fearful lest the watchman on his beat should recognize the magnate of

the Jewish Sanhedrim in the suppliant for entrance at the door of the
humble lodging of Jesus of Nazareth. A nervous, timid old man this,
defending his friends on general principles; not liking to identify himself
too publicly with a dead enthusiast; fonder of asking questions than of
arguing points (John 3:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; 6:50, 51; 19:38, 39).
To such a man Christ said, "Ye must be born again." When Christ says
must, it is time for us to wake up. He is so gentle, winsome, tender. He is
always persuading, inviting, entreating. He so seldom uses the
imperative mood. When, therefore, He speaks thus, it becomes us to
inquire into the matter on which He insists so earnestly.
I. THE NATURE OF THIS LIFE.
It is "eternal life." This is the epithet perpetually applied to it
throughout this chapter and the writings of the beloved Evangelist. Our
Lord was the first so to describe it (John 3:15). The Holy Ghost repeats
the words as though to stamp them on our minds (John 3:16-36; 4:14,
36; 6:54; 10:28; 12:25; 1Jn 5:13). Surely they cannot simply mean
everlastingness, the duration of a never-ending existence. To have that
alone were to gain nothing by our second birth. Nay, it would repeat the
mistake of the old Greek myth, in which the goddess obtained for her
lover immortal life, but forgot to claim also immortal youth, so that his
years became an insupportable anguish. "Eternal" refers rather to the
quality than the quantity of that life, and tells us that it is altogether
removed from the conditions of space and time, and partakes of the
blessed, timeless, glorious, spiritual, nature of God.
This life is never shadowed by dread of condemnation (John 3:18); it
suns itself in the very light of God's face (John 3:20); it does the truth
(John 3:21); it finds its true nest and home in the very heart of God
(John 3:13).
II. THE SOURCE OF THIS LIFE, GOD.
"The Father hath life in Himself" (John 5:26). To use the sublime
language of the Psalmist, "In Thee is the fountain of life." All life finds

its source and origin in the nature of God; as the verdure of an oasis in
the desert, or of a valley among the hills, is entirely due to the presence
of a perennial fountain, which makes music through the years. Drain
away the fountain, and the glade slowly fades into the desert. Blot out
God, and the universe becomes as devoid of life as the moon.
From the firefly that flashes through the forest glade to the firstborn
sons of light--the seraphs, who burn in ceaseless adoration before the
throne--all the life that exists throughout the universe is due, if I may
say so, to the spray of the Divine fountain of life. And this is specially
true of spiritual life. Underived, independent of supply, original and
ever-flowing, all spirit-life has its centre, home, and fountain-head in
God.
III. THE STORAGE OF THIS LIFE.
If we may use the words, the Father stored his life in the human nature
of our Lord. It dwelt in Him in its fullness, and it pleased the Father
that it should be so. By a deliberate act, He gave to the Son to have life
in Himself. And so at last that life was manifested, and men saw it, and
bore witness of that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was
manifested to them (Col 2:9-note; John 5:26; 1Jn 1:2).
Of course we know that, as the second person of the ever-blessed
Trinity, our Lord Jesus shared from before all worlds in the inherent life
of God; but when He became the Son of Man, it was the Father's special
bestowment that stored up in his human nature all the marvellous life of
which we speak. It was as if our God yearned to make us partakers of
his Divine nature; but, since the fountain-head was in his own being,
and He knew that it would be inaccessible to us, therefore, in tender pity
and condescension, He brought it within our reach in the human nature
of our blessed Lord. Who need be afraid of Jesus? What little child may
not venture to his arms? what penitent not kiss his feet? what trembling
one not lose all terror in his presence? Thank God that He has put his
best gift on so low a shelf that the weakest and smallest of his children
may go and take it for themselves!

But it was not enough simply to store the life in Jesus. It had to be made
accessible to us through his death, resurrection, and ascension. There is,
therefore, special significance in the repeated references of this chapter
to the Son of Man being lifted up on the cross (Jn 3:14, 16). That
precious death was the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice and
satisfaction for the sin of the whole world, through which alone our sins
can be pardoned, or we accounted worthy to stand in the presence of the
holy God. But, at the same time, it made Him able to pass on to others
that life which was in Himself; and, as He passed through death into
resurrection, He became the author of eternal life to all who are united
to Him by faith.
He was filled, that out of his fullness we might be filled. He died that we
might live. Having overcome the sharpness of death, He opened the
kingdom of heaven to all believers.
IV. THE COMMUNICATION OF THIS LIFE.
"Born of water and of the Spirit." All the world of Judaea was ringing
with talk of John's baptism. At this very time he was baptizing in
Aenon, because there was much water there. This then was our Lord's
point, when He spoke of water. He clearly referred to the work of his
Forerunner, and all that it meant of repentance and confession of sin. It
was through John that men were to come to Himself. The porter must
open the gate of the true fold. And the Lord Jesus would not for a
moment allow this man, ruler though he were, to escape the wholesome
ordeal of taking his place with every other sinner on the Jordan banks,
and of thus becoming one of the people prepared for the coming of the
Lord. In every soul there has to be a process analogous to that signified
by the baptism of John. First the baptism of water, then the baptism of
fire. First repentance, then remission of sins. Born of water and of the
Spirit.
But at the most this is only part, and, though necessary, the less part, of
the process. We need not only to turn from the old life, but to become
possessed of the new. And this is the express function of the Holy Spirit.

He is significantly called "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Ro 8:2-
note).
Faith is receptiveness. Those that believe are those that receive (John
1:12). Now the one spot in all the universe where faith is most easily and
constantly called into operation is at the cross of Jesus. When the soul
beholds that mystery of love, the Son of Man dying for its sins, uplifted
on the cross, as the serpent on the pole, it yearns after Him with a
passion which is God-begotten; it cannot refrain from faith; it opens
towards Him the deepest recesses of its being: and that is the blessed
moment of the impartation of the germ of the new life through the
agency of the Holy Spirit. We may not say which precedes the other.
They are simultaneous, as the simultaneous movement of the spokes of a
wheel, or as a child's first cry with its first bath.
We may not have been conscious of this gracious overshadowing of the
Holy Spirit, our hearts may have been too much occupied with love and
penitence and ecstasy to think of aught else than of the death which
atoned for sin and made us nigh to God; but in after years we must look
back to that moment as the birthday of our eternal life, the hour when
we passed from death unto life, and became alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Ah, august and glorious experience, never to be
forgotten, never to be excelled in all that may transpire through
untrodden ages, by which we were translated from death into life, from
the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son!
V. THE LAWS OF THAT LIFE.
(John 3:1) Mystery.
As the wind (John 3:8). Whilst our Lord was speaking with this
inquirer, "trusting Himself to him," as He did not to the majority of
those who sought Him (John 2:24), the night-breeze may have passed
over the city, stirring the vine-leaves as they drooped over the casement,
and breathing through the open window. "Mark this wind," said our
Lord; "how mysterious it is! You cannot see it, though you can feel it.
You know not from what scenes it comes, or to what it hurries; its laws

and ministries; why it is now a hurricane, and again a zephyr, now
laden with the softness of the western sea, and again hot and feverish
with the fire of the desert waste--of all this you are ignorant; and do you
think that you will be more able to understand the nature or laws of that
new life of which I speak?"
It must be always so. No kingdom can understand another kingdom.
You must be born into life to know life. It is only by what you experience
of life in yourself that you can judge of it in others. This is the
contention which the Apostle enforces in words that burn with
undimming flame, though almost two thousand years have elapsed since
they were first penned: "The things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God" (1Co 2:11, 12, 13, 14, 15 16).
Those, therefore, who hear us talk of the new birth may well marvel, as
did Nicodemus; and it is almost useless to try to make these mysteries
plain. As well ride on the wind, or follow the rush of the tide as it drives
its foaming steeds up the estuary. But we who have it know it. We are
conscious of its throb, its pulse, its ecstasy. We have traced its parentage
to the nature of God. We hear its music as it rises up like a fountain
towards eternity.
Thank God that, with all its mystery, the wind is all-pervasive. No lung
so consumptive, no mine so deep, no orifice so small, no court so fetid,
but it will enter to purify and heal. So, unless we seal ourselves
hermetically against Him, the Divine Spirit will enter our natures,
ridding them of the miasma which has gathered there, sowing the germs
of life, and inspiring us with the very nature of God.
(John 3:2) Knowledge.
Though we do not come to the Lord Jesus primarily as Teacher, yet we
cannot receive the new life without turning naturally to Him as its
Teacher and Guide. Come to Him as Teacher, and you only marvel.
Come to Him as Saviour, and, being saved, you learn, whilst sitting at
his feet, not earthly things only, but heavenly (John 3:12).

It is passing wonderful how soon the new-born babe begins to
understand things which baffle the wise and prudent. That which the
intellect cannot receive is welcomed by the loving humble spirit. We
receive the Spirit of God, and we come to know the things that are freely
given to us of God. They are revealed by the Spirit, who searches the
deep things of the Divine nature. Oh for more time to spend bending
over these translucent but infinite depths, beneath the teaching of such a
Master!
(John 3:3) Growth.
As the Baptist said of the Lord, using the third must of this chapter, "He
must increase, I must decrease." This also is true of the Christ-life
within. It is destined to grow and increase, from strength to strength,
from grace to grace, till Christ is perfectly formed within us.
The growth of the Divine life is in exact proportion to the denial of the
self-life. Bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Learn what
it means to be crucified with Christ in daily acts of unselfish love and
pity. Mortify the deeds of the body in the power of the Eternal Spirit;
and as the mould is broken, the true ideal will emerge in the perfect
beauty of eternal life."
ARTHUR PINK
"There are still others who believe that the new birth is a change of
heart, and it is exceedingly difficult to convince them to the contrary.
They have heard so many preachers, orthodox preachers, speak of a
change of heart, that they have never thought of challenging the
scripturalness of this expression, yet it is unscriptural. The Bible may be
searched from Genesis to Revelation, and nowhere does this expression
"change of heart" occur upon its pages. The sad thing is that "change of
heart" is not only unscriptural, but is it antiscriptural, untrue, and
therefore, utterly misleading. In the one who has been born again there

is no change of heart though there is a change of life, both inward and
outward. The one who is born again now loves the things he once bated,
and he hates now the things he once loved; and, in consequence, his
whole line of conduct is radically affected. But, nevertheless, it remains
true that his old heart (which is "deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked") remains in him, unchanged, to the end.
What, then, is the new birth? We answer, It is not the removal of
anything from the sinner, nor the changing of anything within the
sinner; instead, it is the communication of something to the sinner. The
new birth is the impartation of the new nature. When I was born the
first time I received from my parents their nature: so, when I was born
again, I received from God His nature. The Spirit of God begets within
us a spiritual nature: as we read in 2 Peter 1:4, "Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature."
It is a fundamental law which inheres in the very nature of things that
like can only produce like. This unchanging principle is enunciated
again and again in the first chapter of Genesis. There we read, "And the
earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the
tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind" (John 1:12).
And again, "And God created great whales, and every living creature
that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their
kind, and every winged fowl after his kind" (John 1:21). It is only the
blindness and animus of infidelistic evolutionists who affirm that one
order of creatures can beget another order radically different from
themselves. No; that which is born of the vegetable is vegetable; that
which is born of the animal is animal. And that which is born of sinful
man is a sinful child. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit.
Hence, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." It cannot be anything
else. Educate and cultivate it all you please, it remains flesh. Water
cannot rise above its own level, neither can a bitter fountain send forth
sweet waters. That which is born of flesh is flesh; it may be refined flesh,
it may be beautiful flesh, it may be religious flesh. But it is still "flesh."
On the other hand, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The child

always partakes of the nature of his parents. That which is born of man
is human; that which is born of God is Divine. That which is born of
man is sinful, that which is born of God is spiritual.
Here, then, is the character or nature of the new birth. It is not the
reformation of the outward man, it is not the education of the natural
man, it is not the purification of the old man, but it is the creation of a
new man. It is a Divine begetting (James 1:18). It is a birth of the Spirit
(John 3:6). It is a being made a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). It is
becoming a partaker of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). It is a being born
into God’s family. Every born again person has, therefore, two natures
within him: one which is carnal, the other which is spiritual. These two
natures are contrary the one to the other (Gal. 5:17), and in
consequence, there is an unceasing warfare going on within the
Christian. It is only the grace of God which can subdue the old nature;
and it is only the Word of God which can feed the new nature."
Who Walk not After the Flesh, But After the Spirit
Hugh Binning
John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.
Rom. viii. 1. -- "Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Christ is made to us of God both righteousness and sanctification; and
therefore, those who are in Christ do not only escape condemnation, but
they walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. These

two are the sum of the gospel. There is not a greater argument to holy
walking than this, -- there is no condemnation for you, neither is there a
greater evidence of a soul having escaped condemnation, than walking
according to the Spirit. We have spoken something in general of the
evidence that may be had of a man's state, from his walking, and the
Spirit's working in him; we would now speak of the conjunction of these
two, and the influence that that privilege hath on this duty, and
something of the nature of this description, "who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit."
In the creation of man, man was composed of soul and body. There was
a right order, and subordination of these, suitable to their nature. In his
soul he reached angels above, -- in his body he was like the beasts below;
and this part, his flesh, was a servant to the soul, that was acted and
affected according to the desires and motives of the soul. Now sin
entering, as it hath defaced all the beauty of the creation, as it hath
misplaced man, and driven him out from that due line of subordination
to God his Maker, for he would have been equal to God, so it hath
perverted this beautiful order in men, and turned it just contrary, --
hath made the servant to ride on horses, and the prince to walk on foot.
This is the just punishment of our first sin. Adam's soul was placed by
creation under the sole command of its Creator, above all the creatures,
and his own senses; but in one sin, he proudly exalted himself above
God, and lamentably subjected himself below his senses, by hearkening
to their persuasion. He saw it was good, and tasted it, and it was sweet,
and so he ate of it. What a strange way was this! To be like God, he
made himself unlike himself, liker the miserable beasts. Now, I say, this
is the deserved punishment of man. His soul, that was a free prince, is
made a bond slave to the lusts of his flesh; flesh hath gotten the throne,
and keeps it, and lords it over the whole man. Now therefore it is, that
the whole man unregenerate, is called flesh, as if he had no immortal
spirit, John iii.6, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh;" and this chap.
ver.8, has a description of natural men, "they that are in the flesh;"
because flesh is the predominant part that hath captivated a man's

reason and will. Nay, not only the grosser corruptions in a man, that
have their use and seat in his flesh and body, are under that name; -- but
take the whole nature of man, that which is most excellent in him, his
soul and spirit, his light and understanding, the most refined principles
of his conversation, -- all these are now but flesh. Nay, not only such
natural gifts and illuminations but even the light of the gospel, and law
of God, that someway enters his soul, changeth the nature and name, --
it is all but darkness and flesh in him, because the flesh hath a dominion
over all that. The clouds and vapours that arise from the flesh,
bemist(166) and obscure all these; the corruptions of the soul are most
strengthened in this sort, and most vented here. Sin is become
connatural to the flesh, and so a man, by the flesh, is ensnared and
subjected to sin. Christ comprehends all our prerogatives and
endowments under this. John i.13, "born not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh;" and Matt. xvi.17, "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee." Even all the outwards of religion, and all the common privileges
of Christians may be called so. What hath Abraham found according to
the flesh? Rom. iv.1, Phil. iii.3; -- which imports so much, that all those
outward privileges, many illuminations, and reformations, may so far
consist with the corruption of man's nature, may unite so with that, as
to have one name with it. It is not all able to conquer our flesh, but our
flesh rather subdues all that, and makes it serve itself, till a stronger
than it come, even the Spirit, to subdue it and cast it out of the house.
Thus the image of God in man is defaced; nay, the very image and
nature of man, as man, spoiled. The first creation, -- sin hath marred
and disordered it. Now, when this second creation, or regeneration
comes, the creature is made new, and formed again by the powerful
Spirit of Jesus Christ. This change is made, flesh is put out of the
throne, as an usurper; the spirit and soul of a man is put in a throne
above it, but placed according to its due order, under a holy and
spiritual law of God. And thus Jesus Christ is the repairer of the
breaches, and restorer of the ancient paths and old wastes, to dwell in.
Now the soul hath a new rule established to act according to, and new
principles to act from. He whose course of walking was after the corrupt
dictates and commands of his fleshly affections, and was of no higher

strain than his own sparks of nature, and acquired light would lead him
to, now he hath a new rule established, -- the Spirit speaking in the word
to him, and pointing out the way to him. And there is a new principle,
that Spirit leading him in all truth, and quickening him to walk in it.
Now this is the soul's perfect liberty, to be from under the dominion of
sin and lusts; and thus the Son makes free indeed by the free Spirit. The
Son was made a servant, that we might be made free, no more servants
of sin in the lusts thereof: and the Spirit of the Lord, where he comes,
there is liberty; there the spirit and reasonable soul of a man is elevated
into its first native dignity; there the base flesh is dethroned, and made
to serve the spirit and soul in a man. Christ is indeed the greatest friend
of men, as they are men. Sin made us beasts, Christ makes us men.
Unbelievers are unreasonable men, {GREEK SMALL LETTER
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SIGMA}, brutish, yea, in a manner, beasts; -- this is an ordinary
compellation in scripture. Faith makes a man reasonable, -- it gives the
saving and sanctified use of reason. It is a shame for any man to be a
slave to his lusts and passions. It is the character of a beast upon him.
He that is led by senses and affections, is degenerated from human
nature; and yet such are all out of Christ. Sin reigns in them, and flesh
reigns, and the principles of light and reason within are captivated,
incarcerated within a corner of their minds. We see the generally
received truths among men, that God is, that he is holy, and just, and
good; that heaven and hell is, -- these are altogether ineffectual, and
have no influence on men's conversations, no more than if they were not
known, even because the truth is detained in unrighteousness. The
corruptions of men's flesh are so rank, that they overgrow all this seed
of truth, and choke it, as the thorns did the seed, Matt. xiii.7. Now, for
you, who are called of Jesus Christ, O know what ye are called unto! It
is a liberty indeed, a privilege indeed. Ye are no more debtors to the
flesh; -- Christ hath loosed that obligation of servitude to it. O let it be a
shame unto you, who are Christians, to walk so any more, to be
entangled any more in that yoke of bondage! "He that ruleth his spirit"

is greater than the mighty, "than he that taketh a city." Thus we are
called to be more than conquerors. Others, when they conquer the
world, are slaves to their own lusts; but let it be far from you to be so. Ye
ought to conquer yourselves, which is more than to conquer the world.
It is not only unbeseeming a Christian, to be led with passions and lusts,
but it is below a man, if men were not now through sin below beasts. I
beseech you, aspire unto, and hold fast, the liberty Christ hath obtained
for you. Be not fashioned any more according to former lusts. Know, ye
are men, -- that ye have reasonable and immortal spirits in you. Why
will ye then walk as beasts? "Understand, ye brutish! and ye fools, when
will ye be wise!" But I say more; know, ye are Christians, and this is
more than to be a man, -- it is to be a divine man, one partaker of the
divine nature, and who is to walk accordingly. Christians are called to a
new manner of walking, and this walking is a fruit that comes out of the
root of faith, whereby they are implanted in Christ. You see these agree
well together. Those who are in Christ, "walk not after the flesh," &c.
Walking after the flesh, is the common walk of the world, who are
without God and without Christ, but Christ gives no latitude to such a
walk. This is a new nature to be in Christ, and therefore it must have
new operations, -- to walk after the Spirit. While we look upon the
conversations of the most part of men, they may be a commentary to
expound this part of the words, what it is to walk after the flesh. "The
works of the flesh," saith the apostle, Gal. v.19, "are manifest," -- and
indeed they are manifest, because written in great letters on the outside
of many in the visible church, that who runs may read them. Do but
read that catalogue in Paul, and then come and see them in
congregations. It is not so doubtful and subtile a matter, to know that
many are yet without the verge of Christ Jesus, without the city of
refuge. You may see their mark on their brow. Is not drunkenness,
which is so frequent, a palpable evidence of this, -- your envyings,
revilings, wrath, strife, seditions, fornications, and such like? O do not
deceive yourselves! There is no room in Jesus Christ for such impurities
and impieties. There is no toleration of sin within this city and kingdom.
Sinners are indeed pardoned, yea received and accepted, drunkards,
unclean persons, &c., are not excluded from entering here, -- but they

must renounce these lusts, if they would stay here. Christ will not keep
both, -- he must either cast out the sin, or the sinner with it, if he will not
part with it. I beseech you, know what ye walk after, the flesh is your
leader, and whither will it lead you? -- O! it is sad to think on it, -- to
perdition, ver.13, "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." Ye think flesh
your great friend, ye do all ye can to satisfy and please it, and, O how
pleasant is the satisfaction of your flesh to you! Ye think it liberty to
follow it, and count it bonds and cords to be restrained. But, oh! know
and consider, that flesh will lead you by the kingdom, that guide of your
way, to which you committed yourself, will lead you by heaven, Gal.
v.21. It is a blind guide, corruption and humour, and will have no eyes,
no discerning of that pit of eternal misery. They choose the way that is
best pathed and trodden -- that is easiest, and that most walk into, and
this certainly will lead you straight into this pit of darkness. Be called
off this way, from following your blind lusts, and rather suffer them to
be crucified. Be avenged on them for your two eyes that they have put
out, and their treacherous dealing to you, in leading you the high way to
destruction. Come in to Jesus Christ, and ye shall get a new guide of the
way, -- the Spirit that shall lead you into all truth, unto the blessed and
eternal life. Christ is the way ye must walk in, and the life that we must
go into at the end of our way, and the truth according to which we must
walk. Now he hath given his Spirit, the Comforter, to be our leader in
this way, according to this rule and pattern unto that life. In a word the
Spirit shall lead you the straight way unto Christ. You shall begin in
him, and end in him. He shall lead you from grace to glory. The Spirit
that came down from heaven, shall lead you back to heaven. All your
walk is within the compass of Christ, -- out of him is no way to heaven.
But we must not take this so grossly, as if no other thing were a walking
after the flesh, but the gross abominations among men, though even
these will scrape a great number from being in Christ Jesus, but it must
be further enlarged, to the motions and affections of the unrenewed
spirit, and the common principles according to which men walk. And
therefore the apostle, Col. iii., Gal. v., nameth many things among the

works of the flesh, and members of the old man, which I doubt whether
many will account so of, -- some natural passions that we account
nothing of, because common, as anger, wrath, covetousness. What man
is there amongst us, in whom some of these mentioned stir not? Many of
your hearts and eyes are given to covetousness, your souls bow
downward as your bodies do, and many times before your bodies. Is not
the heart of men upon this world, and cannot rise above to a treasure in
heaven? And therefore your callings otherwise lawful, and all your pains
and endeavours in them, hath this seal of the flesh stamped on them,
and pass no otherwise with God. We see how rank the corruptions of
men are, anger domineering in them, and leading them often captive.
And this is counted a light matter, but it is not so in scripture. How often
is it branded with folly by the wise man! And this folly is even the
natural fleshly corruption that men are born with, and in how many
doth it rise up to the elevation of malice and hatred of others? And then
it carries the image of the devil, rather than of human infirmity. And if
we suppose a man not much given to any of these, yet what a spirit of
pride and self love is in every man, even those that carry the lowest sail,
and the meanest port among men, -- those that are affable and
courteous and those that seem most condescending to inferiors and
equals. Yet, alas! this evil is more deeply engraven on the spirit. If a man
could but watch over his heart, and observe all the secret reflections of
it, all the comparisons it makes, all the desires of applause and favour
among men, all the surmises and stirrings of spirit upon any affront, O
how would they discover diabolic pride! This sin is the more natural and
inbred, for that it is our mother-sin that brought us down from our
excellency. This weed grows upon a glass window, and upon a dunghill.
It lodges in palaces and cottages. Nay, it will spring and grow out of a
pretended humility, and low carriage. In a word, the ambitious designs
of men, the large appetite of earthly things, the overweening conceit of
ourselves, and love to ourselves, the stirring of our affections, without
observing a rule upon unlawful objects, or in an unlawful manner, -- all
these are common to men, and men walk after them. Every man hath
some predominant or idol, that takes him most up. Some are finer and
subtiler than others, some have their pleasures and gains without, others

their own gifts and parts within, but both are alike odious before God,
and both gross flesh and corruption before him.
There are two errors among men concerning this spiritual walking, --
the one is the doctrine of some in these days, the other is the practical
error of many of us. Many pretending to some near and high
discoveries, as to Christ and the Spirit, have fallen upon the most
refined and spiritualized flesh instead of the Spirit indeed. They
separate the Spirit from the word, and reckon the word and law of God,
which was a lamp to David's feet, among the fleshly rudiments of the
world. But if they speak not "according to the law and to the
testimony," saith Isaiah, "it is because there is no light in them." Thus
their new light is but an old darkness, that could not endure even the
darker light of the prophets. If they speak not according to the word, it
is because there is no spirit in them. Is it not the Spirit the Comforter,
which Christ promised to send to the apostles, and all that should
believe in his name through their word? For that Spirit was a Spirit of
truth, that should lead into all truth. And lest men should father their
own fancies and imaginations on the Spirit of God, Christ adds, "he
shall bring all things to your remembrance" -- those things that Christ
hath spoken, and we have here written. The holy apostle to the
Colossians, chap. iii. when he reproves the works of the flesh, and
declares they had put them off, commends unto them, in opposition to
these, "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching
one another in psalms and spiritual songs, with grace in your hearts to
the Lord," ver.16, -- the Spirit here, not casting out the word, but
bringing it in plentifully, and sweetly agreeing with it. The Spirit that
Christ sent, did not put men above ordinances, but above corruptions,
and the body of death in them. It is a poor and easy victory to subdue
grace and ordinances -- every slave of the devil doth that. I fear, as men
and angels fell from their own dignity, by aspiring higher, so those that
will not be content with the estate of Christ and his apostles, but soar up
in a higher strain of spirit, and trample on that ministration as fleshly
and carnal, -- I fear they fall from Jesus Christ, and come into greater

condemnation. It is true indeed, 2 Cor. iii.6, "the letter killeth," that is,
the covenant of works preacheth now nothing but condemnation to men,
but the Spirit of the gospel giveth life, nay, even the gospel separated
from the Spirit of life in Jesus, is but a savour of death to souls. Shall we
therefore separate the Spirit from the gospel and word, because the
word alone cannot quicken us? David knew how to reconcile this, --
"Quicken thou me according to thy word," Psal. cxix.25 -- "Thy Spirit
is good, lead me into the land of uprightness, quicken me, O Lord,"
Psal. cxliii.10, 11. The word was his rule, and the Spirit applied his soul
to the rule. The word holds out the present pattern we should be
conformed unto. Now if there be no more, a man may look all his days
on it, and yet not be changed, but the Spirit within, transforms and
changes a man's soul to more and more conformity to that pattern, by
beholding it. If a man shall shut his eyes on the pattern, he cannot know
what he is, and ought to be. If he look only on the Spirit's work within,
and make that his rule, he takes an imperfect rule, and an incomplete
copy. And yet this is the highest attainment of these aspirers to new
light. They have forsaken the word as their rule, and instead of it, have
another law within them, as much as is already written on their hearts,
which is in substance this, as they suppose, -- I am bound to do no more
than I have already power to do; I am not to endeavour more holiness
than I have already. These men are indeed perfect here in their own
apprehension, and do not know in part, and believe in part, and obey in
part, because they are advanced the length of their own law and rule,
their rule being of no perfection. Paul was not so, but forgetting what he
had attained, he followed on to what was before him, and was still
reaching forward. Let not us, my brethren, believe every spirit, and
every doctrine that comes out under that name, -- Christ hath
forewarned us. Pray for more of that Spirit, which may quicken the
word to us, and quicken us to obey the word. There must be a mutual
enlivening. The word must be made the ministration of life by the Spirit
of Jesus, which can use it as a sword to divide the soul and spirit; and
we must be quickened to the obedience of the truth in the word. The
word is the seed incorruptible; but it cannot beget us, or be a principle
of new life within us, except a living spirit come along to our hearts.

Know that the word is your pattern and rule; the Spirit your leader and
helper, whose virtue and power must conform you to that rule, 1 Pet.
i.22. Peter joins these two, -- the purification and cleansing the soul,
which Christ attributes to the word, "Ye are clean through the word
which I have spoken," John xv.3. Peter attributes it to the Spirit
working according to the pattern of truth. It is true the Spirit of God
needs no pattern to look to; nay, but we must have it, and eye it, else we
know not the Spirit of truth from a lie and delusion. We cannot try the
spirits but by this rule; and it is by making us steadfastly look on this
glorious pattern in the word, and the example of Christ Jesus' life, that
we are conformed unto Christ, as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Cor. iii.13.
Certainly that must be fleshly walking, which is rather conformed unto
the imaginations of a man's own heart, than the blessed will of God
revealed in his word. Can such walking please God, when a man will not
so much as hearken to what is God's will and pleasure? As other
heresies, so especially this, is a work of the flesh.
Now there is another principle amongst many of us. We account it
spiritual walking, to be separated from the gross pollutions of the world,
to have a carriage blameless before men. This is the notion that the
multitude fancy of it. Be not deceived, -- you may pass the censure of all
men, and be unreprovable among them, and yet be but walkers after the
flesh. It is not what you are before the world can prove you spiritual
men, though it may prove many of you carnal. Your outside may
demonstrate of many of you that ye walk after the flesh; and if ye will
not believe it, I ask you if ye think drunkenness a walking in the Spirit?
Do ye think ye are following the Spirit of God in uncleanness? Is it not
that Holy Spirit that purgeth from all filthiness? Look but what your
walk is, ye that are not so much as conformed to the letter of the word in
any thing; who care not to read the scriptures and meditate on them. Is
this walking after the Spirit of truth? If drunkenness, railing,
contention, wrath, envy, covetousness, and such like, be the Spirit's way,
then I confess many of you walk after the Spirit; but if these be the
manifest works of the flesh, and manifestly your way and work, then

why dream ye that ye are Christians?
But I suppose, that ye could be charged with none of these outward
things; that you had a form of religion and godliness, yet I say, all that is
visible before men cannot prove you to be spiritual walkers. Remember
it is a Spirit ye must walk after; now, what shall be the chief agent here?
Sure, not the body, -- what fellowship can your body have with him that
is a Spirit? The body, indeed, may worship that eternal Spirit, being
acted by the spirit; but I say, that alone can never prove you to be
Christians. We must then lay aside a number of professors, who have no
other ground of confidence but such things as may be seen of men; and
if they would enter their hearts, how many vain thoughts lodge there!
How little of God is there! God is not almost in all our thoughts; we give
a morning and evening salutation, but there is no more of God all the
day throughout. And is this walking after the Spirit, which imports a
constancy? And what part can be spared most, but the spirit of a man?
The body is distracted with other necessary things, but we might always
spare our souls to God. Now, thus should a man obey that command, --
"pray always." It is impossible that he should do nothing else but pray
in an express formal way; but the soul's walking with God, between
times of prayer, should compensate that. And thus prayer is continued,
though not in itself, yet in meditation on God, which hath in it the seed
of all worship, and is virtually prayer and thanksgiving, and all duties.
Let us then consider, if our bodies be not more exercised in religion than
our souls, yea, if they be not the chief agents. How many impertinencies,
and roveries, and wanderings, are throughout the day? The most part of
our conversation, if it be not profane, yet it is vain, that is, unprofitable
in the world. It neither advantageth us spiritually, nor glorifies God. It
is almost to no purpose; and this is enough to make it all flesh. And for
our thoughts, how do they go unlimited and unrestrained? -- like a wild
ass, traversing her ways, and gadding about, fixed on nothing, -- at least
not on God; nay, fixed on any thing but God. If it be spiritual service,

should it not carry the seal of our spirit and affection on it? We are as so
many shadows walking, as pictures and statues of Christians, without
the soul and life, which consists in the temper and disposition of the
spirit and soul towards God."
Only the Holy Spirit Gives Birth to Spiritual Life'
[Jesus continued,] "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the
Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life."
— John 3:6 NLT
Key Thought
Ten times in five verses in the Bible's first chapter we are told that each
living thing produced according to its kind (Genesis 1:11-12; Genesis
1:21; Genesis 1:24-25). In today's verse, John reminds us that this
principle is still true: Human beings can produce only human life; they
can't give birth to true spiritual life. The power to give birth to spiritual
life comes only from the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is
essential to true conversion (Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Titus 3:3-
7). When folks were baptized in New Testament times and the Holy
Spirit wasn't involved, they were taught more fully about Jesus and
were baptized again with a recognition of the Spirit's involvement (Acts
19:1-7). When there was a question of whether to include Gentiles into
the family of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in their conversion was
crucial to their acceptance (Acts 10:44-48; Acts 11:15-17; Acts 15:8-9).
For us to be reborn into God's family, for us to be true followers of
Jesus, and for us to be cleansed and made holy, the Holy Spirit must be
involved. Only "the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life"!
https://www.heartlight.org/
Today's Prayer

Almighty God, I know that I cannot give birth to my own spiritual life.
So I thank you for giving me the gift of the Holy Spirit who cleansed me,
gave me a new birth into your family, and lives inside me making me
your holy temple. Please accept my life as a living sacrifice as I live to
bring you glory by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, I pray.
Amen.
JOHN PIPER
Conversion Only Happens by the Holy Spirit
"The teaching that I want to try to persuade you is biblical and,
therefore, true and precious is that the new birth is the result of the
sovereign work of the Holy Spirit preceding and enabling our first act of
saving faith. We do not cause our new birth by an act of faith. Just the
reverse: the cry of faith is the first sound that a newborn babe in Christ
makes. Regeneration, as we sometimes call it, is all of God. We do not
get God to do it by trusting Christ; we trust Christ because he has done
it to us already. The theological catch phrases which are sometimes used
to designate this beautiful doctrine are "prevenient grace" (grace which
precedes and enables our faith) or "irresistible grace" (grace which
overcomes the resistance of man's perverted will by transforming his
nature) or "effectual calling" (a divine call which not only offers but
effects transformation).
Turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 3. Jesus says to Nicodemus
in verse 5, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Whether we refer the
water of this verse to the bag of waters which breaks at a person's first
birth, or to baptism, or to spiritual cleansing, the main point of the verse
is the same. Being born once or being baptized is no guarantee of
salvation; you must be born of the Spirit, you must experience a

spiritual cleansing and re-creation.
Then verse 6 gives the reason for why a second spiritual birth is
necessary: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit." "Flesh" in John's gospel simply means
human. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).
"The Father has given the Son power over all flesh" (John 17:2). So
Jesus is saying here, your human birth makes you merely human. But
when you are born of the Spirit, then a new dimension of supernatural
life enters in, spiritual life. New loves, new inclinations, new allegiance.
A new person is born. Paul's terms for the person before and after new
birth are "natural man" and "spiritual man." He says in 1 Corinthians
2:14, 15,
The natural man does not welcome the gifts of the Spirit of God for they
are folly to him . . . The spiritual man judges all things but is himself to
be judged by no one.
So Jesus and Paul are saying essentially the same thing: that which is
born of the flesh is a natural man (a person with no spiritual
inclinations or receptivity to the things of God), and that which is born
of the Spirit is a spiritual man (who loves the things of God).
The connection, then, between verses 5 and 6 of John 3 is this: We have
to be born of the Spirit, because until we are, we are unfit for the
kingdom of heaven. We are mere natural persons who do not welcome
the things of God. Before a person is born of the Spirit, he has no
inclination to trust Christ for salvation, and therefore he cannot enter
God's kingdom. Faith is the most beautiful, God-honoring, and humble
act that a human can perform, and therefore we must not imagine that
it can be performed by a "natural man" who "does not welcome the
things of the Spirit of God." Before a person can perform the best of all
acts, he must become a new person. Thorn bushes don't produce figs,
apple trees don't produce olives, and a "natural man" does not produce
faith. He cannot. Here is the way Paul put it in Romans 8:5–7,
Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the

flesh, and those according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of
the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit
is life and peace. For the mind of the flesh is at enmity toward God, for
it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it submit.
Fallen human nature is so hostile to God and his demands that it cannot
submit to God in faith. We must be born again, born of the Spirit,
before we can approve of God's Word and trust Christ. Faith is not the
means or the cause of the new birth; it is the result, the fruit of new
birth."
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THE PURPOSE OF SPIRITUAL BIRTHING:
Published on June 6, 2014
Dr. Randy E. SimmonsFollow
President/Ceo at Global Visions Ministries Intl. Inc., Author,
Motivational Speaker, Life Coach, Spiritual Adviser.
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THE PURPOSE OF SPIRITUAL BIRTHING:
Spiritual birthing is yet a tender and delicate subject within the body of
Christ. So often it is misunderstood. When we request a spiritual 'mid-
wife', we responded to a natural human need to be assisted or helped in
all our endeavors. This is a frailty and weakness found only in humans.
Yet man says: "for the children have come to the birth, and there is not
strength to bring them forth"(2 Kings 19:3). BUT GOD SAYS: "Shall I
bring to the birth, and not cause to come forth? Shall I cause to bring
forth, and shut the womb?"(Isa. 66:9)
I am glad the Holy Spirit shows us the instinct of animals...they need no
'mid-wife', they need no help. When God created animals he put within
them an 'animalistic' instinct and natural ability to have sex, get
pregnant, and then give birth. As soon as that is over, the process begins
again, and often time not with the same mate. We humans and
Christians would frown upon that because we don't understand nor can
we accept the natural (and spiritual) processes that God put in place.
That is simply because of our sin nature. We became dependent...the
man is dependent on the ground from whence he came, the woman's
desire is to the man (her husband) she can't have sons or daughters
without his seed. Hence the need to be born again so that we may
understand the things of the Spirit (John 3:1-21).
Spirit needs neither midwife nor direction to conceive or bring about...
(It blows here it listeth..."John 3:8) it’s a spiritual process...it’s a
spiritual thing. Let me go deeper, and please spare my ignorant
indulgence. God saw a virgin in Israel; he needed a vessel to bring His
son, Jesus into flesh. And according to Galatians 4:4-5 'in the fullness of

time...' It happened. But let's examine the process. An angel appeared,
spoke to a virgin who had never known a man, told her she would
conceive, and the Holy Spirit came upon her, and nine months later she
had a baby in a stable, in a manger in Bethlehem...all by herself and her
husband; no indication of a midwife, or crying or any such thing. She
had it among the animals...and they understood. The child in her was
HOLY. Again forgive my depth of ignorance (Luke 1:26-40; 2:1-21).
Last year I was about to publish this book called: "PROPHETIC
BIRTHING". I cancelled the project because the Holy Spirit spoke and
said: "this generation of believers is not ready or prepared for such
things". We associate everything with flesh and that is how we, even as
Christians, judge all things. Such things should not be. For 'that which
is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit'(John 3:6) I hope some of this may help. I would say more, but I
prefer to allow the Spirit to speak to you instead. There is much that we
in the body must learn if we are to win a generation not yet born to
Christ Jesus.
SPIRITUAL BIRTHING IS A PROCESS THAT ONLY THE HOLY
SPIRIT CAN BRING ABOUT. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR
FLESH...
IT IS DESIGNED TO BRING ABOUT SPIRITUAL THINGS INTO
THE NATURAL...
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN TO MANKIND...
THE WILL OF THE FATHER BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN
HEAVEN...

THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS AND DOMINION BACK TO
MAN AS GOD GAVE IT...
TO BRING HONOR TO GOD THE FATHER AND HIS SON JESUS
CHRIST...
THE BLESSINGS OF ABRAHAM TO THE GENTILES...
THESE THINGS ARE SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED... BE BLESSED.
Dr. Randy E. Simmons
From the Book: "Prophetic Birthing" By Dr. Randy E. Simmons
by Watchman Nee
More excerpts from this title...
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT
Since we have seen that the Holy Spirit indwells the believers at the time
of their regeneration, we should see in more detail where the Holy Spirit
dwells so that we can understand His work within us.
We must remember that the real meaning of regeneration is not an
outward change or the soul and the body being stimulated, but it is the
spirit receiving life. Regeneration is a new event which takes place
within the human spirit. It is the enlivening of the deadened spirit. The

reason the deadened spirit can be made alive is due to receiving a new
life. But the most important point is that when we receive a new spirit,
we also receive the Holy Spirit of God to dwell within us. The phrase
"put within you" occurs twice in Ezekiel 36:26-27 and indicates that the
place where the Holy Spirit dwells is the human spirit.
We have seen that our whole being is just like the holy temple. "Do you
not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16). What the apostle means is that because
believers are the temple of God, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is just like
God dwelling in the holy temple in the old days. Although the entire
temple signifies the presence of God and is the dwelling place of God,
the actual place of God’s dwelling is in the Holy of Holies. The Holy
Place and outer court are only places for God to work and move
according to His presence in the Holy of Holies. Our spirit is signified by
the Holy of Holies. According to this illustration, the Holy Spirit
indwelling our spirit is a very clear matter.
The nature of the dweller and the dwelling place are the same. After
man’s regeneration, only man’s regenerated spirit is an adequate
dwelling place of the Holy Spirit—not his mind, emotion, will, and body.
He is the Builder and also the Dweller. He cannot dwell before He
builds. He builds because He wants to dwell. He can only dwell in the
place which He has built.
As we have mentioned, the holy ointment cannot be poured upon man’s
flesh. We have also mentioned that everything of man before his
regeneration, regardless of which part, in its totality is called "flesh" in
the Bible. Therefore, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in man’s flesh. This
also indicates clearly that the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in man’s mind,
emotion, will, or body. Not to mention that the Holy Spirit cannot dwell
in any part of man’s soul or body, He cannot dwell even in man’s
unregenerated spirit. Just as the holy ointment cannot be poured upon
the flesh, in the same way, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in any part of
the "flesh." The Spirit can only lust against the flesh (Gal. 5:17); He has
no other relationship with the flesh. Therefore, unless something

different from the flesh exists in man, there is no way for the Holy Spirit
to dwell in man. Therefore, the regeneration of the spirit is very
important because the Holy Spirit dwells in the new spirit, which is
different from the flesh.
The Holy Spirit indwelling man’s spirit is a very important thing. If a
believer does not know that the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit is in
the deepest part of his whole being, which is deeper than his mind,
emotion, and will, he will surely seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in
his mind, emotion, and will. If we understand this, then we will know
that we were deceived before and were wrong in looking outward,
outside the spirit in the soul, or inside or outside the body for guidance.
The Holy Spirit is indeed dwelling in the deepest part of our being.
Therefore, His work can only be expected to be seen there; His guidance
can only be found there. Our prayer is toward the "heavenly Father,"
but the heavenly Father is within us leading us. Our Comforter is within
our spirit. Therefore, His guidance also issues from there. If we seek a
sign from a dream, vision, voice, or feeling outside of our spirit, then we
will be deceived.
Many believers often look inwardly, searching into their own thinking,
feeling, and opinion to see whether they have peace, how much grace
they have received, or what kind of progress they have made. This is not
of faith, and it is very harmful. This causes the believer to turn his eyes
away from Christ to himself. But there is another kind of inward
looking which is different from the one just mentioned. The greatest
deed of faith is to look to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in
the spirit. The believer’s mind, emotion, and will cannot sense the things
within him, yet even in darkness he must believe that God has given him
a new spirit, within which dwells the Holy Spirit. Just as God who dwelt
behind the dark veil was believed, feared, and yet not seen by man, the
Holy Spirit indwelling man’s spirit also cannot be sensed by his soul and
body.
After seeing this, we know what is the real spiritual life. It is not many
thoughts and visions in the mind; neither is it many enthusiastic, joyful,

and happy feelings in the emotion; nor is it sudden shakings,
penetrations, and contacts brought by outward forces upon the body.
Rather, it is a life issuing from the Spirit which is in the deepest part of a
man. A real spiritual life is deeper than the mind, the feelings, and the
consciousness of the body. It is in the deepest part of a man. Truly
walking according to the spirit is knowing the moving of the innermost
spirit and following it. No matter how wonderful experiences in the
mind, emotion, and will are, if they are just outward, not even deeper
than feelings, then these experiences are not of the spirit. Only the effect
produced by the work of the Holy Spirit in man’s spirit can be counted
as a spiritual experience. Anything else is just thought and feeling. A
spiritual living needs faith.
Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit"—not
the heart or the soul—"that we are children of God." Man’s spirit is the
part where man works together with the Holy Spirit. How do we know
that we have been saved through regeneration and are the children of
God? We know because our spirit has been made alive and the Holy
Spirit lives in our spirit. Our spirit is a regenerated and renewed spirit,
and He who dwells in, yet is distinct from, our spirit is the Holy Spirit.
He bears witness with our spirit within us.
(Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 13: The Spiritual
Man (2), Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.
Adam Clarke Commentary

That which is born of the flesh is flesh - This is the answer to the
objection made by Nicodemus in John 3:4. Can a man enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Our Lord here intimates
that, were even this possible, it would not answer the end; for the plant
will ever be of the nature of the seed that produces it - like will beget its
like. The kingdom of God is spiritual and holy; and that which is born
of the Spirit resembles the Spirit; for as he is who begat, so is he who is
begotten of him. Therefore, the spiritual regeneration is essentially
necessary, to prepare the soul for a holy and spiritual kingdom.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on John 3:6". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/john-3.html. 1832.
return to 'Jump List'
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
That which is born of the flesh - To show the necessity of this change,
the Saviour directs the attention of Nicodemus to the natural condition
of man. By “that which is born of the flesh” he evidently intends man as
he is by nature, in the circumstances of his natural birth. Perhaps, also,
he alludes to the question asked by Nicodemus, whether a man could be
born when he was old? Jesus tells him that if this could be, it would not
answer any valuable purpose; he would still have the same propensities
and passions. Another change was therefore indispensable.
Is flesh - Partakes of the nature of the parent. Compare Genesis 5:3. As
the parents are corrupt and sinful, so will be their descendants. See Job
14:4. And as the parents are wholly corrupt by nature, so their children
will be the same. The word “flesh” here is used as meaning “corrupt,

defiled, sinful.” The “flesh” in the Scriptures is often used to denote the
sinful propensities and passions of our nature, as those propensities are
supposed to have their seat in the animal nature. “The works of the flesh
are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness,” etc., Galatians 5:19-20. See also Ephesians 2:3; 1 Peter
3:21; 1 Peter 2:18; 1 John 2:16; Romans 8:5.
Is born of the Spirit - Of the Spirit of God, or by the agency of the Holy
Spirit.
Is spirit - Is spiritual, “like” the spirit, that is, holy, pure. Here we learn:
1.that all men are by nature sinful.
2.that none are renewed but by the Spirit of God. If man did the work
himself, it would he still carnal and impure.
3.that the effect of the new birth is to make men holy.
4.and, that no man can have evidence that he is born again who is not
holy, and just in proportion as he becomes pure in his life will be the
evidence that he is born of the Spirit.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Barnes' Notes on the New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/john-
3.html. 1870.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

Spirit is spirit.
Just as there are two elements in the new birth, there are two elements
in man that require it. The flesh is born of the water (baptized), and the
spirit is born of the Spirit (receives the Holy Spirit); but these are not
two births, only one new birth.
Born ... The etymology of this word bears witness to the nature of the
ceremony of baptism, coming from an old Anglo-Saxon word, "to be
drawn forth from."
The previous verse revealed the two elements of the new birth, this the
requirement that both flesh and spirit participate in it. Thus, what Jesus
was saying to Nicodemus was: "Do what my disciples have done; first
submit to John's baptism, and then come join my company."[12] If he
had done so, the second element of the new birth, the reception of the
Spirit would have been completed after Pentecost. The fact that at that
particular time, Nicodemus could not have received the Holy Spirit,
since he was not given yet, proves that the new birth as experienced in
the new dispensation was in view here. See under John 7:39.
ENDNOTE:
[12] A. M. Hunter, The Gospel according to John (Cambridge:
University Press, 1965), p. 37.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of
Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other
rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/john-3.html.

Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
That which is born of the flesh, is flesh,.... Man by his natural birth, and
as he is born according to the flesh of his natural parents, is a mere
natural man; that is, he is carnal and corrupt, and cannot discern
spiritual things; nor can he, as such, enter into, and inherit the kingdom
of God; see 1 Corinthians 2:14. And therefore there is a necessity of his
being born again, or of the grace of the Spirit, and of his becoming a
spiritual man; and if he was to be, or could be born again of the flesh, or
ever so many times enter into his mothers womb, and be born, was it
possible, he would still be but a natural and a carnal man, and so unfit
for the kingdom of God. By "flesh" here, is not meant the fleshy part of
man, the body, as generated of another fleshy substance; for this is no
other than what may be said of brutes; and besides, if this was the sense,
"spirit", in the next clause, must mean the soul, whereas one soul is not
generated from another: but by flesh is designed, the nature of man; not
merely as weak and frail, but as unclean and corrupt, through sin; and
which being propagated by natural generation from sinful men, cannot
be otherwise; for "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not
one", Job 14:4. And though the soul of man is of a spiritual nature, and
remains a spirit, notwithstanding the pollution of sin; yet it being defiled
with the flesh, and altogether under the power and influence of the lusts
of the flesh, it may well be said to be carnal or fleshly: hence "flesh", as
it stands opposed to spirit, signifies the corruption of nature, Galatians
5:17; and such who are in a state of unregeneracy, are said to be after
the flesh, and in the flesh, and even the mind itself is said to be carnal,
Romans 8:5.
And that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit: a man that is regenerated
by the Spirit of God, and the efficacy of his grace, is a spiritual man; he
can discern and judge all things of a spiritual nature; he is a fit person
to be admitted to spiritual ordinances and privileges; and appears to be

in the spiritual kingdom of Christ; and has a right to the world of
blessed spirits above; and when his body is raised a spiritual body, will
be admitted in soul, body, and spirit, into the joy of his Lord. "Spirit" in
the first part of this clause, signifies the Holy Spirit of God, the author
of regeneration and sanctification; whence that work is called the
sanctification of the Spirit, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, 1 Peter
1:2. And "spirit", in the latter part, intends the internal work of grace
upon the soul, from whence a man is denominated a spiritual man; and
as a child bears the same name with its parent, so this is called by the
same, as the author and efficient cause of it: and besides, it is of a
spiritual nature itself, and exerts itself in spiritual acts and exercises,
and directs to, and engages in spiritual things; and has its seat also in
the spirit, or soul of man.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and
adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes
Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on John 3:6". "The New John Gill Exposition
of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/john-3.html. 1999.
Geneva Study Bible
That which is born of the flesh is g flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.

(g) That is, fleshly, namely, wholly unclean and under the wrath of God:
and therefore this word "flesh" signifies the corrupt nature of man:
contrary to which is the Spirit, that is, the man ingrafted into Christ
through the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose nature is everlasting and
immortal, though the strife of the flesh remains.
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentary on John 3:6". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/john-3.html.
1599-1645.
Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament
That which is born (το γεγεννημενον — to gegenneσαρχ — sarx) and
Spirit (πνευμα — pneuma), drawn already in John 1:13, serves to
remind Nicodemus of the crudity of his question in John 3:4 about a
second physical birth.
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament. Copyright
Broadman Press 1932,33, Renewal 1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern Baptist Sunday School Board)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Robertson's Word
Pictures of the New Testament".

https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/john-3.html.
Broadman Press 1932,33. Renewal 1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
That which is born ( τογεγεννηενον )
Strictly, that which hath been born, and consequently is now before us
as born. The aorist tense (John 3:3, John 3:4, John 3:5, John 3:7),
marks the fact of birth; the perfect (as here), the state of that which has
been born (see on 1 John 5:18, where both tenses occur); the neuter, that
which, states the principle in the abstract. Compare John 3:8, where the
statement is personal: everyone that is born. Compare 1 John 5:4, and 1
John 5:1, 1 John 5:18.
Of the flesh ( εκ της σαρκος )
See on John 3:14. John uses the word σαρξ generally, to express
humanity under the conditions of this life (John 1:14; 1 John 4:2, 1 John
4:3, 1 John 4:7; 2 John 1:7), with sometimes a more definite hint at the
sinful and fallible nature of humanity (1 John 2:16; John 8:15). Twice,
as opposed to πνευμα , Spirit (John 3:6; John 6:63).
Of the Spirit ( εκ τουπνευματος )
The Holy Spirit of God, or the principle of life which He imparts. The
difference is slight, for the two ideas imply each other; but the latter
perhaps is better here, because a little more abstract, and so contrasted
with the flesh. Spirit and flesh are the distinguishing principles, the one
of the heavenly, the other of the earthly economy.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography

Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/john-3.html.
Charles Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Spirit is spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh — Mere flesh, void of the Spirit,
yea, at enmity with it; And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit - Is
spiritual, heavenly, divine, like its Author.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on John 3:6". "John Wesley's Explanatory
Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/john-3.html. 1765.
The Fourfold Gospel
Spirit is spirit1.
Spirit is spirit. Jesus here draws the distinction between fleshly birth

and spiritual birth. He did this to prepare Nicodemus to understand
that it is the "spirit" and not the flesh which undergoes the change
called the new birth. Regeneration is no slight, superficial change, but a
radical one, and one which we cannot work for ourselves.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Website. These files were made available by Mr. Ernie Stefanik. First
published online in 1996 at The Restoration Movement Pages.
Bibliography
J. W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton. "Commentary on John 3:6".
"The Fourfold Gospel".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tfg/john-3.html.
Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1914.
Abbott's Illustrated New Testament
The meaning seems to be, that the qualities which are inherited by
natural birth are earthly and sensual, and that a great change, to be
wrought only by the Holy Spirit, will make man heavenly-minded and
pure.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Abbott, John S. C. & Abbott, Jacob. "Commentary on John 3:6".
"Abbott's Illustrated New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ain/john-3.html. 1878.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
6.That which is born of the flesh. By reasoning from contraries, he
argues that the kingdom of God is shut against us, unless an entrance be
opened to us by a new birth, ( παλιγγενεσ α) For he takes for granted,ί
that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless we are spiritual.
But we bring nothing from the womb but a carnal nature. Therefore it
follows, that we are naturally banished from the kingdom of God, and,
having been deprived of the heavenly life, remain under the yoke of
death. Besides, when Christ argues here, that men must be born again,
because they are only flesh, he undoubtedly comprehends all mankind
under the term flesh. By the flesh, therefore, is meant in this place not
the body, but the soul also, and consequently every part of it. When the
Popish divines restrict the word to that part which they call sensual,
they do so in utter ignorance of its meaning; (59) for Christ must in that
case have used an inconclusive argument, that we need a second birth,
because part of us is corrupt. But if the flesh is contrasted with the
Spirit, as a corrupt thing is contrasted with what is uncorrupted, a
crooked thing with what is straight, a polluted thing with what is holy, a
contaminated thing with what is pure, we may readily conclude that the
whole nature of man is condemned by a single word. Christ therefore
declares that our understanding and reason is corrupted, because it is
carnal, and that all the affections of the heart are wicked and reprobate,
because they too are carnal.
But here it may be objected, that since the soul is not begotten by
human generation, we are notborn of the flesh, as to the chief part of
our nature. This led many persons to imagine that not only our bodies,

but our souls also, descend to us from our parents; for they thought it
absurd that original sin, which has its peculiar habitation in the soul,
should be conveyed from one man to all his posterity, unless all our
souls proceeded from his soul as their source. And certainly, at first
sight, the words of Christ appear to convey the idea, that we are flesh,
because we are born of flesh. I answer, so far as relates to the words of
Christ, they mean nothing else than that we are all carnal when we are
born; and that as we come into this world mortal men, our nature
relishes nothing but what is flesh. He simply distinguishes here between
nature and the supernatural gift; for the corruption of all mankind in
the person of Adam alone did not proceed from generation, but from the
appointment of God, who in one man had adorned us all, and who has
in him also deprived us of his gifts. Instead of saying, therefore, that
each of us draws vice and corruption from his parents, it would be more
correct to say that we are all alike corrupted in Adam alone, because
immediately after his revolt God took away from human nature what
He had bestowed upon it.
Here another question arises; for it is certain that in this degenerate and
corrupted nature some remnant of the gifts of God still lingers; and
hence it follows that we are not in every respect corrupted. The reply is
easy. The gifts which God hath left to us since the fall, if they are judged
by themselves, are indeed worthy of praise; but as the contagion of
wickedness is spread through every part, there will be found in us
nothing that is pure and free from every defilement. That we naturally
possess some knowledge of God, that some distinction between good and
evil is engraven on our conscience, that our faculties are sufficient for
the maintenance of the present life, that — in short — we are in so many
ways superior to the brute beasts, that is excellent in itself, so far as it
proceeds from God; but in us all these things are completely polluted, in
the same manner as the wine which has been wholly infected and
corrupted by the offensive taste of the vessel loses the pleasantness of its
good flavor, and acquires a bitter and pernicious taste. For such
knowledge of God as now remains in men is nothing else than a frightful
source of idolatry and of all superstitions; the judgment exercised in

choosing and distinguishing things is partly blind and foolish, partly
imperfect and confused; all the industry that we possess flows into
vanity and trifles; and the will itself, with furious impetuosity, rushes
headlong to what is evil. Thus in the whole of our nature there remains
not a drop of uprightness. Hence it is evident that we must be formed by
the second birth, that we may be fitted for the kingdom of God; and the
meaning of Christ’s words is, that as a man is born only carnal from the
womb of his mother; he must be formed anew by the Spirit, that he may
begin to be spiritual.
The word Spirit is used here in two senses, namely, for grace, and the
effect of grace. For in the first place, Christ informs us that the Spirit of
God is the only Author of a pure and upright nature, and afterwards he
states, that we are spiritual, because we have been renewed by his
power.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Calvin's Commentary on
the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/john-
3.html. 1840-57.
Ver. 6. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit."
The logical transition from John 3:5 to John 3:6 is this understood idea:
"The Kingdom of God can only be of a spiritual nature, as God is
Himself." In order to enter it, therefore, there must be, not flesh, as
every man is by his first birth, but spirit, as he becomes by the new
birth. The word flesh (see pp. 268-269), taken in itself, does not

necessarily imply the notion of sin. But it certainly cannot be
maintained, with Weiss, that the question here is simply of the
insufficiency of the natural birth, even in the state of innocence, to
render man fit for the divine kingdom. Nevertheless, we must not forget
that the question here is of humanity in its present constitution,
according to which sin is connected with the fact of birth more closely
than with any other of the natural life (Psalms 51:7).
The expression: the flesh, seems to me, therefore, to denote here
humanity in its present state, in which the flesh rules the spirit. This
state is transmitted from generation to generation in such a way that,
without renewal, no man can come out of that fatal circle. And hence the
necessity of regeneration. How does this transmission of the carnal state
accord with individual culpability? The last words of this conversation
will throw some light on this difficult question. According to this saying,
it is impossible to suppose that Jesus regarded Himself as born in the
same way as other men (John 3:7, you). The substantive flesh, as a
predicate (is flesh), has a much more forcible meaning than that of the
adjective (carnal) would be. The state has, in some sort, become nature.
Hence, it follows that it is not enough to cleanse or adorn outwardly the
natural man; a new nature must be substituted for the old, by means of
a regenerating power. We might also see in the second clause a proof of
the necessity of the new birth; it would be necessary, in that case, to give
it the exclusive sense: "Nothing except what is born of the Spirit is
spiritual (and can enjoy, in consequence, the Kingdom of the Spirit)."
But the clause has rather a positive and affirmative sense: "That which
is born of the Spirit is really spirit, and consequently cannot fail to enjoy
the Kingdom of the Spirit." The idea, therefore, is that of the reality of
the new birth, and consequently, of its complete possibility.
This is the answer to the question: "How can a man?" Let the Spirit
breathe, and the spiritual man exists! The word Spirit, as subject,
denotes the Divine Spirit, and, as predicate, the new man. Here, again,
the substantive (spirit), is used instead of the adjective (spiritual), to
characterize the new essence. This word spirit, in the context here,
includes not only the new principle of spiritual life, but also the soul and

body, in subjection to the Spirit. The neuter, τ γεγεννημένον (thatὸ
which is born), is substituted in the two clauses for the masculine (he
who is born), for the purpose of designating thenature of the product,
abstractedly from the individual; thus, the generality of the law is more
clearly brought out.Hilgenfeld finds here the Gnostic distinction
between two kinds of men, originally opposite.
Meyer well replies: "There is a distinction, not between two classes of
men, but between two different phases in the life of the same
individual."
Jesus observes, that the astonishment of Nicodemus, instead of
diminishing, goes on increasing. He penetrates the cause of this fact:
Nicodemus has not yet given a place in his conception of divine things to
the action of the Holy Spirit; this is the reason why he is always seeking
to represent to himself the new birth as a fact apprehensible by the
senses. Recognizing him, however, as a serious and sincere man, He
wishes to remove from his path this stumbling-stone. Here is not a fact,
He says to him, which one can picture to himself; it can be
comprehended only as far as it is experienced.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Godet, Frédéric Louis. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Frédéric Louis
Godet - Commentary on Selected Books".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsc/john-3.html.
John Trapp Complete Commentary

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.
Ver. 6. That which is born of the flesh, &c.] Whole man is in evil, and
whole evil in man. Quintilian saw not this, and therefore said, that it is
more marvel that one man sinneth than that all men should live
honestly; sin is so much against man’s nature. Many also of the most
dangerous opinions of Popery (as justification by works, state of
perfection, merit, supererogation, &c.) spring from hence; that they
have slight conceits of concupiscence, as a condition of nature. Yet some
of them (as Michael Bains, professor at Lovain, &c.) are sound in this
point.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on John 3:6". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/john-
3.html. 1865-1868.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
John 3:6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh;— That Nicodemus
might see the absurdityof his notion, Jesus told him, that whatsoever is
begotten, must necessarily partake of the nature of that which begets it;
and therefore, that a man's being begotten and born a second time by
his natural parents, were that possible, would not make him holy, or
qualify him for the kingdom of God. After such a second generation, his

nature would be the same sinful and corrupt thingas before, because he
would still be endued with all the properties and sinful inclinations of
human nature; and consequently would be as far from a happy
immortality as ever:—That which is born of the flesh is flesh:—But that
which is born of the Spirit is Spirit: spiritual, heavenly, divine, like its
author.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentary on John 3:6". Thomas Coke
Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/john-3.html. 1801-
1803.
Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
As if Christ had said, "As men generate men, and nature begets nature,
so the Holy Spirit produceth holy inclinations, qualifications, and
dispositions."
Learn hence, That as original corruption is conveyed by natural
generation, so saving regeneration is the effect and product of the Holy
Spirit's operation.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Burkitt, William. "Commentary on John 3:6". Expository Notes with
Practical Observations on the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wbc/john-3.html. 1700-
1703.
Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary
6.] The neuter denotes not only the universal application of this truth,
but (see Luke 1:35) the very first beginnings of life in the embryo,
before sex can be predicated. So Bengel: “notat ipsa prima stamina
vitæ.”
The Lord here answers Nicodemus’s hypothetical question of John 3:4,
by telling him that even could it be so, it would not accomplish the birth
of which He speaks.
In this σάρξ is included every part of that which is born after the
ordinary method of generation: even the spirit of man, which, receptive
as it is of the Spirit of God, is yet in the natural birth dead, sunk in
trespasses and sins, and in a state of wrath. Such ‘flesh and blood’
cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Corinthians 15:50. But when the
man is born again of the Spirit (the water does not appear any more,
being merely the outward form of reception,—the less included in the
greater), then just as flesh generates flesh, so spirit generates spirit,
after its own image, see 2 Corinthians 3:18 fin.; and since the Kingdom
of God is a spiritual kingdom, such only who are so born can enter into
it.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on John 3:6". Greek Testament Critical
Exegetical Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/john-3.html. 1863-
1878.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New
Testament
John 3:6. A more minute antithetic definition of this birth, in order
further to elucidate it.
We have not in what follows two originally different classes of persons
designated (Hilgenfeld), for the new birth is needed by all (see John 3:7;
comp. also Weiss, Lehrbegriff, p. 128), but two different and successive
epochs of life.
τ γεγεννημ.] neuter, though designating persons, to give prominence toὸ
the statement as general and categorical. See Winer, p. 167 [E. T. p.
222].
κ τ ς σαρκός] The σάρξ is that human nature, consisting of body andἐ ῆ
soul, which is alien and hostile to the divine, influenced morally by
impulses springing from the power of sin, whose seat it is, living and
operating with the principle of sensible life, the ψυχή. See on Romans
4:1. “What is born of human nature thus sinfully constituted (and,
therefore, not in the way of spiritual birth from God), is a being of the
same sinfully conditioned nature,(154) without the higher spiritual
moral life which springs only from the working of the divine Spirit.
Comp. John 1:12-13. Destitute of this divine working, man is merely
σαρκικός, ψυχικός (1 Corinthians 2:14), πεπραμένος π τ ν μαρτίανὑ ὸ ὴ ἁ
(Romans 7:14), and, despite his natural moral consciousness and will in
the νο ς, is wholly under the sway of the sinful power that is in the σάρξῦ
(Romans 7:14-25). The σάρξ, as the moral antithesis of the πνε μα,ῦ
stands in the same relation to the human πνε μα with the νο ς, as theῦ ῦ

prevailingly sinful and morally powerless life of our lower nature does
to the higher moral principle of life (Matthew 26:41) with the will
converted to God; while it stands in the same relation to the divine
πνε μα, as that which is determinately opposed to God stands to thatῦ
which determines the new life in obedience to God (Romans 8:1-3). In
both relations, σάρξ and πνε μα are antitheses to each other, Matthewῦ
26:41; Galatians 5:17 ff.; accordingly in the unregenerate we have the
lucta carnis et MENTIS (Romans 7:14 ff.), in the regenerate we have the
lucta carnis et SPIRITUS (Galatians 5:17).
κ το πνεύματος] that which is born of the Spirit, i.e. that whose moralἐ ῦ
nature and life have proceeded from the operation of the Holy Spirit,
(155) is a being of a spiritual nature, free from the dominion of the σάρξ,
and entirely filled and governed by a spiritual principle, namely by the
Holy Spirit (Romans 8:2 ff.), walking ν καινότητι πνεύματος (Romansἐ
7:6).
The general nature of the statement forbids its limitation to the Jews as
descendants of Abraham according to the flesh (Kuinoel and others),
but they are of course included in the general declaration; comp. John
3:7, μ ς.ὑ ᾶ
In the apodoses the substantives σάρξ and πνε μα represent, thoughῦ
with stronger emphasis (comp. John 6:63, John 11:25, John 12:50; 1
John 4:8; Romans 8:10), the adjectives σαρκικός and πνευματικός, and
are to be taken qualitatively.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Meyer, Heinrich. "Commentary on John 3:6". Heinrich Meyer's
Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.

https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hmc/john-3.html. 1832.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament
John 3:6. σάρξ) True flesh: but also mere flesh, void of spirit, opposed to
spirit, of an old generation.— τ γεγεννημένον, what is born) This beingὸ
in the neuter, sounds more general, and denotes the very first stamina
[groundwork] of new life: comp. Luke 1:35, “The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;
therefore that holy thing, τ γεννώμενον,” etc.: or even the whole bodyὸ
of those born again: comp. John 6:37; John 6:39, “All that— π ν —ᾶ ὅ
the Father giveth Me, shall come to Me,” etc.: “This is the Father’s will,
etc., that of all which— π ν —He hath given Me, I should lose nothingᾶ ὅ
— ξ α το —but should raise it— α τό—up again at the last day.”ἐ ὐ ῦ ὐ
Afterwards it is expressed in the masculine, γεγεννημένος, who isὁ
born, John 3:8; which signifies matured birth.— πνε μα, spirit) Thatῦ
which is born of the Spirit is spirit: he who is born of the Spirit is
spiritual.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, Johann Albrecht. "Commentary on John 3:6". Johann Albrecht
Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/john-3.html. 1897.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
That which is born of the flesh: that which is born of natural flesh; for

flesh sometimes signifies the man. So the prophet saith, All flesh is grass,
Isaiah 40:6. So Genesis 6:12, All flesh, that is, all men, had corrupted
their way. Or, that which is born of corruption, from vitiated and
corrupted nature; so flesh is oft taken in Scripture, Romans 8:4,5,8, &c.
Is flesh; that is, it bringeth forth effects proportionable to the cause; a
man purely natural brings forth natural operations. Man, as man,
moveth, and eateth, and drinketh, and sleepeth. Corrupted man brings
forth vicious and corrupt fruit, which often are called the works of the
flesh, Galatians 5:19.
Flesh here signifieth the whole man, whether considered abstractly from
the adventitious corruption of his nature, or as fallen in Adam, vitiated
and debauched through lust.
And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit: but that man or woman
who is regenerated by the Spirit of grace is spiritual; he is after the
Spirit, Romans 8:5; he is one spirit with God, 1 Corinthians 6:17; he is
made partaker of the Divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4; he doth not commit sin,
1 John 3:9. Nothing in operation exceedeth the virtue of that cause
which influences it; so as no man from a mere natural principle can
perform a truly spiritual operation; and from hence it is absolutely
necessary that man must be born of the Spirit, that he may be qualified
for the kingdom of heaven.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentary on John 3:6". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/john-3.html. 1685.

Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
Born of the flesh is flesh-born of the Spirit is spirit; by the natural birth,
fleshly children come from fleshly parents; by the spiritual birth,
spiritual children come from the Holy Spirit. Flesh and spirit are here
opposed to each other. The first denotes what is earthly and impure; the
second, what is heavenly and holy. Compare Romans 8:1-9.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Family Bible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/john-
3.html. American Tract Society. 1851.
Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges
6. The meaning of γεννηθ ναι νωθεν is still further explained by anῆ ἄ
analogy. What man inherits from his parents is a body with animal life
and passions; what he receives from above is a spiritual nature with
heavenly capabilities and aspirations: what is born of sinful human
nature is human and sinful; what is born of the Holy Spirit is spiritual
and divine.
There is an interesting interpolation here. The old Latin and old Syriac
Versions insert quia Deus spiritus est et de Deo natus est. No Greek MS.
contains the words, which are obviously a gloss. But S. Ambrose (De
Spir. III. 59) charges the Arians with effacing quia Deus spiritus est
from their MSS. see on John 1:13.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
"Commentary on John 3:6". "Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools
and Colleges". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/john-
3.html. 1896.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
6. Flesh… Spirit—Flesh is not synonymous with body. The word is used
in the Old Testament to designate the entire transient, perishable, fallen,
and corrupt nature of man, both in body and soul. Hence the meaning
of the first clause of this first verse is: That which is generated of fallen
and depraved humanity, is itself fallen and depraved humanity. Like
produces like. Through all the productive, procreative kingdoms,
whether animal or vegetable, no offspring is of a higher species than its
parentage. On the other hand, Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit as so
operating upon the human spirit, and so changing its nature, as to be
said to beget it anew. For as generation is a modifying of substance or
being, imparting to it a new principle of life, conforming it, as living
being, to the likeness of the generator, so regeneration is a modification
of the human spirit by the Holy Spirit, conforming the temper of the
human to the Holy.
Is spirit—As flesh signifies a depraved nature, so spirit in this verse
signifies a pure nature.
For it is a pure and holy Spirit which is the generator, and it must be a
pure and holy spirit which is generated. The whole text then is: As a
depraved nature generates a depraved nature, so the holy nature

generates a holy nature. And as we are first born of a depraved nature,
and therefore depraved, so we must be born (or rather begotten) from a
holy nature, and so be renewed.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on John 3:6". "Whedon's Commentary
on the Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/john-3.html. 1874-
1909.
Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.”
Here we can refer back to John 1:12-13 where John had distinguished
natural birth from being ‘born of God’. Being born a Jew, or in
Christendom, or in a Christian family is not sufficient. Just as being
baptised is not enough. New life received from the Spirit is what is
required, God watering the heart. This comparison of flesh and Spirit
arises, of course, from Nicodemus’ earlier question. Having made clear
that He is referring to the Spirit under the picture of life-giving water
Jesus has now connected it up with what Nicodemus has asked.
Copyright Statement

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