• ἃ — SBLGNT
• ἃ — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
• ὧν — Robinson-Pierpont

• τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος — SBLGNT
• τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος — Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Reader's GNT (NA27)
• τὸν αὐτοῦ ἔλεον — Robinson-Pierpont

§1215This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God."7

1. Of the men of that time some clung to their error, others laid hold on the truth, while of these last, some having retained it for a little while again fell off from it. Alluding to these, Christ compared them to seeds not deeply sown, but having their roots upon the surface of the earth; and He said that they should quickly perish. And these the Evangelist has here pointed …

Source. Translated by J. Walker, J. Sheppard and H. Browne, and revised by George B. Stevens. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210216.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Adven…

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Calvin shows that regeneration is absolutely necessary — not merely an improvement of nature but an entirely new birth. This new birth is from above, by the Spirit, and is as mysterious and sovereign as the wind. The lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness is a type of Christ's crucifixion: as Moses lifted up the…

We have now finished the three chief parts of the common Christian doctrine. Besides these we have yet to speak of our two Sacraments instituted by Christ, of which also every Christian ought to have at least an ordinary, brief instruction, because without them there can be no Christian; although, alas, hitherto no instruction concerning them has been given. In the first place,…

What is Baptism? Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God's command and combined with God's word. What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare. How can water do such great things? Certainly not just water, …

If we believe that Christ redeemed men by His blood, we are forced to confess that all of man was lost; otherwise, we make Christ either wholly superfluous, or else the redeemer of the least valuable part of man only; which is blasphemy, and sacrilege. Man's salvation is wholly dependent on the working of God, not on the works or will of man.

1. Relation of the Baptist to Elijah. The Theory of Transmigration Considered. The disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? Matthew 17:10 The disciples indeed who went up with Jesus remembered the traditions of the scribes concerning Elijah, that before the advent of Christ, Elijah would come and prepare for Him the souls of those who w…

Did the union of the Word Incarnate take place in the nature? Did it take place in the Person? Did it take place in the suppositum or hypostasis? Is the Person or hypostasis of Christ composite after the Incarnation? Did any union of body and soul take place in Christ? Was the human nature united to the Word accidentally? Is the union itself something created? Is it the same as…

If anyone denies that infants, newly born from their mothers' wombs, even though they be sprung from baptized parents, need to be baptized, or says that they are indeed baptized for the remission of sins but that they derive nothing of original sin from Adam which has need of being expiated by the laver of regeneration for the obtaining of life everlasting — let him be anathema…

By which words a description of the Justification of the impious is indicated, as being a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ our Saviour. And this translation cannot, since the promulgation of the Gospel, be effected without the laver of reg…

This disposition or preparation is followed by Justification itself, which is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just, and of an enemy becomes a friend, that so he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting. The causes of t…

If anyone saith that by the said sacraments of the New Law grace is not conferred through the act performed (ex opere operato), but that faith alone in the divine promise suffices for the obtaining of grace — let him be anathema.

Unless you are born again, you can have no peace. You must not only be convinced of sin, not only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; you must be truly regenerated and born again by the Spirit of the living God. This is not an outward reformation but an inward transformation. Old things must pass away, and all things must become new.

But does not God command us to do good works before we are sanctified? Most certainly. And these are what we call works meet for repentance. These are necessary before and after justification. But they are not the ground of justification or sanctification. They are the fruits, not the root. The root is faith — faith working by love.

Q. How are you right with God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, ri…

Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism? A. In the institution of baptism, where he says: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believ…

We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ, and that in it our righteousness before God is contained, as David and Paul teach us when they declare those people blessed to whom God grants righteousness apart from works. And the same apostle says that we are "justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Chris…

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood, which anyone might do or wish to do in order to atone or satisfy for sins. Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, Christ established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God's church and set ap…

Baptism was instituted and consecrated by God. The first that baptized was John, who dipped Christ in the water of Jordan. From him it came to the apostles, who also baptized with water. The Lord expressly commanded them to preach the Gospel and to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." And Peter said to the Jews who inquired what they shou…

We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

Those whom God has predestinated to life, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call by His Word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.

Those whom God effectually calls He also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous — not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteou…

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church.

Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Conditions to Salvation: Salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God.

Gregory describes baptism as simultaneously a tomb and a womb — the old self dies and the new self is born. We are buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised, we too may walk in newness of life. The water is a grave for the sinful nature and a birthplace for the regenerated soul.

The water of baptism is not ordinary water — it is water over which the Spirit of God has moved, just as the Spirit moved over the waters at creation. Ambrose teaches that the waters were barren and lifeless until the Spirit descended, and so the baptismal font is barren until the Spirit is invoked. What the Spirit accomplished in creation, He now accomplishes in the new creati…