That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. A most weighty general proposition. As Olshausen expresses it, 'That which is begotten partakes of the nature of that which begat it.' By "flesh" here is meant, not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by birth-the entire man: yet since "flesh" is here opposed to "spirit," it plainly denotes in this place, not humanity merely, but humanity in its corrupted, depraved condition-humanity in entire subjection to the law of the fall, called in Romans 8:1-39 "the law of sin and death." (See the notes at Romans 8:1-9.) So that though a man could "enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born," he would be no nearer this new birth than before. (See Job 14:4; Psalms 51:5.) Contrariwise, when it is said, "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," the meaning is, that the fruit of that operation of the Holy Spirit upon the inner man, which had been pronounced indispensable, is the production of a spiritual nature, of the same moral qualities as His own.