In this gospel you have clearly what reason and free will are able to do; you see this finely here in this Nicodemus, who was a paragon among the best, a prince and chief of the Pharisees, who were the best among the people, namely, that when they come to the Most High, they are completely blind and dead before God, how holy, wise, good and mighty they are regarded before men. For this Nicodemus, the longer he deals with Christ, the less he understands him; and yet are earthly things, that is, since he is to deal with, and how he must be killed. So blind is reason that it cannot see nor know God's business, nor the things with which it is to deal. This is a defeat given to nature and human reason, which philosophy and worldly wise men have so highly exalted and said: Reason always strives for the best.
Therefore God has given us an example here, that we should see that the very best of nature is nothing; and since it is the most beautiful, brightest and lightest, it is blind; he who is full of envy and hatred will keep silent. For this reason, he has demonstrated with examples, words and works that human reason is nothing but blind and dead before God; therefore, it cannot long for divine things nor desire them.
Now this Nicodemus, who was a pious and kind-hearted man, cannot comprehend God's work and word; how then will Annas (Annas) and Caiphas comprehend it? He comes here to the Lord in the night; this was done out of fear, lest he be called a heretic by the others. From this it is to be assumed that he was still an old Adam, because he walks by night and yet has not had the right true light; for if he had been a new man, he would have come in broad daylight and would not have been afraid of anyone. Therefore the Lord also answers him sharply and repels all his greeting and future speech; as we shall hear. The good Nicodemus comes and says thus to the Lord:
Master, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do the signs that you do, except God with him.
(4) These words, he thinks, he said out of good opinion: but it is still here old skin and vain hypocrisy. Therefore Christ will not accept the greeting, but will strip the good Nicodemum and make him new, so that he will go from the heart and from faith, and speaks to him thus:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
5 As if Christ said: No, dear Nicodeme, I do not move above your beautiful words, you must take off the old skin and become new. You do not believe it, as you say: you are still afraid. For nature hears the word of God and the gospel well and is pleased with it, but it does not enter into the heart; therefore one must kill reason and give himself into spiritual birth. This is what Christ wants when he says that one must be born again. Reason cannot understand this, therefore Nicodemus says:
How can a person be born when he is old? Can he also go and be born anew in his mother's womb?
(6) So the reasoning bumps up against the spirit, falls on another, and draws this birth on the fleshly birth; therefore Christ goes on and transfigures this birth to him, to tear him out, saying:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
(7) As if the Lord would say, Thou wilt drag my birth, of which I speak. I know well that the fleshly birth abideth; but I speak of a birth which is of water and of the Spirit. And says further:
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit.
These are words that no reason can grasp; it falls on the spirit and water, and speculates how this can happen. Then she does not see any way that belongs to a birth; then she even becomes a fool, and says: How can it happen that a man is born of water and of the spirit? Yes, if they were water bubbles?
009 Then cometh Christ, and smote off the head of reason, saying, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest it not? Thou shouldest teach other men spiritual birth, that they may be godly, and thou knowest not of them thyself. Then he lays down to him the reason and the whole law, and says, Well, beloved, knowest thou not how it is? But I know how it is, and so do other prophets who testify to me. Deny your reason and close your eyes, and only believe my word. Therefore he speaks:
Do not be surprised that I told you that you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the breath thereof; but knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. So every one that is born of the Spirit.
10 As if he wanted to speak: Thou dost not judge spiritual things by thy reason, and canst not comprehend those which are done with thee in nature; as he saith here of the wind. For no philosopher or worldly wise man has ever been able to investigate or describe what the wind is, where it begins or ends. We do not know where the wind comes from, or how far away it weaves, or how far it goes. If we cannot fathom through our reason the things that happen to us daily in nature, much less will we be able to fathom through this same reason the divine works that God works in us.
But how a man is born again, that can be said soon. But when it comes to the experience, as it has come here Nicodemo, then it is effort and work. It is
It is easy to say that one must blind reason, withdraw feeling, close one's eyes and cling to words alone, then die and still live; but to maintain this when it comes to experience and to one's features is effort and work, and comes across as sour.
12) Take the example of the new birth: Abraham had a son who was to inherit the world, and his seed was to become like the stars of heaven, as he was promised in Genesis 15:5. Now God came and commanded him to kill the same son. If Abraham had followed his reason, he would have concluded: God has promised me the seed in which my family shall be multiplied; now he comes and tells me to sacrifice him. This must not be God, but the devil. Now Abraham kills reason and gives glory to God, and thinks: God is so mighty, he can raise my son from death and increase the family through him, or he can give me another one, or otherwise he can bring it about through another way, unknown to me; go and give it home to God. Behold, Abraham crawls out of his old skin and enters into God, and believes Him and becomes a different man. Then the angel comes and says: "Abraham, Abraham, do not lay your hand on the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, and have not kept your own son from me," Gen. 22:11, 12. Abraham could not have imagined that God would do this; indeed, he had already killed the son in his heart.
Now, this birth is begun in baptism. The water is the baptism, the spirit the grace, which is poured into us in the baptism. The birth is seen finely when one is to die, and when poverty or other shocks fall; for he that is born old wrinkles and rebels, and looks to and fro, and unbolts his reason, how it may be nourished. But he who is born again thinks, "I am in God's hand, he has sustained and fed me before in a wonderful way; he will still feed and sustain me from now on, and save me from all misfortune.
14 So, if we are to die, then we must
we go there and do not know where from; the inn is not ready; we do not know whether it will be a white or black house. For where there is flesh and blood, there is still the old skin, which does not know where to go or where to go out, whether it should go out below or above, on the left hand or on the right, and does not know where it should put its soul, and still go out. Then there arises a fear and distress that it might well be a real hell; for the torment of hell is nothing but fear, terror, horror and despair. But when I believe God and am born again, I close my eyes, and do not fumble, and let the essence of the soul completely perish, and think: "O God, my soul is in your hand, you have preserved it in my life, and I have never known where you have placed it; therefore I do not want to know where you will put it now. Only this I know: it is in your hand, you will help it. So one must step out of the natural being into a new being and be completely dead. This is also a right dying, and not a bad feeling, as one scrapes off a scab, as the philosophers said, as when a cook washes a pot; but there must be a right change and be completely melted into another being, all natural being and feeling must go completely to the ground.
Therefore the Lord says here: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." The flesh means the whole man with body and soul, reason and will, who is not born of the spirit. For the soul is so deeply sunk into the flesh that it wants to guard and protect it so that it does not suffer harm, so that it is more flesh than the flesh itself. We see this in death, that the flesh does not like to be stripped of its skin, because the soul is still there; but as soon as it is gone, the body lets itself be flayed, and suffers everything that is done to it. God the Lord also indicates this with these words in Moses, when he said before the flood: "My spirit will not be a judge among men forever, while they are flesh," Gen. 6, 3. For man does not want the flesh to perish or die at all; but the spirit only wants to have that, therefore it desires that only the soul should die.
Flesh soon perishes. Thus the natural essence of the soul must perish and become hostile to the body, and desire that it die, that the soul come into another being. How this happens, we alone should believe, not know. God works it and has not commanded us to search for it.
(16) By this similitude of the wind, therefore, the Lord signifies that a spiritual man is neither here nor there, and is not bound to any time or place. He does not put on a cap, nor does he do any of the things that are external, for he knows that they do not serve this purpose. In sum, there is no help for fasting, for taking masses, or for any other work: there must be another essence, namely, that all our works which we do perish and come to nothing, as has been said. But this is the new nature, that man should not stand on his works, but abide and remain in the grace of God, which he gives us through Jesus Christ. If I am to stand, my works and all that I have devised must come to ruin and be nothing. Therefore with this man there is no other beginning, nor yet an end. We hear the wind blowing, but where it comes from and where it goes, we do not know. So it is here also: a man preaches and has the word in his mouth, but from where it comes to him, and what it accomplishes and where it produces fruit, no one knows.
(17) This place therefore concludes that a Christian man shall not build upon works, place, or person. Reason then wonders, and asks, "How can it be that anyone born of the Spirit is like the wind, and that all we do is nothing? What will become of it? If it were so, all priests, monks and nuns would have to be damned with their beautiful, delicious life? To this Christ Nicodemo answers here, who also says, "How can this happen?" and says:
Are you a master in Israel and do not know it?
(18) As if the Lord would speak: You ought to know this, because you are one of those who are to teach the people; so I hear that you yourself know nothing about it. Such
You should have taught the people the things I have now told you, namely, how we must be born anew; but you have taught the contradiction, and in the meantime have been concerned about where the wind comes from and where it goes, and have paid attention to its blowing, and have dealt with other useless things; but what was most necessary for you and the people, you have let go. Listen to what I say to you:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our testimony.
19 As if Christ were saying, "Shall I point out to you with my fingers how this happens? That cannot happen; you should believe me, since you yourself say that I am a teacher who has come from God. That I have said that man must be born anew, and that all our doings are nothing, this cannot be shown by seeing it with eyes, but must be spoken of in words alone; if you believe, you understand. But Nicodemus did not understand; therefore the Lord said to him, discovering his lack of understanding even better, and said:
Do you not believe if I tell you about earthly things; how would you believe if I told you about heavenly things?
20. This is still all an earthly thing, that I have said how we must all perish, and that man is dust and must return to dust, and how the wind weaves; yet you do not understand it: what would you do if I told you much about God? I have told you about a little thing, and you do not understand it; how would you understand it if I told you that after death our immortal bodies will shine as bright and clear as the sun, and what will follow after death? You would not understand that at all. And now he goes to him and pokes him a little bit with the heavenly things, as it is done for this reason, and says:
No one is going to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
(21) What this is, reason cannot understand; for it is a heavenly sermon, and is said as much as if Christ said, The Son of man came to the earth, and yet remained in heaven, and ascended again into heaven; that is, he became lord over heaven and earth, and over all that is therein. Know therefore that I am he which came down, and so descended into hell, and yet abode in heaven. For when Christ was dead, he lived; and when he was a worm, and counted the least and most despised, he was accounted the most honourable and the highest in the sight of God; and when he ascended again into heaven, he rose again from death, and took all power unto himself, and became lord over all creatures, even as he was subject unto all creatures on earth: and no man hath succeeded him in this.
(22) We are indeed in death, but at the same time we are also in heaven, like Christ. Sin and death reign in us, but the Lord Christ did not have power over them; indeed, he had life and death in his hand and power, as he himself says in John 10:17, 18: "For this cause my Father loveth me, that I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I myself take it from myself. I have power to let it go, and I have power to take it again." No one comes to such power that all things are subject to him, except Christ, who, though he was in death before the world, yet lived before God his Father; and though he was in great shame and disgrace before the world, yet was he in great honor before God. But no one brought him to such a thing except us. For through the fall of the first father Adam we all fell. He had to bring in the fall again through his disgrace, dishonor, dishonor and death, so that we might again come to honor and life.
(23) So here he repels Nicodemum another time, as he said above, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," as if to say, "You are subject to go to heaven and escape from hell;
but go well, you will miss. Blood and flesh cannot go to heaven; only he goes to heaven who came down from heaven, so that in his hand is the government of all things. Whatsoever liveth, that can he kill; and whatsoever is dead, that can he quicken; and whatsoever is rich, that can he make poor. So it is decided here that what is born of the flesh does not belong to heaven. But this going up to heaven and coming down was done for our good, so that we, who are carnal, might also go to heaven, but in such a way that this mortal body would be killed first. In sum, with our works we will accomplish nothing at all; for God will not look upon anyone to make him blessed, except Christ, who alone is the bridge and ladder to ascend into heaven. But how this going up to heaven is given to us and how it becomes ours, the Lord says further, and says:
And as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
24 What does Christ want with this? Nothing else, but that all who want to go to heaven and follow him must become new creatures; for this is why he went to heaven, that we should follow him. This history, of which the Lord Christ speaks, is written in the 4th book of Moses Cap. 21:6-9: When the Jews murmured against God and against Moses in the wilderness, the Lord sent serpents among the people, which spat fire, and bit the people, so that a great multitude of Israel died: and they came unto Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee: pray the Lord that he turn away the serpents from us. Moses asked for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a serpent of brass, and set it up for a sign: he that is bitten, and looketh on it, shall recover. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it up for a sign: and if a serpent bit any man, he looked on the bronze serpent, and lived.
25. Christ refers to this history and points it out to himself, as if he should say: "Just as the Jews in the desert, when they were bitten by fiery serpents, were saved by looking at the brazen serpent that Moses set up as a sign, so it is with me: All who look at me will not perish, that is, all who have an evil conscience and are tempted by sin and death, let them believe that I have come from heaven for their sakes and have gone up again, so that neither sin nor death will harm them; indeed, they will not be able to perish for eternity. For whosoever will come to heaven to be saved must do it through this serpent, which is Christ, or else he shall abide in this world. Therefore, this gospel condemns free will and everything that human powers can do, and points only to this serpent.
The secret interpretation of the serpent that Moses gives is this: The serpent that bit and poisoned the Jews is nothing but sin, death and an evil conscience. I see that I am going to death, and now I am in it, and I cannot come out, I must remain in it until a dead serpent is delivered to me, which does not live, nor does any harm to anyone, but rather is as pious as Moses' serpent was. Now this is Christ, for I see him hanging on the cross, not beautiful, nor in great honor. For if he were beautiful and handsome, the flesh would say that he deserved it by his works, so that he would stand in honor and be exalted; but I see him hanging in the shameful shape and form of the cross, like a murderer and an evildoer, so that even reason must say that he is accursed before God. And that is what the Jews thought; that is why they could not regard him otherwise than as the most damned man both before God and before the world; because they had this saying in the law of Moses before them: "Cursed be everyone who hangs on the wood", Deut. 21, 23.
027 Moses also had to set up a serpent of brass, which had a form
of the fiery serpents, which yet bit no one, nor harmed, but rather saved the people. So Christ also has the form and appearance of a sinner, but to me he has become a salvation; for his death is my life, he enters into my sin, and takes away the Father's wrath from me. In me is the living fiery serpent, for I am a sinner: but in him is a dead serpent, who was counted a sinner, but had never committed sin.
Therefore, if a man believes that Christ's death has taken away sin, he becomes a new man. A carnal, natural man cannot believe that God has taken away all our sins for the sake of a new man.
Reason thinks, "If you have sinned, you must do enough for sin," and then falls to thinking of one work over another, thinking that it will take away sin by its works. But this is the gospel of Christ: If you have fallen into sin, you must have an Savior who is sufficient for you, and that is Jesus Christ. Now if a man believes this, he becomes one thing with Christ, and has all that Christ has.
29 Therefore the sum of this gospel is this: Our thing is nothing, and all that men's strength can do is vain; but faith in Christ does it all.