John 3:4-8 Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?… The Spirit in regeneration worketh like water. I. Water hath the property of ABLUTION, to wash away the filth of our bodies. So the Spirit — 1. Besprinkling us with the blood of Christ assureth us that the guilt of sin is taken away, and 2. Applying to us the virtue of Christ's death causes sin to die, and so washes away the filth of sin and sanctifies us. And this is the first degree of spiritual life, to have sin die and decay in us, as Paul (Galatians 2:20) joins his being crucified with Christ, and living by faith in Christ, together. II. Water causes FRUITFULNESS, as drought does famine (Job 8:11). Hence was Egypt's fruitfulness, because of the Nile's inundations. And hence the regenerate man is compared to the trees planted by the rivers of water (Psalm 1.), because the presence of the Holy Ghost is the same to them, that waters to the willows (Isaiah 44:3-5). III. Water cools and allays heat (Psalm 42:1). So the Spirit cools the heat of our raging and accusing consciences pursued by the law. (J. Dyke.) Parallel Verses KJV: Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? |
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