Nicodemus was one of the many who believed in Jesus,^[1] and therefore he came at night, and not during the day because he was not yet illumined with the gracious heavenly light.

This ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night, hoping, that is, by so secret an interview, to learn more of the mysteries of the faith; the late public miracles having given him a rudimentary knowledge of them.

This man [Nicodemus] appears also in the middle of the Gospel defending Christ when he says, Our law judges no man before it hears him.^[1] The Jews in anger replied to him, Search and look, for out of Galilee arises no prophet. Again after the crucifixion he bestowed great care upon the burial of the Lord’s body: And there came also Nicodemus, says the Evangelist, who first came to the Lord by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight.^[2] And even now he was disposed toward Christ, but not as he should have been, nor did he yet have a proper regard for Jesus, being still entangled in Jewish misunderstanding. This is why he came by night, because he feared to do so by day. Yet our merciful God did not reject or rebuke him for this, or deprive him of his instruction. Rather, with much kindness Jesus talked with him and disclosed to him rather enigmatically some highly exalted doctrines indeed—nevertheless, Jesus still disclosed them.

Nicodemus imagines that he can become pious enough to attain salvation merely by marveling at the wonders Jesus had done…. Calling Jesus a teacher from God and a co-worker with him, he does not yet know that Jesus is by nature God, nor does Nicodemus understand the plan of salvation according to the flesh. Instead, he still approaches Jesus as a mere man and has only a slight conception of who he is.

In other words: Unless you are born again and receive the right instruction, you are wandering somewhere out there far away from the kingdom of heaven. But he does not speak as plainly as this, preferring to make what he says easier to hear by generalizing, Unless one is born again. In this way he does not specifically address his remarks at Nicodemus…. Now, if he had spoken to the Jews this way they would have ridiculed him and then left. But Nicodemus shows he wants to learn…. And so what Christ says to him is something like this: If you are not born again, if you do not share in the Spirit that comes through the washing of regeneration, everything you think about me will be from a human point of view, not a spiritual one…. Now, some take the expression again^[1] to mean from heaven; others think it means from the beginning. Either way, it is impossible, Christ says, for someone who is not born in this way to see the kingdom of God. By these words our Lord discloses his nature, showing that he is more than what he appears to the outward eye.

At our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice by our parents coming together. We were brought up with bad habits and wicked training. However, so that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over the one who chooses to be born again and has repented of his sins the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe. The one who leads to the font the person that is to be washed calls him by this name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God. And if any one dares to say this name, he raves with a hopeless madness. Also this washing is called illumination because those who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. The one who is illuminated is thus washed in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus.

Once the likeness painted on a panel has been effaced by stains from outside itself, the one whose likeness it is needs to come once more to enable the portrait to be renewed on the same wood. And, for the sake of his picture, even the mere wood on which it is painted is not thrown away, but the outline is renewed upon it. In the same way, the most holy Son of the Father, being the image of the Father, came to our world to renew humankind once made in his likeness. He came to find such lost individuals by the remission of their sins. He says as much himself in the Gospels: I came to find and to save the lost.^[1] This is why he also said to the Jews, Except one be born again, not meaning, as they thought, birth from a woman, but speaking of the soul born and created anew in the likeness of God’s image.

And indeed from the Spirit comes our new birth, and from the new birth our new creation, and from the new creation our deeper knowledge of the dignity of him from whom it is derived.

[Jesus seems to be saying to him], If you believe that I was sent as a teacher from God, and the miracles I accomplished convince you of this, as you say, our teaching then requires another way of life and expects the beginning of a new generation. So we hope indeed to see the kingdom of God, because, while we are mortal, we cannot go there if we are not raised incorruptible after our death. We believe that this happens typologically through baptism: we are born again in an image of the resurrection, that is, of a new state [of being].

[Nicodemus] knew only one birth from Adam and Eve. He did not yet know [the birth] from God and the church. He knew only the parents who beget death. He did not yet know the parents who beget life. He knew only the parents who beget those who will succeed them. He did not yet know the parents who, living forever, beget those who will remain. Therefore, although there are two births, he only knew one. One is from earth, the other from heaven. One is from the flesh, the other from the Spirit. One is from mortality, the other from eternity. One is from male and female, the other from God and the church. But these two are each individual instances. Neither the one nor the other can be repeated.^[1]

[Nicodemus] coming to Jesus, as to a man, is confused and startled and perplexed on learning greater things than any human being could speak, things no one had ever heard before. For a while, he is impressed by the sublime character of the sayings, but his mind is darkened and unstable, borne about in every direction and on the point of falling away from the faith. Therefore he objects to what he has heard as being impossible in order to bring out a fuller explanation from Jesus…. There were two difficulties for him. The first concerned the kind of birth Jesus was talking about; the second, this idea of the kingdom since neither had the name of the kingdom ever been heard among the Jews, nor of a birth like this. But he stops for a while at the first, which most astonished him.

We are a compound of both body and soul. The one part is visible, the other invisible. In the same way, our cleansing also is twofold, that is, by water and the Spirit. The one is received visibly in the body, the other concurs with it invisibly and apart from the body…. The one that comes to the aid of our first birth makes us new instead of old and like God instead of what we now are. It recasts us without fire and creates us anew without breaking us up. For… the virtue of baptism is to be understood as a covenant with God for a second life and a purer conversation.

You wonder why a sinner should be born of the seed of a just person. Don’t you also wonder why a wild olive is born of the seed of an olive tree? Here is another comparison: think of the baptized righteous person as a grain that has been gleaned. Don’t you observe that from this gleaned grain wheat is born with the chaff, without which it was sown? Again, while the propagation of those who are reborn is a matter of spiritual regeneration, do you really want a person to be born circumcised of a circumcised person? Certainly this kind of generation is a bodily act, and circumcision is a bodily act. And yet the offspring of a circumcised man is not born circumcised. So in the same way the offspring of a baptized person cannot be born baptized, because nobody is born again before being born.

You call him Master and say that he comes from God, and yet you do not receive his words but utilize a word with your master that brings in endless confusion. For the how is the doubting question of those who have no strong belief and are still earthbound. Therefore Sarah laughed when she said, How?^[1] And many others who have asked this question have fallen from the faith.

Some ask, How was he begotten? others, How was he made flesh? They subject that infinite essence to the weakness of their own reasonings. Knowing this, we ought to avoid this unseasonable curiosity because those who search into these matters will, without ever learning the how, fall away from the right faith. Nicodemus here asks from anxiety…. But observe how ridiculous anyone talks when he commits spiritual things to his own reasonings.

Since Nicodemus had asked, Can one enter again into the mother’s womb and be born? our Lord explained that this occurs through both water and Spirit. He said water because the action takes place in water, Spirit because the Spirit exercises his power through the water. This is called the Spirit of adoption, not water, because we receive new birth through his power. For this reason in baptism we name the Spirit together with the Father and the Son, but we do not mention the water, so that it may be clear that water is employed as a symbol and for a [visible] use. But we invoke the Spirit as the effective agent together with the Father and the Son. That is why, in reply to Nicodemus’s question, Can one enter again into the mother’s womb and be born? our Lord answers, Through both water and Spirit. Just as in the instance of natural birth, where the womb is the place in which the child is formed and then perfected by the divine virtue that forms it from the beginning, so also in this place, the water is referred to in place of the womb and the Spirit in place of the Lord as the effective agent. Baptism is said to be a symbol of death and resurrection, and so it is called a new birth. Just as one who is resurrected is considered to be created again after death, so also one who is begotten in baptism is said to be born again, because first he dies in water and in a similar way is resurrected by the power of the Spirit. The immersion represents the burial while the raising of the head out of the water at every invocation of the name represents the resurrection that takes place through the Spirit.

If anyone asks how is someone born of water, I ask in return, how is someone [like Adam] born from the earth? How was the clay separated into different parts? How were all different kinds of things, like bones, sinews, arteries, veins, and so on made from one kind of material (which itself was only earth?)… For, as in the beginning, earth was the subject matter^[1] but the whole fabric of the human body was the work of him who molded it, so now too, though the element of water is the subject matter, the whole work is done by the Spirit of grace…. Then, humanity was formed last, when the creation had been accomplished. Now, on the contrary, the new person is formed before the new creation. He is born first, and then the world is fashioned anew…. Then, he gave him a garden as his place to live. Now, he has opened heaven to us…. The first creation then, that is, that of Adam, was from earth; the next, that of the woman, from his rib; the next, that of Abel, from seed, yet we cannot comprehend any of these…. How then shall we be able to account for the unseen generation by baptism, which is far greater than these, or how can we require arguments for that strange and marvelous birth?… The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit do everything. Let us then believe the declaration of God. That is more trustworthy than actual seeing. Sight often is in error; it is impossible that God’s Word should fail. Let us then believe it.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true,… [these] are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again. Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers’ wombs is clear to everyone. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins is declared by Isaiah the prophet: Wash, make yourselves clean. Put away evil from your souls; learn to do good. Judge the fatherless and plead for the widow and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they are as crimson, I will make them white as snow.^[1]

For the law of baptizing has been imposed and the formula prescribed: Go, he says, teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.^[1] The comparison with this law of that definition, Unless one has been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens, has tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers used to be baptized.

First of all, it is necessary that the continuity of the old life be cut. And this is impossible unless one is born again, according to the Lord’s word. For the regeneration, as indeed the name shows, is a beginning of a second life. So before beginning the second, it is necessary to put an end to the first. For just as in the case of runners who turn and take the second course, a kind of break and pause intervenes between the movements in the opposite direction, so also in making a change in lives it seems necessary for death to come as mediator between the two, ending all that goes before, and beginning all that comes after.

That the need of water [in baptism] is absolute and indispensable, you may learn in this way. On one occasion, when the Spirit had flown down before the water was applied, the apostle did not stand idle at this point, but, as though the water were necessary and not superfluous, observe what he says, Can any one forbid water so that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?^[1] Why then is water needed?… In baptism, the pledges of our covenant with God are fulfilled: burial and death, resurrection and life. And these all take place at once. For by the immersion of our heads in the water, the old person disappears and is buried as it were in a tomb below and wholly sunk forever. Then as we raise them again, the new person rises in his place. As easy as it is for us to dip and to lift our heads again, that is how easy it is for God to bury the old person and to show forth the new. And this is done three times so that you may learn that the power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit fulfills all this.

And then that rebirth, which brings about the forgiveness of all past sins, takes place in the Holy Spirit, according to the Lord’s own words, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter the kingdom of God. But it is one thing to be born of the Spirit, another to be fed by the Spirit; just as it is one thing to be born of the flesh, which happens when a mother gives birth, and another to be fed from the flesh, which appears when she nurses the baby. We see the child turn to drink with delight from the bosom of her who brought it forth to life. Its life continues to be nourished by the same source which brought it into being.

Who is the one who is born of the Spirit and is made spirit but he who is renewed in the spirit of his mind?^[1] This certainly is he who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, since we receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.^[2] And elsewhere the apostle Peter says, You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.^[3] For who is the one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit but the one who is born again through water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit: Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. And therefore he declared that we are born of him in the latter case, through whom he said that we were born in the former. This is the sentence of the Lord. I rest on what is written, not on argument.

Whoever of you, therefore, takes pride (with devotion and faith) in the name of Christian, ponder, by an accurate judgment, the grace of this reconciliation. To you once cast aside, to you driven out from the thrones of paradise,^[1] to you dying from long exiles, to you scattered into dust and ashes,^[2] who had no longer any hope of living—to you has power^[3] been given through the incarnation of the Word. With it, you can return from far away^[4] to your Maker, can recognize your Father, can become free from slavery and can be made again a child rather than an outsider. With this power, you who were born of flesh that is subject to decay can be born again from the Spirit of God and can obtain through grace what you do not have through nature.

There is no longer a mother, or birth pangs, or sleep or coming together and embracing of bodies. From here on out, all the fabric of our nature is framed above, of the Holy Spirit and water. The water brings about the birth of the one who is born. What the womb is to the embryo, the water is to the believer because the water is where the person is fashioned and formed. At first it was said, Let the waters bring forth the creeping things that have life.^[1] But from the time that the Lord entered the streams of the Jordan, the water no longer gives the creeping things that have life but souls that are rational and endued with the Spirit…. But that which is fashioned in the womb needs time, whereas that fashioned in the water is all done in an instant…. For the nature of the body is such as to require time for its completion, but spiritual creations are perfect from the beginning.

But why, they ask, does a baptized believer, whose sin has already been forgiven, beget a child who is still burdened with the first person’s sin? Because he begets him from the flesh, not from the spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh. And if the outer self, says the apostle, is decaying, yet the inner self is being renewed from day to day.^[1] It is not from what is being renewed in you that you beget a child. You beget a child from what is decaying in you. You, in order not to die forever, were born and reborn. This child is already born, not yet reborn. If you are alive as a result of being reborn, allow it too to be reborn and live…. Why oppose this? Why try to smash the ancient rule of faith with new objections? After all, what is this that you are saying: Little children don’t have even original sin in the least degree? What does this that you say amount to, but that they should not come to Jesus? But Jesus cries out to you, Let the little children come to me.^[2]

If the only meaning of baptism were remission of sins, why would we baptize newborn children who have not yet tasted of sin? But the mystery of baptism is not limited to this. It is a promise of greater and more perfect gifts. In it are the promises of future delights. It is the type of the future resurrection, a communion with the master’s Passion, a participation in his resurrection, a mantle of salvation, a tunic of gladness, a garment of light, or rather it is light itself.

We know too that the flesh is subject to death because of sin, but the Spirit of God is both incorruptible and life-giving and beyond death. As at our physical birth there comes into the world with us a potentiality of being again turned to dust, plainly the Spirit also imparts a life-giving potentiality to the children begotten by himself. What lesson, then, do we learn from this? We learn that we should wean ourselves from this life in the flesh, which has an inevitable follower, death; and that we should search for a way of life that does not bring death along with it.

Do you see the dignity of the Spirit? It appears performing the work of God. For above he said that some were begotten of God.^[1] Here he says that the Spirit begets them. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. He means, The one that is born^[2] of the Spirit is spiritual. For the birth of which he speaks here is not that according to essence^[3] but according to honor and grace.

As God the Father is Spirit and as God the Son is Spirit, therefore our God and Father begets by the Spirit the one who is Son and God. Therefore Christ is of one substance with the Father according to his divine nature and of one substance with his mother according to his flesh. The one and the same Christ is from both, unchangeably and without confusion [of the two natures]. But according to what is now canonically held concerning the Logos of the Lord, our minds too are then to be transformed by Christ to be completely conformed to that which is spiritual.

He means that the work of generating is necessarily similar to the nature of the generator: when flesh generates flesh, necessarily the generation is bodily. When the spirit is the generator, it is necessary that we understand the generation as incorporeal and spiritual. Through this he also demonstrates that the water, which he united to the Spirit, does not operate with him but is mentioned as a symbol and for a [visible] use. Therefore he did not add what is born of water but only says what is born of the Spirit by clearly attributing the work of generating to the Spirit.

The Lord himself axiomatically and distinctly pronounced, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, because it is born from the flesh. But if he here spoke simply of a human being and not of himself, then you must deny absolutely that Christ is man and must maintain that human nature was not suitable to him. And then he adds, That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, because God is a Spirit, and he was born of God. Now this description is certainly even more applicable to him than it is to those who believe in him. But if this passage indeed applies to him, then why does not the preceding one also? For you cannot divide their relation and adapt this to him and the previous clause to all other people, especially as you do not deny that Christ possesses the two substances, both of the flesh and of the Spirit. Besides, as he was in possession both of flesh and of Spirit, he cannot possibly—when speaking of the condition of the two substances that he himself bears—be supposed to have determined that the Spirit indeed was his own but that the flesh was not his own. Forasmuch, therefore, as he is of the Spirit, he is God the Spirit and is born of God; just as he is also born of the flesh of man, being generated in the flesh as man.

By saying, Do not be amazed, he indicates [Nicodemus’s] confusion and leads him by way of example to something lighter than the body…. He speaks neither of dense bodies nor of things that are purely incorporeal. For if Nicodemus had heard this there is no way he could have received it. Instead, he found something in between what is and what is not a body, namely, the motion of the wind…. Although he says it blows where it pleases, he does not say this as if the wind had any power of choice. He is simply declaring that its natural motion is powerful and cannot be hindered…. The expression, therefore, blows where it pleases, is that of one who would show that it cannot be restrained, that it is spread abroad everywhere and that no one can stop it from passing here and there. It goes abroad with great might, and no one is able to turn aside its violence…. It establishes the power of the Comforter. For no one can hold the wind; it moves where it pleases. And so, whether it is the laws of nature or the limits of bodily generation or anything else like this—they have no ability to restrain the operations of the Spirit.

Though I have received faith by my regeneration, I am still in ignorance. And yet, I have a firm hold on a reality I do not understand. I am born again, capable of rebirth, but without conscious perception of it. Moreover, the Spirit has no limits. He speaks when he wants, what he wants and where he wants. We are conscious of his presence when he comes, but the reason for his approach or his departure remains unknown to us.

The Holy Spirit, because it is omnipotent, performs everything as it wants, and nothing can resist its operations. You hear its voice, that is, perceive the sound of its coming. You cannot ascertain in which place its person is contained so that you might otherwise understand its way of operating. Its nature is immense, and therefore it is everywhere it chooses to be. In the same way, its action is beyond comprehension because it does everything according to its own will.

Where it chooses, says the Scripture, not where it is ordered. If, then, the Spirit does breathe where it chooses, cannot the Son do what he wills? Why, it is the very same Son of God who in his gospel says that the Spirit has power to breathe where it chooses. Does the Son, therefore, confess the Spirit to be greater, in that it has power to do what is not permitted to himself?

When the grace of the Spirit is given to human beings, the Spirit is unquestionably sent by the Father and sent by the Son, and he proceeds from the Father and proceeds from the Son.^[1] [The Spirit] also comes of his own accord, because just as he is equal to the Father and the Son, so he has the same will in common with the Father and the Son.

He said rightly you hear the sound of it, because by descending first on the apostles it came with a noise. They heard the sound of a strong wind and spoke different languages through the power of the Spirit that was over them. Thus, after speaking in such lofty language of the generation of the Spirit, he concluded perfectly: So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit, that is, such is the generation of the Spirit. It cannot be comprehended by the thoughts of humankind. Since it is beyond their grasp, it can only be perceived through its sound for their apprehension.

One hears the voice of the Spirit through the prophets.

The Spirit breathes where he wills because he has in his power [to choose the] heart he will enlighten by the grace of his visitation. And you hear his voice when one filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in your presence.

A father, a man who will one day die, begets through his wife a son to succeed him; God begets from the church sons, not to succeed him but to remain with him. And [the Gospel] continues: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Therefore we are born spiritually, and in the Spirit we are born by word and sacrament. The Spirit is present that we may be born. The Spirit is present invisibly from whom you are born, because you too are born invisibly. For [the Gospel] continues and says, Do not wonder that I have said to you, ‘You must hear his voice but do not know where he comes from or where he goes. No one sees the Spirit. And how do we hear the voice of the Spirit? A psalm sounds forth: it is the Spirit’s voice. The gospel sounds forth: it is the Spirit’s voice. God’s word sounds forth: it is the Spirit’s voice. You hear his voice, but do not know where he comes from or where he goes. But if you too should be born of the Spirit, you will be such that he who is not yet born of the spirit has no idea where you come from or where you go. For he continues and says, So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

For though some would have deceived me according to the flesh, yet the Spirit, as being from God, is not deceived. For it knows both where it comes from and where it goes, and it detects the secrets [of the heart].

The Spirit, indeed, continues to this day invisible to people, as the Lord says, The Spirit breathes where he will, and you know not where it comes from or where it goes. But in the beginning of the mystery of the faith and of spiritual baptism, the same Spirit was manifestly seen to have sat upon the disciples as fire [at Pentecost]. Moreover, when the heavens were opened, the Spirit was seen to have descended upon the Lord like a dove. Many things… are shown to the eyes and to the incredulity of people, either partially, or at certain times or in symbols, for the strengthening and confirming of our faith…. From all these manifestations it is shown that hearts are purified by faith but that souls are washed by the Spirit. It is further shown that bodies are washed by water and, moreover, that by the blood of Christ we may more readily attain at once to the rewards of salvation.

The Spirit comes to the saints [and] goes from the saints, so that they may be refreshed from time to time by the frequently recurring light of the return of him whom they are not capable of having always. However, the Spirit remains continually in the only Mediator between God and human beings, the man Jesus Christ,^[1] in whom he does not find any stain of unclean thought, which he would shun.

Here is the conclusion of the whole matter. If, he says, you do not even know how to explain the motion or path of this wind,^[1] which you perceive by hearing and feeling, why are you so over anxious about the working of the divine Spirit, when you do not even understand how the wind works, although you hear its voice?… As then the wind is not visible, although it utters a sound, so neither is the birth of that which is spiritual visible to our bodily eyes. And yet, the wind is a body, although a very subtle one. For whatever is the object of our senses is bodily. If then you do not complain when you cannot see this body and you still believe, why, when you hear of the Spirit, do you hesitate and demand such exact accounts, although you do not act this way in the case of a body?

If you are born of the Spirit, you too shall be like the Spirit, that is, that one who is not born of the Spirit does not know where you come from or where you go.

Do we think that the Lord meant to insult this master of the Jews? The Lord knew what he was doing. He wanted the man to be born of the Spirit. No one is born of the Spirit if he is not humble, for humility itself makes us born of the Spirit since the Lord is near to those who are of a broken heart.^[1] The man was puffed up with his mastery, and it appeared of some importance to him that he was a teacher of the Jews. Jesus pulled down his pride so that he might be born of the Spirit.

Observe how Jesus never accuses Nicodemus of wickedness but only of simplicity and a lack of wisdom. But someone will say: What connection does this birth have with Jewish doctrines? What doesn’t it have in common with them? The first man that was made, the woman that was made out of his rib, the barren that bare, the miracles that were worked by means of water, for instance, Elisha’s bringing up the iron from the river, the passage of the Red Sea, the pool that the angel troubled and Naaman the Syrian’s purification in the Jordan—these were all types and figures of the spiritual birth and purification that would take place in the future. Many passages in the prophets too have a hidden reference to this birth, as for instance… your youth is renewed like the eagle’s^[1]… and Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.^[2] Isaac also was a type of this birth…. Referring to these passages, our Jesus says, Are you a master in Israel, and you do not know these things?

Indeed, he [Nicodemus] should have known what came from the Law and the Prophets: the cleansing with hyssop, the waters for ceremonial sprinkling, the baptisms for cleansing, and all the rest. If these had not been signified as types before the coming of the Son, our Lord would have been accusing Nicodemus falsely because of them. But if they were hidden from him in his Scriptures, and he did not clearly identify them, he [our Lord] rightly put to flight his sleep, healed his infirmity by his gentle voice, and reminded him of the baptism of atonement that existed in Israel….

But this was done gently, because he [our Lord] saw that he [Nicodemus] was sick but close to healing. And since he did not understand what was previously written down in the Law, our Lord showed him the baptism of complete atonement for both body and soul. Truly, Nicodemus, did you not perceive that Jacob was born into the right of the firstborn without [the aid of] belly or womb,^[1] or that Naaman was renewed apart from a womb when Elisha spoke to him?^[2] … And likewise for Miriam.^[3] Come now, was it not known that this was a sign of baptism given to the nations, for hyssop makes what was stained white?

He advises Nicodemus to accept in simple faith what he cannot understand. Jesus testifies that he himself knows clearly what he says because of who he is, and to doubt what he says is a very dangerous thing. For it was not likely that Nicodemus would forget that he had earlier affirmed that our Savior Christ was a teacher who had come from God. But to resist one who is both from God, and God, is terribly fraught with peril since one is clearly fighting with God. That is why we, who have the authority to teach, should rather provide simple arguments for those who have just come to faith, rather than the more elaborate explanations… not applying doctrine indiscriminately but appropriately adapted to what each can handle.

Since he has the Father and the Spirit naturally, the Savior set forth the person of the witnesses in the plural number so that, as in the law of Moses,^[1] by the mouth of two or three witness what is said may be established.

If you out of extreme foolishness did not receive a doctrine that does not exceed the understanding human beings are capable of, how can I explain things more divine? For if people are foolish in their own matters, how do they expect to be wise in matters above them? How do those who are powerless in lesser matters expect to find the greater things intolerable? And if, he says, you do not believe me when I speak alone but rather seek many witnesses for everything, whom shall I bring to you as a witness of the heavenly mysteries?

Do not be surprised that he calls baptism earthly, for he calls it this either because it is performed on earth or as comparison with his own most awesome birth. For though this birth of ours is heavenly, yet compared with that true birth that is from the substance of the Father, it is earthly.

And he has not said, You have not understood, but You have not believed. For when the understanding cannot take in certain truths, we attribute it to our own natural deficiencies or to ignorance. But when a person does not receive things that cannot be apprehended by reasoning but only by faith, the charge against him is no longer lack of understanding but unbelief…. These truths, however, were revealed so that posterity might believe and benefit from them, even though the people then did not.

If a man does not receive baptism, he has not salvation; except only martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom. For when the Savior, in redeeming the world by his cross, was pierced in the side, he shed blood and water; that men, living in times of peace, might be baptized in water, and, in times of persecution, in their own blood. For martyrdom the Savior is wont to call a baptism, saying, Can you drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? [Mk 10:38] . . . For you go down into the water, bearing your sins, but the invocation of grace, having sealed your soul, suffers you afterwards not to be swallowed up by the terrible dragon. Having gone down dead in sins, you come up quickened in righteousness.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and are instructed to pray and entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their past sins, we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same way we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:3].

And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan [2 Kgs 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon being baptized, but as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean of our old transgressions by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord; we are spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: “Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:5].

[T]he prescript is laid down that “without baptism, salvation is attainable by none” (chiefly on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, “Unless one be born of water, he has not life”).

The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and he, begetting us again, breathed into us the breath of life, and imbued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver he is also joint heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Which is why I preach: Come, all you kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism.

[When] they receive the baptism of the Church . . . then they can finally be fully sanctified and be the sons of God . . . since it is written, “Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”.

And in the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with his divine voice, saying, “Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” [Jn 3:5]. . . . Thus, unless they receive saving baptism in the Catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but will be condemned with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ.

But you will perhaps say, “What does the baptism of water contribute to the worship of God?” In the first place, because it pleases. In the second place, because when you are regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth through men, is cut off, and . . . you shall be able to attain salvation; but otherwise it is impossible. For thus has the true prophet testified to us with an oath: “Verily, I say to you, that unless a man is born again of water . . . he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”.

When going down into the water, think not only of the element, but look for salvation by the power of the Holy Spirit: for without both you cannot possibly be made perfect. It is not I that say this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the power in this matter: for he says, Except a man be born anew (and he adds the words) of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God [Jn 3:3]. Neither does he who is baptized with water, but not found worthy of the Spirit, receive the grace in perfection; nor if a man be virtuous in his deeds, but receive not the seal by water, shall he enter into the kingdom of heaven. A bold saying, but not mine, for it is Jesus who has declared it: and here is the proof of the statement from Holy Scripture. Cornelius was a just man, who was honored with a vision of angels, and had set up his prayers and almsgiving as a good memorial before God in heaven %. Peter came, and the Spirit was poured out upon them that believed, and they spoke with other tongues, and prophesied: and after the grace of the Spirit the Scripture says that Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ [Acts 10:48]; so that the soul, having been born again by faith, the body also might by the water partake of the grace.

[A]s we are all from earth and die in Adam, so being regenerated from above of water and Spirit, in the Christ we are all quickened.

This then is what it is to be born again of water and of the Spirit, the being made dead being effected in the water, while our life is wrought in us through the Spirit. In three immersions and with three invocations the great mystery of baptism is performed, so that the type of death may be fully figured, and that by the Tradition of the divine knowledge the baptized may have their souls enlightened. It follows that if there is any grace in the water, it is not of the nature of the water, but of the presence of the Spirit.

There are, however, many who think that because we are baptized with water and the Spirit, there is no difference in the offices of water and the Spirit, and that they do not differ in nature. They do not observe that we are buried in the element of water that we may rise again renewed by the Spirit. For in the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses the body as it were in a tomb, that by the power of the Spirit we may be renewed from the death of sin, being born again in God.

The Church was redeemed at the price of Christ’s blood. Jew or Greek, it makes no difference; but if he believes, he must circumcise himself from his sins [in baptism, Col 2:11–12] so that he can be saved . . . for no one ascends into the kingdom of heaven except through the sacrament of baptism. . . . “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.

Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit [1 Jn 5:7], are one, for if you take away one of these, the sacrament of baptism does not exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the sacrament of regeneration without water: “For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” [Jn 3:5]. Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, with which he is signed; but unless he be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins or the gift of spiritual grace.

Such is the grace and power of baptism; not an overwhelming of the world as of old, but a purification of the sins of each individual, and a complete cleansing of all the bruises and stains of sin. And since we are made of body and soul, and the one part is visible, the other invisible, so the cleansing is twofold, by water and the spirit; the one received visibly in the body, the other invisibly and apart from the body; the one typical, the other real and cleansing the depths.

[In] the birth by water and the Spirit, [Jesus] himself led the way in this birth, drawing down upon the water, by his own baptism, the Holy Spirit; so that he became the firstborn of those who are spiritually born again, and gave the name of brethren to those who partook in a birth like his own by water and the Spirit.

[N]o one can enter into the kingdom of heaven except he be regenerated through water and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink his blood is excluded from eternal life, and if all these things are accomplished only by means of the holy hands of the priest, how will anyone, without them, be able to escape the fire of hell, or attain those crowns reserved for the victorious? These [priests] truly are entrusted with the pangs of spiritual travail and the birth that comes through baptism: by their means we put on Christ, and are buried with the Son of God, and become members of that blessed head [the Mystical Body of Christ].

Be contented with one baptism alone, that which is into the death of the Lord [Rom 6:3; Col 2:12–13]. . . . [H]e that will not be baptized out of contempt will be condemned as an unbeliever, and reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says: “Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:5]. And again: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned” [Mk 16:16].

But the possibility of regeneration through the office of the will of another, when the child is presented to receive the sacred rite, is the work exclusively of the Spirit by whom the child presented is regenerated. For it is not written, “Except a man be born again by the will of his parents, or by the faith of those presenting the child, or of those administering the ordinance,” but, “Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit” [Jn 3:5]. By the water, therefore, which holds the sacrament of grace in its outward form, and by the Spirit who bestows the benefit of grace in its inward power, canceling the bond of guilt, and restoring natural goodness, the man deriving his first birth originally from Adam.

If unbaptized persons die confessing Christ, this confession remits sins as if they were washed in the sacred font of baptism. For he who said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” [Jn 3:5] also made an exception in their favor, in that other sentence in which he clearly said, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven”.

And I said, “I heard, sir, some teachers say that there is no other repentance than what takes place when we descended into the water and received remission of our former sins.” He said to me, “That was sound doctrine you heard; for that is really the case”.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and are instructed to pray and entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their past sins . . . are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same way we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:3].

Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life. . . . [But] a viper of the Cainite heresy, lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her aim to destroy baptism. This is in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps . . . themselves generally live in arid and waterless places. But we, little fishes after the example of our [great] fish, Jesus Christ, are born in water, and find safety by permanently abiding in water; so that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew full well how to kill the little fishes, by taking them away from the water!

Without baptism, salvation is attainable by none.

[P]erhaps some one will say, “What does it contribute to piety to be baptized with water?” In the first place, because you do what is pleasing to God; and in the second place, being born again to God by water, by reason of fear you change your first generation, which is of lust, and thus may obtain salvation. But otherwise it is impossible. For the prophet has sworn to us, saying, “Truly I say to you, unless you are regenerated by living water in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Therefore come. For there is something here that is merciful from the beginning, borne upon the water, and rescues those who are baptized this way from future punishment, offering as gifts to God the good deeds of the baptized whenever they are done after baptism. Flee to the waters, for baptism alone can quench the violence of fires. He who will not still bears the spirit of strife, because of which he will not approach the living water for his own salvation.

It is not possible to receive forgiveness of sins without baptism.

Not even the baptism of a public confession and blood can profit a heretic to salvation, because there is no salvation out of the Church.

Let men of this kind, who are aiders and favorers of heretics, know first, that those catechumens hold the sound faith and truth of the Church, and advance from the divine camp to do battle with the devil, with a full and sincere acknowledgment of God the Father, and of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit; then, that they are not deprived of the sacrament of baptism who are baptized with the most glorious and greatest baptism of blood, about which the Lord said that he had “another baptism to be baptized with”.

If a man does not receive baptism, he has not salvation; except only martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom. For when the Savior, in redeeming the world by his cross, was pierced in the side, he shed blood and water; that men, living in times of peace, might be baptized in water, and, in times of persecution, in their own blood. For martyrdom the Savior is wont to call a baptism, saying, Can you drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? [Mk 10:38] . . . For you go down into the water, bearing your sins, but the invocation of grace, having sealed your soul, suffers you not afterwards to be swallowed up by the terrible dragon. Having gone down dead in sins, you come up quickened in righteousness.

I know also a fourth baptism—that by martyrdom and blood, which Christ himself underwent—and this one is far more august than all the others, as it cannot be defiled by after-stains.

But I hear you lamenting because [the Emperor Valentinian] had not received the sacrament of baptism. Tell me, what else could we have, except the will to it, the asking for it? He too now had this desire, and after he came into Italy it was begun, and a short time ago he signified that he wished to be baptized by me. Did he not have the grace he desired? Did he not have what he eagerly sought? Certainly, because he sought it, he received it. What else does it mean: “Whatever just man shall be overtaken by death, his soul shall be at rest” [Wis 4:7]?

In three ways are sins remitted in the Church; by baptism, by prayer, by the greater humility of penance; yet God does not remit sins except to the baptized. The very sins that he remits first, he remits only to the baptized.

I do not hesitate for a moment to place the Catholic catechumen, who is burning with love for God, before the baptized heretic; nor do we dishonor the sacrament of baptism that the latter has already received, the former not as yet; nor do we consider that the sacrament of the catechumen is preferable to the sacrament of baptism, even when we acknowledge that some catechumens are better and more faithful than some baptized persons. . . . For Cornelius, even before his baptism, was filled with the Holy Spirit [Acts 10:44]; Simon, even after baptism, was puffed up with an unclean spirit.

That the place of baptism is sometimes supplied by martyrdom is supported by an argument that the blessed Cyprian adduces from the thief, to whom, though he was not baptized, it was yet said, “Today shall you be with me in Paradise” [Lk 23:43]. On considering this again and again, I find that not only martyrdom for the sake of Christ may supply what was wanting of baptism, but also faith and conversion of heart, if recourse may not be had to the celebration of the mystery of baptism for want of time.

When we speak of within and without in relation to the Church, it is the position of the heart that we must consider, not of the body. . . . All who are within [the Church] in heart are saved in the unity of the ark [by baptism of desire].

[According to] apostolic Tradition . . . the churches of Christ maintain it to be an inherent principle that without baptism and partaking of the supper of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain the kingdom of God or salvation and everlasting life. So does Scripture testify.

If unbaptized persons die confessing Christ, this confession is of the same efficacy for the remission of sins as if they were washed in the sacred font of baptism. For he who said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” [Jn 3:5] also made an exception in their favor, in that other sentence in which he clearly said, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven”.

And because through the transgression of the first man the whole stock of the human race was tainted, no one can be set free from the state of the old Adam save through Christ’s sacrament of baptism, in which there are no distinctions between the reborn, as says the apostle: “For as many of you as were baptized in Christ did put on Christ: there is neither Jew nor Greek” [Gal 3:27–28].

For he came to save all through himself—all, I say, who through him are born again to God—infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men.

And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan [2 Kgs 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon being baptized, but as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean of our old transgressions by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord; we are spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: “Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:5].

Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin. . . . In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there was nothing in infants that required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous.

Sweet Tyche lived one year, ten months, and twenty-five days. Received [the grace of baptism] on the eighth day before the Kalends [the first day of the month]. Gave up her soul on the same day.

Florentius erected this monument to his well-deserving son Appronianus, who lived one year, nine months, and five days. Since he was dearly loved by his grandmother, and she saw that he was going to die, she asked of the Church that he should depart from the world a believer.

But in respect of the case of the infants, which you [Fidus] say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law of ancient circumcision should be followed, so that one who is just born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day, we all thought very differently in our council. For no one agreed with the course you thought should be taken; rather we all judge that the mercy and grace of God is not to be refused to anyone born of man.

But when even to the greatest sinners, and to those who had sinned much against God, when they subsequently believed, remission of sins is granted—and nobody is hindered from baptism and from grace—how much ought we to shrink from hindering an infant, who, being newly born, has not sinned, except that being born after the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of the ancient death at its earliest birth, he approaches more easily on this account the reception of the forgiveness of sins—that to him are remitted not his own sins, but the sins of another.

Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get any opportunity, but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his very tenderest age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Fearest thou the seal on account of the weakness of nature? O what a small-souled mother, and of how little faith!

Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for baptism; what have you to say about those who are still children, and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated.

You see the many benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sin; so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be [Christ’s] members.

And if anyone seek for divine authority in this matter, though what is held by the whole Church, and not instituted by councils but as a matter of invariable custom, is rightly held to have been handed down by apostolic authority. . . . Therefore, when others take the vows for them, that the celebration of the sacrament may be complete in their behalf, it unquestionably avails for their dedication to God, because they cannot answer for themselves.

The custom of Mother Church in baptizing infants is certainly not to be scorned, nor is it to be regarded in any way as superfluous, nor is it to be believed that its Tradition is anything but apostolic.

It seemed good that whenever there were not found reliable witnesses who could testify that without any doubt they were baptized, and when the children themselves were not, on account of their tender age, able to answer concerning the giving of the sacraments to them, all such children should be baptized without scruple, lest hesitation deprive them of the cleansing of the sacraments. This was urged by the Moorish legates, our brethren, since they redeem many such from the barbarians.

The blessed Cyprian, indeed, said, in order to correct those who thought that an infant should not be baptized before the eighth day, that it was not the body but the soul that needed to be saved from perdition—in which statement he was not inventing any new doctrine, but preserving the firmly established faith of the Church; and he, along with some of his colleagues in the episcopal office, held that a child may be properly baptized immediately after its birth.

By this grace baptized infants too are ingrafted into [Christ’s] body, infants who certainly are not yet able to imitate anyone. Christ, in whom all are made alive . . . gives the most hidden grace of his Spirit to believers, grace that he secretly infuses even into infants. . . . It is an excellent thing that the Punic [North Africans descended from the Phoenicians] Christians call baptism, salvation, and the sacrament of Christ’s body nothing else than life. Whence does this derive, except from an ancient and, as I suppose, apostolic Tradition, by which the churches of Christ hold inherently that without baptism and participation at the table of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain the kingdom of God or salvation and life eternal? This is the witness of Scripture, too. . . . If anyone wonders why children born of the baptized should themselves be baptized, let him attend briefly to this. . . . The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of regeneration.

And in the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with his divine voice, saying, “Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” [Jn 3:5]. This is the Spirit that from the beginning was borne over the waters; for neither can the Spirit operate without the water, nor the water without the Spirit. Certain people interpret for themselves incorrectly when they say that by imposition of the hand they receive the Holy Spirit, and are thus received, when it is manifest that they ought to be born again in the Catholic Church by both sacraments.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and are instructed to pray and entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their past sins, we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same way we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:3].

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and are instructed to pray and entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their past sins . . . are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same way we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” [Jn 3:3].

For though some would have deceived me according to the flesh, yet the Spirit, as being from God, is not deceived. For it knows both from where it comes and where it goes [Jn 3:8], and detects the secrets [of the heart]. For, when I was among you, I cried, I spoke with a loud voice: Give heed to the bishop, and to the presbytery and deacons. Now, some suspected me of having spoken thus, as knowing beforehand the division caused among you by some. But he is my witness, for whose sake I am in bonds, that I got no intelligence from any man. But the Spirit proclaimed these words: Do nothing without the bishop; keep your bodies as the temples of God; love unity; avoid divisions; be the followers of Jesus Christ, even as he is of his Father.

Possessing both natures, that is, the human and the divine, [Christ] endured the passion in his humanity, in order that without distinction he who suffered should be called both Lord of glory and Son of man, even as it is written: Who descended from heaven.

Some people, certainly, find very surprising what the Lord said in the Gospel, Nobody has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. How, they ask, can the Son of man be said to have come down from heaven, when it was here that he was taken on in the Virgin’s womb? People who say this are not to be rejected but instructed. I think, you see, that they are raising this question out of piety but are not yet able to understand what they are inquiring about. They do not realize, I mean, that the divinity took on the humanity in such a way as to become one person, God and man; and that the humanity was attached to the divinity in such a way that Word, soul and flesh were the one Christ. And that is why it could be said, No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.

Descended from heaven refers to his origin from the Spirit. For though Mary contributed to his growth in the womb and birth all that is natural to her sex, his body did not owe to her its origin. The Son of man refers to the birth of the flesh conceived in the Virgin; who is in heaven implies the power of his eternal nature—an infinite nature, which could not restrict itself to the limits of the body—of which it was itself the source and base. By the virtue of the Spirit and the power of God the Word, though he sojourned in the form of a servant, he was ever present as Lord of all within and beyond the circle of heaven and earth. So he descended from heaven and is the Son of man, yet is in heaven. For the Word made flesh did not cease to be the Word. As the Word, he is in heaven, as flesh he is the Son of man. As Word made flesh, he is at once from heaven, and Son of man and in heaven. For the power of the Word, abiding eternally without body, was present still in the heaven he had left. The flesh owed its origin to him and to no one else. So the Word made flesh, though he was flesh, nonetheless never ceased to be the Word.

And in this place he does not refer only to the flesh as Son of man but now names, so to speak, his entire self from the inferior substance. Indeed, he often likes to do this, referring to his whole person from either his divinity or his humanity.

As a human being he was on earth, not in heaven where he now is… although in his nature as Son of God he was in heaven, but as Son of man he was still on earth and had not yet ascended into heaven. In a similar way, although in his nature as Son of God he is the Lord of glory, in his nature as Son of man he was crucified.

Spiritual birth happens when human beings, being earthly, become heavenly. And this can only happen when they are made members of me. So that he may ascend who descended, since no one ascends who did not descend. Therefore everyone who needs to be changed and raised must meet together in a union with Christ so that the Christ who descended may ascend, considering his body (that is to say, his church)^[1] as nothing other than himself.

It is not possible by the laws of bodies for the same object to remain and to descend. The one is the change of downward motion, the other the stillness of being at rest. The infant wails but is in heaven: the boy grows but remains ever the immeasurable God. By what perception of human understanding can we comprehend that he ascended where he was before, and he descended who remained in heaven? The Lord says, What if you should behold the Son of man ascending to where he was before?^[1] The Son of man ascends where he was before. Can sense apprehend this? The Son of man—who is in heaven—descends from heaven. Can reason cope with this? The Word was made flesh— can words express this? The Word becomes flesh, that is, God becomes man. The man is in heaven: the God is from heaven. He ascends who descended, but he descends and yet does not descend. He is as he ever was, yet he was not ever what he is. We pass in review of the causes, but we cannot explain the manner. We perceive the manner but cannot understand the causes. Yet, if we understand Christ Jesus even in this way, we shall know him. If we seek to understand him further, we shall not know him at all.

See how even what appears very exalted is utterly unworthy of his greatness? For he is not in heaven only but everywhere, and he fills all things. But here he still speaks according to the infirmity of his hearer in the hope that he can lead him up little by little.

Having made mention of the gift of baptism, he proceeds to the source^[1] of it, that is, the cross…. These two things, more than anything else, declare his unspeakable love: that he both suffered for his enemies and, having died for his enemies, he freely gave them by baptism the entire forgiveness of all of their sins.

With the wonderful skill of heavenly teaching, the Lord directs our attention to the teacher of the Mosaic law and to the spiritual meaning of his law, by recalling some of the ancient history and explaining that it happened as a figure of his own passion and of human salvation.

It was good that the Lord ordained that, by the lifting up of the brazen serpent, the wounds of those who were bitten should be healed; for the brazen serpent is a type of the cross…. In the same way, the world was crucified in its allurements. Therefore not a real but a brazen serpent was hung. This is so because the Lord took on himself the likeness of a sinner in his body but, in actuality, was without sin. In this way, he imitated a serpent through the deceitful appearance of human weakness, so that when he laid aside the slough of the flesh, he might destroy the cunning of the true serpent.

The cross is raised and appears above the earth, which until recently malice had kept hidden. It is raised, not to receive glory (for with Christ nailed to it what greater glory could it have?) but to give glory to God who is worshiped on it and proclaimed by it…. It is not surprising that the church rejoices in the cross of Christ and robes herself in festal clothes, revealing her bridal beauty as she honors this day. Nor is it surprising that this great throng of people has gathered together today to see the cross exposed aloft and to worship Christ whom they see raised upon it. For the cross is exposed in order to be raised and is raised to be exposed. What cross? The cross, which a little while ago was hidden in a place called The Skull but now is everywhere adored. This is what we rejoice over today; this is what we celebrate; this is the point of the present feast; this is the manifestation of the mystery…. For this hidden and life-giving cross had to be exposed, set on high like a city on a hill or a lamp on a stand, for all the world to see.

This story is a type of the whole mystery of the incarnation. For the serpent signifies bitter and deadly sin, which was devouring the whole race on the earth… biting the Soul of man and infusing it with the venom of wickedness. And there is no way that we could have escaped being conquered by it, except by the relief that comes only from heaven. The Word of God then was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he might condemn sin in the flesh,^[1] as it is written. In this way, he becomes the Giver of unending salvation to those who comprehend the divine doctrines and gaze on him with steadfast faith. But the serpent, being fixed upon a lofty base, signifies that Christ was clearly manifested by his passion on the cross, so that none could fail to see him.

It seems that the type and sign that was erected to counteract the serpents that bit Israel was intended for the salvation of those who believe that death was declared to come thereafter on the serpent through him who would be crucified. But salvation was to come to those who had been bitten by him and had committed themselves to him who sent his Son into the world to be crucified. For the Spirit of prophecy by Moses did not teach us to believe in the serpent, since it shows us that he was cursed by God from the beginning. And in Isaiah he tells us that he shall be put to death as an enemy by the mighty sword, which is Christ.

By this [lifting up of the serpent], he proclaimed the mystery where he declared that he would break the power of the serpent, which occasioned the transgression of Adam. He [would bring] salvation to those who believe on him because of this sign (i.e., his crucifixion)—salvation from the fangs of the serpent, which are wicked deeds, idolatries and other unrighteous acts…. Just as God commanded the sign to be made by the brazen serpent—and yet he is blameless—even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved.^[1]

The sins that drag down soul and body to destruction at the same time are appropriately represented by the serpents, not only because they were fiery and poisonous [and] artful at bringing about death, but also because our first parents were led into sin by a serpent. And from being immortal they became mortal by sinning. The Lord is aptly made known by the bronze serpent, since he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Just as the bronze serpent had the likeness of a fiery serpent but had absolutely none of the strength of harmful poison in its members— rather by being lifted up it cured those who had been stricken by the [live] serpents—so the Redeemer of the human race did not clothe himself in sinful flesh but in the likeness of sinful flesh, in order that by suffering death on the cross in [this likeness] he might free those who believed in him from all sin and even from death itself.

Just as those who looked at the bronze serpent that had been lifted up as a sign were cured at that time from temporal death and the wounds that the serpents’ bites had caused, so too those who look at the mystery of the Lord’s passion by believing, confessing [and] sincerely imitating it are saved forever from every death they have incurred by sinning in mind and body.

It was shown by the brazen [serpent], which by its nature cannot suffer, that he would suffer on the cross, who by his nature cannot die.

Let me try to explain, as far as the Lord enables me to, what these signs mean. The rod stands for the kingdom, the snake for mortality. It was by the snake that humanity was given death to drink. The Lord was prepared to take this death on himself. So when the rod came down to earth it had the form of a snake because the kingdom of God, which is Jesus Christ, came down to earth. He put on mortality, which he also nailed to the cross…. In his mercy God provided a remedy, a remedy that restored health at the time but also foretold the wisdom that was to come in the future…. Whoever has been bitten by the snakes of sin need only gaze on Christ and will have healing for the forgiveness of sins. And so, brothers, it is the mortality that the Lord took on himself that the church must go on experiencing as his body, of which he is the head, as man, in heaven. So the church experiences mortality, which was inflicted through the seduction of the serpent. We owe death to the sin of the first persons, but afterward we shall reach eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But when does the church arrive at life and return to the kingdom? At the end of the world. That is why he took it by the tail, which is the end, in order to restore his rod to its original condition.

He says that the one who was given was the Son of God, and he is the cause of life—of everlasting life. He who procured life for others by death would not himself be continually in death. For if those who believed on the crucified did not perish, much less does the one perish who is crucified. He who takes away the destitution of others is that much freer from it. He who gives life to others brings forth even more life to himself.

The text, God so loved the world, shows such an intensity of love. For great indeed and infinite is the distance between the two. The immortal, the infinite majesty without beginning or end loved those who were but dust and ashes, who were loaded with ten thousand sins but remained ungrateful even as they constantly offended him. This is who he loved. For God did not give a servant, or an angel or even an archangel but his only begotten Son. And yet no one would show such anxiety even for his own child as God did for his ungrateful servants….

He laid down his life for us and poured forth his precious blood for our sakes—even though there is nothing good in us—while we do not even pour out our money for our own sake and neglect him who died for us when he is naked and a stranger…. We put gold necklaces on ourselves and even on our pets but neglect our Lord who goes about naked and passes from door to door. … He gladly goes hungry so that you may be fed; naked so that he may provide you with the materials for a garment of incorruption, yet we will not even give up any of our own food or clothing for him…. These things I say continually, and I will not cease to say them, not so much because I care for the poor but because I care for your souls.

Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man, but he was also God. He was of the race of David but Adam’s creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest—yet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on himself for love of you.

God, who loved the world, gave his only begotten Son as a manifest token of his love. If the evidence of his love is this, that he bestowed a creature on creatures, gave a worldly being on the world’s behalf, granted one raised up from nothing for the redemption of objects equally raised up from nothing, such a cheap and petty sacrifice is a poor assurance of his favor toward us. Gifts of price are the evidence of affection: the greatness of the surrender is evidence of the greatness of the love. God, who loved the world, gave no adopted son but his own, his only begotten [Son]. Here is personal interest, true sonship, sincerity; not creation, or adoption, or pretence. Here is the proof of his love and affection, that he gave his own, his only begotten Son.

The sum of all is God, the Lord of all, who from love of his creatures has delivered his Son to death on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it. Not that he was unable to save us in another way, but in this way it was possible to show us his abundant love abundantly, namely, by bringing us near to him by the death of his Son. If he had anything more dear to him, he would have given it to us, in order that by it our race might be his. And out of his great love he did not even choose to urge our freedom by compulsion, though he was able to do so. But his aim was that we should come near to him by the love of our mind. And our Lord obeyed his Father out of love for us.

Abraham had many servants. Why did he [God] not tell him to offer up one of them as a sacrifice? It was only because his love would not be shown in a servant. His son was thus needed, so that through him Abraham’s love would be revealed.^[1] God had servants like this, but he did not show his love through any of them for his creatures, but rather through his Son, so that through him his love toward us might be proclaimed….

From [the time of] Abraham, the symbols of the wood and of the lamb began to take shape. Isaac was a symbol of the lamb [caught] in the tree,^[2] and Jacob showed the wood that was life-giving for water.^[3] Thus wood was esteemed as worthy for him to hang upon it, because not a bone in him was broken.^[4] As for the earth, its fruits are stimulated by wood, and for the sea, its treasures are taken by means of wood. This is also the case for the body and the soul.^[5] Thus it [the wood of the cross] was carved by the fury of the savage crowd. It was like a mute person in its silence, but in its use it bore fruit exalting the status of human beings.

Unless the Father, you see, had handed over life, we would not have had life. And unless life itself had died, death would not have been slain. It is the Lord Christ himself, of course, that is life, about whom John the Evangelist says, This is the true God and eternal life.^[1] It was he himself that through the prophet had also threatened death with death, saying, I will be your death, O death; I will be your sting.^[2] This was as though he had said, I will slay you by dying. I will swallow you up. I will take all your power away from you. I will rescue the captives you have held. You wanted to hold me, though innocent. It is right that you should lose those you had the power to hold.

Our Redeemer and Maker, who was Son of God before the ages, became Son of man at the end of ages. Thus the one who, through the power of his divinity, had created us to enjoy the happiness of everlasting life, might himself restore us, through the weakness of our humanity, to recover the life we had lost.

As far as it lies in the power of the physician, he has come to heal the sick. Whoever does not observe his orders destroys himself…. Why would he be called the Savior of the world unless he saves the world?

Many of the more careless sort, using the loving kindness of God to increase the magnitude of their sins and the excess of their disregard, speak in this way, saying: There is no hell, no future punishment. God forgives all our sins….

But let us remember that there are two advents of Christ, one past, the other to come. The first was not to judge but to pardon us. The second will be not to pardon but to judge us. It is of the first that he says, I have not come to judge the world but to save the world. But of the second he says, When the Son shall come in the glory of his Father, he will set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.^[1] And the sheep will go into life and the goats into eternal punishment…. But because he is merciful, for a time he pardons instead of judging. For if he had judged immediately, everyone would have been rushed into perdition, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.^[2] Don’t you see the unspeakable surplus of his loving kindness?

He who believes, says Christ, is not judged. And is there any need to judge a believer? Judgment arises out of ambiguity, and where ambiguity ceases, there is no call for trial and judgment. And so, not even unbelievers need to be judged, because there is no doubt about their being unbelievers. But after exempting believers and unbelievers alike from judgment, the Lord added a case for judgment of the human agents on whom it must be exercised. For there are some who stand midway between the godly and the ungodly, having affinities to both but strictly belonging to neither class, because they have come to be what they are by a combination of the two…. For many are kept within the pale of the church by the fear of God, yet they are tempted all the while to worldly faults by the allurements of the world. They pray, because they are afraid; they sin, because it is their will…. These, then, are they whom the judgment awaits that unbelievers have already had passed on them and believers do not need.

He either means that disbelief itself is the punishment of the impenitent, insofar as being impenitent is to be without light, and to be without light is of itself the greatest punishment. Or he is announcing beforehand what is to be. Even if a murderer is not yet sentenced by the judge, still his crime has already condemned him. In the same way, he who does not believe is dead, even as Adam, on the day that he ate of the tree, died.^[1]

In the last judgment some perish without being judged. It says here of those… He who does not believe is condemned already.… Therefore, even all unbelievers rise again, but they rise to torment, not to judgment. For the day of judgment does not try those who are already banished from the sight of a discerning judge because of their unbelief. Rather, it tries those who, retaining the profession of faith, have no works to show that back up that profession. For those who have not kept even the sacraments of faith do not even hear the curse of the Judge at the last trial. They have already, in the darkness of their unbelief, received their sentence and are not thought worthy of being convicted by the rebuke of him whom they had despised again…. For an earthly sovereign, in the government of his state, has a different rule of punishment in the case of the disaffected subject and the foreign rebel. In the former case he consults the civil law, but against the enemy he proceeds at once to war and repays his malice with the punishment it deserves without referencing the law, inasmuch as he who never submitted to law has no claim to suffer by the law.

The prophet says with justification, The ungodly are not so, but as the chaff that the wind drives away from the face of the earth. And so, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment^[1] because they are already condemned since those who do not believe are condemned already. Nor do sinners sit in the counsel of the righteous, inasmuch as they too are already condemned and are not united to those who have lived without stumbling. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish.^[2] Again, the Lord clearly shows sins and transgression to be in our own power.

Separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness. Separation from God consists in the loss of all the benefits that he has in store…. This is the same thing that happens in the case of a flood of light: those who have blinded themselves or have been blinded by others are forever deprived of the enjoyment of light. It is not that the light has inflicted on them the penalty of blindness, but it is that the blindness itself has brought calamity on them. Therefore the Lord declared, He who believes in me is not condemned, that is, he is not separated from God, for he is united to God through faith. On the other hand, he says, He who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, that is, he has separated himself from God by his own doing.

They are punished because they would not leave the darkness and hurry to the light…. Had I come to demand an accounting of their deeds, they might have been able to say that was the reason they stayed away. But now I have come to free them from the darkness and to bring them to the light. Who can pity the person who does not choose to approach the light when it comes to him but would rather remain in the darkness?

Jesus says that unbelievers had the opportunity to be illuminated but preferred to remain in darkness. Such people, in fact, by failing to choose enlightenment, determine their own punishment against themselves and provoke their own suffering, which was in their power to escape. God preserved human freedom so that people might justly receive praise for good things and punishment for the contrary. As indeed he shows in another place, saying, If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.^[1]

Then, because it seemed incredible that someone should prefer the light to darkness, he gives the reason for the infatuation, that is, that their deeds were evil…. Indeed, if he had come for judgment, there would have at least been a reason for not receiving him because one who is conscious of his crimes naturally avoids the judge. But criminals practically run to meet one who brings them pardon. Therefore, it might have been expected that those who are conscious of their sins would have gone to meet Christ, as many indeed did. Publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus…. But the majority was too cowardly to undergo the work of virtue for righteousness’ sake, and they persisted in their wickedness to the end…. They are always doing evil and looking for ways to roll around in the mire of sin, with no desire to subject themselves to my laws.

Those who love darkness instead of the light have no excuse. They did not fail to believe Christ because of their ignorance but because they wanted to do what is evil, which Christ’s teaching would not permit. Then, whenever we hear they could not believe, let us understand this as not referring to the ability of their nature or to their subjugation to someone else but to their own free reason, which enslaved them to dishonorable passions, not wanting to let them revolt from their very base habits. For these know the light, but do not come to it, in case they might be convicted for their hypocrisy for saying that they know God while denying him by their actions.

People love truth when it shines on them and hate it when it rebukes them. For, because they are not willing to be deceived but definitely want to practice the art of deception, they love truth when it reveals itself and hate it when it reveals them. Because of this, truth shall requite them in such a way that those who were unwilling to be discovered by it are not only discovered by it against their will but also without revealing itself to them. This is the way the human mind, so blind and sick, so base and unseemly, desires to lie concealed but still not wanting anything to be concealed from it. Instead, it receives quite the opposite—not only is it not concealed from the truth, but the truth is concealed from it. Yet, even while it is as wretched as that, it still ultimately prefers to rejoice in truth rather than in falsehood. It looks forward to the day when, without any further trouble intervening, it will rejoice in that one truth by whom everything else is true.

He said this about those who choose to remain in wickedness all the time. He indeed came so that he might forgive our former sins and secure them against those sins to come. But since there are some so relaxed, so powerless when it comes to virtue that they remain infatuated with wickedness until their dying breath, he reflects here on these kinds of people. For since, he says, the profession of Christianity requires a sound way of life besides right doctrine, they are afraid to come over to us because they would rather not have to live a righteous life. On the other hand, no one can blame a heathen because, with the kinds of gods he has and the foul and ridiculous rites that go along with those gods, his actions suit his doctrines. But those who belong to the true God, if they live a careless life, everyone will call them to account and accuse them. Even its enemies admire its truth. Observe, then, how exactly Jesus lays out what he is saying. His expression is not the one who has done evil does not come to the light but the one who does it all the time, who desires always to roll himself in the mire of sin—this is the one who will not subject himself to my laws but chooses to stay outside and commit fornication without fear and do all kinds of other forbidden things. For if he comes to me, the light exposes him as a thief, which is why he avoids my dominion.

The things that make us luminaries of the world are these—our good works. What is good, moreover (provided it is true and full), does not love darkness: it rejoices in being seen and exults over the very recognition it receives. To Christian modesty it is not enough to be so but to also appear so. For its fullness should be so great that it flows out from the mind to the clothing and bursts out from the conscience to the outward appearance.

He declares that the works of the one who comes to the light are wrought in God, because he is quite aware that his justification results from no merits of his own but from the grace of God.

But if God has discovered everyone’s works to be evil, how is it that any have done the truth and come to the light?… Now what [Jesus] said is that they loved darkness rather than light. He lays the emphasis on that. Many have loved their sins. Many also have confessed them…. God accuses your sins, and if you accuse them too, you are joined to God…. You must hate your own work and love the work of God in you. And when your own deeds begin to displease you, that is when your good works begin as you begin to find fault with your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil works, and then you do the truth and come to the light. How do you do the truth? You do not soothe or flatter yourself or say, I am righteous, while in actuality you are unrighteous. This is how you begin to do the truth. You come to the light so that your works may be shown to originate in God. And you have come to the light because this very sin in you, which displeases you, would not displease you if God did not shine on you and his truth show it to you. But the one who loves his sin, even after being admonished, hates the light admonishing him and flees from it so that his works that he loves may not be proved to be evil…. For little sins, if allowed to accumulate, lead to death. Little drops swell the river. Little grains of sand become a heap that presses and weighs down. The sea coming in little by little, unless it is pumped out, sinks the ship. And what does it mean to pump out, except that you do good works, mourn, fast, give and forgive so that sins do not overwhelm you?

Nothing can be clearer or bolder than truth…. It neither seeks concealment nor avoids danger, it fears no plots or cares for popularity. It is subject to no human weakness…. Our Lord went up to Jerusalem at the feasts to teach the people and help them through his miracles. After the festival he often visited the crowds who were gathered at the Jordan, choosing the most crowded places, not ostentatiously or out of love of honor but because he wanted to help the greatest number of people.

The Evangelist says further on that Jesus did not baptize, but his disciples did…. He had not yet given the Spirit, and so there was a good reason why he did not baptize. But his disciples did because they wanted to bring as many to faith as possible.

For it is evident that the three Evangelists recorded only the deeds done by the Savior for one year after the imprisonment of John the Baptist and indicated this in the beginning of their account…. They say, therefore, that the apostle John, being asked to do it for this reason, gave in his Gospel an account of the period that had been omitted by the earlier Evangelists and of the deeds done by the Savior during that period; that is, of those that were done before the imprisonment of the Baptist. And this is indicated by him, they say, in the following words: This was the beginning of the miracles that Jesus did;^[1] and again when he refers to the Baptist, in the midst of the deeds of Jesus, as still baptizing in Aenon near Salim…. For John was not yet cast into prison. John accordingly, in his Gospel, records the deeds of Christ that were performed before the Baptist was cast into prison, but the other three Evangelists mention the events that happened after that time.

Why, when the disciples of Jesus were baptizing, didn’t John stop baptizing? Why did he continue even until he was led to prison?… He would have made the disciples of Jesus seem the more revered if he had stopped when they began…. But he did so because he did not want to excite his own disciples to an even stronger rivalry and contention than there already was between the two. For even if he had proclaimed Christ ten thousand times and given him the chief place, making himself much more the inferior, he still would not have been able to persuade his disciples to run to Christ. In fact, they would have most likely become more hostile. This is why Christ began to preach more constantly once John was removed. Indeed, the reason, I think, why John’s death was permitted and Christ was made the great preacher in his place was so that the people might transfer their affections entirely to Christ and no longer be divided between the two….

Instead, by continuing to preach, John received no glory for himself but sent hearers to Christ. And he was better able to do this service than Christ’s own disciples were. This is because his testimony was so free from suspicion and his reputation with the people so much higher than theirs….

But if anyone asks how the disciples’ baptism was better than John’s, we reply that it was not. Both alike were without the gift of the Spirit, both parties alike had one reason for baptizing, that is, to lead the baptized to Christ…. That the baptisms had no superiority over one another is shown by what follows [in the dispute]….

For the disciples of John did become so envious of Christ’s disciples, and even of Christ himself, that when they saw the latter baptizing, they threw contempt on their baptism as being inferior to that of John’s. And they tried to persuade one of those who were baptized of this but were not successful. That it was they who began the dispute, and not the Jews, the Evangelist implies by saying that there arose a question from John’s disciples with a certain Jew, instead of saying, A certain Jew posed a question.

John baptized, Christ baptized. John’s disciples were moved; there was a running after Christ, people were coming to John. Those who came to John, he sent to Jesus to be baptized. But those who were baptized by Christ were not sent to John. John’s disciples were alarmed and began to dispute with the Jews, as usually happens. The Jews then asserted Christ to be the greater person and his baptism necessary to be received. But John’s disciples did not yet understand as much and defended John’s baptism. At last they come to John to solve the question….

And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, he that was with you beyond the Jordan, behold, the same baptizes.’… In other words, What do you say? Shouldn’t they be stopped so that the people come to you instead?

He whom you baptized, baptizes, John’s disciples in effect say, although not in so many words. They add, To whom you bore witness, as if to say that the one you showed to the world, the one you made famous now dares to do as you do. They did not say whom you baptized, because they did not want to be reminded of the voice from heaven and of the descent of the Spirit. And so, instead they said, He who was with you… — that is, the one who held the rank of a disciple and who was nothing more than any of us—he now separates himself from you and baptizes. They thought they would make John jealous, not only by this but by asserting that their own reputation was now diminishing. All, they say, come to him.

When this question is raised, John does not rebuke his disciples for fear they might leave and turn to some other school. Rather, he replies gently, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Do not be surprised that he seems to speak somewhat humbly of Christ, especially when you consider that it was not appropriate to tell the whole truth to minds prepossessed with such a passion as envy. He only tries at present to alarm them by showing them that they are making war against none other than God himself when they attack Christ…. It is as if he said it is no wonder that Christ does such excellent works and that everyone comes to him when you consider that the one who does it all is God. Human efforts are easily seen through, are feeble and short-lived. These actions of Jesus are not like that. They are not therefore of human but of divine origin.

John is speaking here about himself. As a man, I have only received he said, what I have from heaven.… You also realize the kind of testimony I provided for him. And now I am supposed to say that he was not the one who I said he was? Because I received something from heaven in order to be something, do you want me now to throw out everything I have received by speaking against the truth?

He says that there is nothing good in humankind, but everything is a gift of God. It is therefore fitting for the creation to hear, What do you have that you did not receive?^[1] I think then that we ought to be content with the measures allotted to us and to rejoice in the honors assigned to us from heaven. But, by no means, should we stretch out beyond what has been given us, nor in our desire of things greater, appear to be unthankful or to despise the decree from above and fight against the judgment of the Lord…. Whatever God shall deign to honor us with, [let us] value that highly.

If then you hold to my testimony—and you even now produce it when you say to whom you bore witness—not only is he undiminished by receiving my witness, but he is increased by it. Besides, the testimony was not mine. It was God’s. And so, if you think I am trustworthy, I said this among the other things, that I am sent before him. See how he shows little by little that the voice was divine? For he is saying, in effect, I am a servant speaking the words of the one who sent me. I did not give the testimony as a gift; I spoke what I was sent to speak. Do not think I am someone great just because of this. In actuality he is the great one. He is the Lord of all.

This means he alone is the husband of the church, he is the expectation of the nations, and the prophets removed their sandals while offering to him a union of nuptial grace. He is the bridegroom; I am the friend of the bridegroom. I rejoice because he is coming, because I hear the nuptial chant, because now we do not hear the harsh penalties for sinners, the harsh torments of the law, but the forgiveness of offenses, the cry of joy, the sound of cheerfulness, the rejoicing of the nuptial feast.

But how does he who said, whose sandals I am not worthy to unloose, now call himself his friend? It is not to exalt himself or to boast that he says this. Rather, it is from [his] desire to show that he too very much looks forward to this (i.e., the exaltation of Christ) and that these things happen not against his will or to his disadvantage. Rather, he desires and is eager for them. It was with a special view to these very things that all his actions had been performed. He has very wisely shown this by the term friend. For on occasions like marriages, the servants of the bridegroom are not as glad and joyful as his friends are. It was not from any desire to prove equality of honor (away with the thought) that he calls himself friend, but only due to his great pleasure and from condescension to their weakness. For he previously declared his service by saying, I am sent before him. On this account and because they thought that he was troubled at what had taken place, he called himself the friend of the Bridegroom to show not only that he was not troubled, but that he was actually quite happy over the whole turn of events.

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. By the bride he means the church gathered from among all nations…. It is a virgin pure of heart, perfect in love, bound to him in the bond of peace, in chastity of body and soul and in the unity of the Catholic faith. For it is useless for her to be a virgin in body without retaining the purity of the Catholic faith. Our Lord therefore committed his bride to his friends who are the preachers of the true gospel. Therefore, John says, The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. The friend is able to stand and hear him because he remains in the true faith and preaches what he believes.

She is not my spouse, John says. But do you still rejoice in the marriage, John? Yes, I rejoice, he says, because I am the friend of the bridegroom.

But what does it mean: He who stands and hears him rejoices greatly, because of the bridegroom’s voice? He transfers the expression from the parable to the subject at hand. For after mentioning the bridegroom and the bride, he shows how the bride is brought home, that is, by a voice and by teaching. For this is how the church is wedded to God. Therefore Paul also says, Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.^[1] At this voice, he says, I rejoice. And he adds who stand, in order to show that his office had ceased, that he had given over to him the bride and must for the future himself stand and hear him. He was a servant and minister, and his hope and joy are now realized. Therefore he says, This, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled.

There were prophets before John, and many of them, and great ones, worthy of God, full of God, who foretold the Savior and bore witness to the truth. Yet for all that, of none of them could it be said, as was said of John, Among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Baptist.^[1] So what is the meaning of such greatness, sent before the great One? It is a testimonial to extraordinary humility. After all, he was so great that people could think he was the Christ. John could have taken advantage of the people’s mistake, and he would not have had to work hard to persuade them he was the Christ, because those who heard and saw him had already thought this without his saying it. There was no need for him to sow the seeds of the error; all he would have to do would be to confirm it.

He, however, as the bridegroom’s friend, is jealous for the bridegroom. And he does not put himself forward as an adulterer in the bridegroom’s place but bears witness to his friend and commends the one who really was the bridegroom to the bride. He wants to be loved in him and hates the idea of being loved instead of him. The one who has the bride, he says, is the bridegroom. And if you were to say, What about you? he would respond, But the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears and joyfully rejoices because of the bridegroom’s voice. Stands and hears. The disciple hears the master; because he hears, he stands, because if he does not hear, he falls. It is here that John’s greatness is supremely brought to our notice; that when he could be thought to be the Christ, he preferred to bear witness to the Christ, to bring him to our notice. He preferred to humble himself rather than to be taken for the Christ and taken in by himself.

The crowd believed that [John] was the Christ because of the greatness of his power, while some people supposed that our Lord was not the Christ but a prophet because of the weakness of his flesh. John himself revealed the secret meaning of this difference…. Our Lord increased because it became known to believers throughout the entire world that he who was believed to be a prophet was the Christ. John diminished and decreased because it became apparent that he who was judged to be the Christ was not himself the Christ but the herald of the Christ.

He must increase, but I must decrease. What is this? He must be exalted, but I must be humbled. How is Jesus to increase? How is God to increase? The perfect does not increase. God neither increases nor decreases. For if he increases, he is not perfect; if he decreases, he is not God. And how can Jesus increase, being God?^[1]… This is a great mystery! Before the Lord Jesus came, people were glorifying themselves; he came as a man to lessen human glory and to increase the glory of God…. For this is what the apostle says, this is what holy Scripture says: He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.^[2]

Will you glory in yourself? You will grow; but you will grow worse in your evil. For whoever grows worse is justly decreased. Let God, then, who is ever perfect, grow and grow in you. For the more you understand God and apprehend him, he seems to be growing in you; but in himself he does not grow, being always perfect…. Do but examine the nature of humanity: a person is born and grows, he learns the customs of people. What does he know but earth and things of the earth? He speaks the things of people, knows the things of people and minds the things of people. Carnal, he judges carnally, conjectures carnally. Everything is about humanity! Let the grace of God come and enlighten his darkness, as it said, You will lighten my candle, O Lord; my God, enlighten my darkness;^[3] let it take the mind of humanity and turn it toward its own light. Immediately [John] begins to say, as the apostle says, Yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me,^[4] and Now I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.^[5] That is to say, He must increase, but I must decrease.

It is no big thing, and not all that wonderful either, if Christ surpasses the glory of human nature. For the boundaries of his glory don’t only extend so far—in fact, they extend over all creation just as God is above everything that has been made and in no way numbered among them. He, as the exception to everything, is divinely placed over everything. And then John explains why, which silences anyone who might disagree. He who comes from above, he says, is born of the root that is from above, preserving in himself by nature the Father’s natural goodness. Such a person will most assuredly possess an existence that surpasses everything. For, it would be impossible for the Son not to appear altogether to be the same kind of being as the one who begot him is conceived of. And this is only right. For how can the Son, who excels because he is of the same nature and is the Brightness and express Image of the Father—how can he be inferior to his [Father] in glory? Or will not the property of the Father be dishonored in the Son, and do we not insult the Image of the Begotten, if we consider him to be inferior? But this I suppose will be clear to everyone. This is why it is also written that everyone should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father.^[1] Whoever is glorified with equal honor with God the Father, because he exists from him by nature, has to be conceived of as surpassing the essence of things originate. For this is what above all means.

As the worm gnaws through the wood from which it is born, and rust destroys the iron from which it came, and moths consume fleece, so pride destroys the soul that nourishes it. Therefore we need perseverance to get rid of it. John himself can hardly subdue it in his disciples even with all of his cogent arguments. He has to say again what he has said above, He that comes from above is above all.… He means: you make much of my testimony and say that the witness is more worthy to be believed than Jesus to whom I bear witness. Know this, that it is impossible for the one who comes from heaven to be accredited by an earthly witness…. He is above all, being perfect in himself and above comparison.

Speaks of the earth does not mean that John spoke from his own understanding but that, in comparison with Christ’s doctrine, he spoke of the earth. It is as if he said, my doctrine is simple and humble when compared with Christ’s. While it is appropriate for an earthbound teacher, there is no comparison with the one in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge…. And yet John was not altogether earthly, for he had a soul and a spirit, and these were not of the earth. What does he mean then by saying that he is earthly? He says this only to express his own worthlessness and that he is one born on the earth, creeping on the ground. There is no comparison with Christ, who comes from above.

Then how does he speak of the earth? He said this about human beings. So far as relates to their being human, they are of earth and speak of the earth. And when human beings speak divine things it is because they are enlightened by God. For if they were not enlightened, they would be earth speaking of earth. God’s grace is one thing, the nature of human beings is another… as the apostle says, Yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me.^[1]… Thus John, as regards John, is of the earth and speaks of the earth. Whatever you have heard from John that is divine comes from him who enlightens, not him who receives.

After this high and solemn mention of Christ, John’s tone again lowers. For the expression what he has heard and seen is suited more for a mere man. What he knew, he knew not because he learned by sight or hearing but because everything is already in his nature, having come forth perfect from the bosom of his Father and needing no one to teach him…. As our senses are our surest channels of knowledge and teachers are most dependent on those who have apprehended by sight or hearing what they teach, John adds this argument in favor of Christ, that which he has seen and heard—meaning that everything that Jesus said is true, none of it is false.

There was no other possible way of showing the impiety of those who do not believe except by making known the glorious achievement of the believers. Evil is a lot easier to see when it is contrasted with good. When you know there is something better out there, it only puts what is worse in starker contrast. If anyone then, John says, has assented to the words of the one who comes from above, he has sealed and confirmed by his understanding that truth is ever near and dear to the divine nature. The opposite is just as obvious because anyone who throws away the faith will most certainly testify, against himself, that God is not true.

What has the Son heard from the Father? Could it be that the Son has heard the Word of the Father? No, the Son is the Word of the Father…. When you conceive a word to speak it, you intend to speak something, and the very conception of that something is already a word in your heart waiting to be expressed. [As, in fact, you have in your heart the word that you speak], so God gave out his Word, that is, he begat the Son. You beget the Word in your heart according to time. God begat outside of time the Son by whom he created all times. While, therefore, the Son is the Word of God and the Son did not speak his own word to us but the word of the Father, he still also wanted to speak himself to us as well when he was speaking the word of the Father. This is what John said, as was appropriate and necessary.

As the fount of the Spirit, [Christ] imparts him. He is speaking of the working of the Spirit, which people receive in some measure. For the Son himself has the full working of the Spirit in its entirety. Truly, the Son has the entire Spirit in essence and not in some measure, as a created being might have. Therefore, he himself imparts the Spirit, and by their petitions the saints make Christ supply the Spirit.

But why does he say, God gives not the Spirit by measure? He wants to demonstrate that we all have received the operation of the Spirit by measure (for in this place, by Spirit he means the operation of the Spirit, for this is what is divided). And yet, Christ has all its operation without measure and complete. Now if his operations are without measure, his essence is even more so. Do you not see that the Spirit is infinite? How then can he who has received all the operation of the Spirit, who knows the things of God, who says, We speak what we have heard, and testify what we have seen^[1]—how can anyone suspect anything he says? He says nothing that is not of God or that is not of the Spirit. And, for a while, he utters nothing concerning God the Word but makes all his doctrine credible by reference to the Father and the Spirit.

What does this mean when he says, For not by measure does God give the Spirit? We find that God does give the Spirit by measure. Listen to the apostle when he says, According to the measure of the gift of Christ.^[1] To people he gives by measure; to the only Son he does not give by measure. How does he give to people by measure? To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit.^[2]… This person has one gift, that person another; and what that person has, this one does not: there is a measure, a certain division of gifts…. But Christ, who gives, receives not by measure.

He added has given all things into his hands so that you might know also here with what distinction it is said, The Father loves the Son. And why? Doesn’t the Father love John? And yet he has not given all things into his hand. Doesn’t the Father love Paul? And yet he has not given all things into his hand. The Father loves the Son, but as a father loves, not as master loves a servant. He loves him as the only Son, not as an adopted son, and so he has given all things into his hand. What does all things mean? That the Son should be such as the Father is. He begot him to equality with himself—he in whom it was no robbery to be in the form of God and equal to God.^[1] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Therefore, having deigned to send us the Son, let us not imagine that it is something less than the Father that is sent to us. The Father, in sending the Son, sent his other self.

This passage does not demonstrate that the Son, at one time, did not have these prerogatives [that were given him by the Father]. For he who is the only Word and Wisdom of the Father in essence has eternally what the Father has. For doesn’t Christ elsewhere say, All that the Father has are mine,^[1] and whatever things are mine are the Father’s? For if the things of the Father are the Son’s and the Father always has them, it is plain that what the Son has, being the Father’s, were always in the Son. This is not because there was a time when he did not have them, but because, even though the Son has eternally what he has, he still has them from the Father.

The Father loves the world too, but not in the same way as he loves the Son, whom he loves exceedingly because of his incarnation as his own Word and Wisdom and Holiness. [His giving all things over to his Son] will be fulfilled at the time of his second coming when every knee will bow to him, as everyone rejects the evil to which they are now clinging. Here he calls his power his hand. The Son has this power by nature and not just to a certain degree. That is because every good thing really belongs to the Father and the Son is perceived to have this full power. And he will also receive as a man the authority which he had also had before his incarnation.

See how he refers to the Father again when he speaks of punishment. He did not say, the wrath of the Son, although the Son is the judge. Rather, he makes the Father the judge in order to alarm them more. He does not mean here that to believe on the Son says everything that needs to be said concerning gaining everlasting life, for elsewhere he says, Not every one that says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.^[1] And the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is of itself sufficient to send someone into hell…. But we must not think that even a right belief in Father, Son and Holy Spirit is all there is to salvation… for our [faith] also has need of a good life and conversation. Knowing then that the greater part are not moved so much by the promise of good, as by the threat of punishment, he concludes, But he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.… And he does not say in him but on him, meaning that the wrath will never depart from him. And for the same reason he says, shall not see life, that is, to show that he did not mean only a temporal death!

The wrath that remains on him certainly had its beginning from some offence, in other words, first of all, that he did not believe. When, then, anyone believes, the wrath of God departs and life arrives. To believe, then, in Christ is to gain life, for He who believes in him is not judged.^[1]

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Why? Because he has done the work of God, seeing that this is the work of God that you should believe in the one whom he has sent. But whoever does not believe in the Son will not have life, but the wrath of God remains on him;^[1] not will come upon him but remains on him. He is abandoned, not healed.

He says that the believer shall have everlasting life, but the word has a different significance for the unbeliever. For he does not say that [the unbeliever] shall not have life since he too shall be raised by the common law of the resurrection. But he says that he shall not see life, that is, he shall not even so much as glimpse the life of the saints, he shall not touch their blessedness, and he shall not taste of their life spent in bliss. For that is indeed life. But to exist in punishment is far more bitter than any death, holding the soul in the body only for the sensation of suffering.