He does not say, as so many twist him to say “so is the method by which a man is born of the Spirit” but rather he says “so are all the men who are born of the Spirit.” That is, he is not saying that the method of rebirth is unknowable like the wind, but that the person who has been reborn is incomprehensible to the heathen. It is not that we do not know how a man is reborn, but that the heathen do not comprehend the man that has been reborn. For truly, he has already explained how a man is reborn in verse 5, “of water and of the Spirit” which Peter fully elucidates in Acts 2:38 “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That is, a man is born again of both water and the Spirit at the same time when he repents and is baptized in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as an appeal for forgiveness from sins by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, at which time he receives the Spirit as a gift. In being baptized in water and therein receiving the Spirit as a gift, he is born of water and of the Spirit, all at once.

Commentary by jk
Posted on: 4/18/2008 22:51 pm