That Which Is Born of the Spirit Is Spirit

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. John 3:1-15

“‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, “Ye must be born anew.” The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Almighty and Everlasting God Who hast taught us to know and to confess in true faith that in three Persons of equal power and glory Thou art One True and Everlasting God and to be worshiped as such: We beseech Thee, keep us at all times steadfast in this faith against whatsoever may assail us, O Thou, Who livest and reignest, ever, One True God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, our Lord + Jesus tells Nicodemus in the Gospel reading from the Apostle and Evangelist St. John that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” That which has been born of the flesh has been corrupted with sin. This body that we possess we have received from our first parents, Adam and Eve. They were deceived of serpent—the devil—in the Garden of Eden. Their sin has inhered in mankind since. Now, all those born of the flesh, that is, those born of Adam and Eve, are also corrupted with sin. There is nothing that we can do to this flesh that will change that. And because we have been cursed with sin, because of the sin of our first parents, we will all die. That is the curse placed upon mankind. Death is the consequences—the reward—of sin. We have been conceived and born in sin, so that it inheres in our flesh, but we also add daily to the corruption of the flesh our own sins in thoughts, words, and deeds.

This is why our Lord + Jesus also tells Nicodemus that we must be born anew; we must be born again. A new birth must take place. We have to be reborn. But we do not have to, as Nicodemus surmised, enter into our mother’s womb a second time. Being born again of flesh will do us no good, because the same problem in which we were conceived will still be present. Sin has so corrupted our human nature that being reborn in a different body will do us no good. Going back into our mother’s womb and being born again of the flesh will avail us nothing. No, my dear friends, our Lord + Jesus tells Nicodemus, and us, that we must be born of the Spirit. For, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, that is, it is without sin. And because it is without sin, is no longer bears the curse of death.

The flesh of this body will die, but the spirit which has been created in us by the Holy Ghost—the Holy Spirit—will never die. It will live on forever and ever. Through faith in this promise, through faith in the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, we will live on eternally in heaven. This is such a wonderful thing that we cannot help but ask with Nicodemus, “How can these things be?” These things can not because of anything man can do, but only because of what our Lord God does for us. He re-creates us as a new creation in the waters of Holy Baptism. He drowns the old, fleshly Adam in the waters of Holy Baptism, and raises us again as a new creation which has been born of the Spirit. The flesh, and all its corruption, have been killed and buried in baptism. The Spirit which has been created in us lives on forever and ever.

This is why today, on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, we get a Gospel speaking about Holy Baptism, for we are made a new creation in the waters of Holy Baptism, because our Triune Lord God has placed His Name upon us. “His Name” is singular, one Name, but that Name holds three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He places His Name upon us—His Triune Name—and we are granted peace. We have peace, because the sins with which we were born have been washed away, they have been covered over by the blood and righteousness of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. This is why the Apostles called this baptism into the Triune Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, being baptized into the Name of the Lord + Jesus. To be baptized in the Name of + Jesus is to be baptized in the Triune Name.

This, again, is the Lord’s work. It is His doing, and not mankind’s. Therefore, we can be sure that the promises that He declares are ours through Holy Baptism are truly granted to us. In our Holy Baptism we have the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life, and salvation from our spiritual enemies, because it is the Triune Lord God who is offering and giving these things to us through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. This is why each morning, and every evening, and throughout the day, as the Holy Spirit moves us, we can make the sign of the holy cross, and remember our Holy Baptism. We can remember with the Triune Name, and the sign of the holy cross, that our sins have been forgiven, and that we are a new creation born of the Spirit, and no longer only born of the flesh.

Sadly, however, my dear friends, there are those who do not believe this. They believe that Holy Baptism is just the work of mankind. That they are doing the work, making the choice, and because of this the only view Holy Baptism as a symbolic act. They do not view it as a work of the Triune Lord God. This is heresy of the highest degree! It is calling the Triune Lord God a liar. It is calling our Lord + Jesus, Who declares today what Holy Baptism does, a liar. By their unbelief they blaspheme the Triune Lord God; they blaspheme our Lord + Jesus. They cannot bring themselves to believe what our Lord + Jesus says here because they see only water and they ask like Nicodemus, “How can these things be?” How can water do such great things.

It is not the water that does them, but the Word of the Lord God which is in and attached to the waters of Holy Baptism that does them. If our Triune Lord God created the heavens and the earth simply by His Word, can He not also re-create us a new creation by His Word alone? Can He not make us a new creation born of the Spirit by His Word? He most certainly can! It is no different from when He created us from the dust of the earth. When He created our flesh and blood, and breathed into us the breath of life with His very own Spirit.

If water can do no good thing, can the dirt from which we were created do anything? If water cannot make us a new creation born of the Spirit, how did dirt make us a creation in the first place? How was the clay separated into different parts? How were all different kinds of things, like bones, sinews, arteries, veins, and so on made from one kind of material (which itself was only earth?). It was the Lord’s doing. He created us from the dust of the earth, He made us a creation by His own power and might. He even formed woman from the rib of Adam, a rib made from the dust of earth, so that all of mankind comes from the earth, man and woman. Only the Lord God could create in such a way. Only the Lord God could create us from dirt and earth and give us life and a body. If the Lord God can do this with earth and clay and make us flesh and blood, can He not also re-create us with water and make us a new creation born of the Spirit? For, as in the beginning, earth was the subject matter, but the whole fabric of the human body was the work of him who molded it, so now too, though the element of water is the subject matter, the whole work is done by the Spirit of grace.

Therefore, my dear friends, we need not doubt, as some do, that what we receive through water and the Word gives us what our Triune Lord God has promised us. He created our flesh and blood from the dust of the earth, but we corrupted that flesh by our disobedience to the Law of the Lord God. Adam and Eve were commanded to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but did anyway, and now they, and all their children, including us, because the Law was written on our hearts at creation, know that we are the evil; that our flesh has been corrupted with sin.

We have also come to know that we cannot save ourselves by our own works and merits. This is not something we learned from the world, for the unbelieving world still clings to the hope that if they do enough good works, they will be granted eternal life in heaven. There are many people in this world who believe that only the very corrupt (corrupt according to their own worldview) are condemned to hell. So, my friends, we do not learn from the world, that we cannot save ourselves. This is taught by the Holy Ghost, through the pure preaching of the Word of the Lord God. The Word reveals to us just how corrupt our flesh is; how truly doomed we are on account of the sin inhering in our flesh. 

It is for this reason that our Lord + Jesus descended out of heaven, so that like the serpent of Moses in the wilderness, He might be lifted up upon the tree of the holy cross to atone for the sins of the whole world. His perfect, sinless, and innocent sacrifice has redeemed us from sin and death. In the waters of Holy Baptism, we have been crucified and buried with the Christ. Now, just as He rose again from the dead, we too, rise again born a new creation. We are no longer born of the flesh, but we have been born of the Spirit. And because that which is spirit is born of the Spirit, we will be granted the promise of eternal life. 

Therefore, my dear friends, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, as we celebrate the day in which the Name He placed upon us is extolled and explained in the Athanasian Creed and in the Propers of the Day, let us give Him thanks and praise, that He has made us a new creation. We are no longer born of the flesh, for the Old Adam, the old flesh, has been drowned and killed in the waters of Holy Baptism. We are now a new creation, born of the Holy Ghost, born of water and the Word of the Lord God. Let us remember often this great gift of our Triune Lord God by remembering the Name He placed upon us, and with the sign of the cross, give thanks that we have life and immortality through Him, because He has washed away all of our sins. Thanks be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Amen. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!