John 3:6 KJV
That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
That which is born, &c.
That which is begotten carries within itself the nature of that which begat it. [OLSHAUSEN].
Is flesh
That is, fleshly, wholly unclean and under the wrath of God: and therefore this word “flesh” signifies the corrupt nature of man; contrary to which is the Spirit.
The flesh is not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by birth, the entire man; yet not humanity simply, but in its corrupted, depraved condition, in complete subjection to the law of the fall ( Romans 8:1-9 ). So that in case a man “could enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again,” he would be no nearer this “new birth” than before ( Job 14:4, Psalms 51:5).
We are here told what we are: We are flesh, not only corporeal but corrupt (Genesis 6:3).
The soul is still a spiritual substance,
• but so wedded to the flesh,
• so captivated by the will of the flesh,
• so in love with the delights of the flesh,
• so employed in making provision for the flesh,
that it is mostly called flesh; it is carnal.
And what communion can there be between God, who is a spirit, and a soul in this condition?
How we came to be so; by being born of the flesh. It is a corruption that is bred in the bone with us, and therefore we cannot have a new nature, but we must be born again.
The corrupt nature, which is flesh, takes rise from our first birth; and therefore the new nature, which is spirit, must take rise from a second birth.
Nicodemus spoke of entering again into his mother’s womb, and being born; but, if he could do so, to what purpose? If he were born of his mother a hundred times, that would not mend the matter, for still that which is born of the flesh is flesh; a clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean.
He must seek for another original, must be born of the Spirit, or he cannot become spiritual.
The case is, in short, this: though man is made to consist of body and soul, yet his spiritual part had then so much the dominion over his corporeal part that he was denominated a living soul (Genesis 2:7), but by indulging the appetite of the flesh, in eating forbidden fruit, he prostituted the just dominion of the soul to the tyranny of sensual lust, and became no longer a living soul, but flesh: Dust thou art.
The living soul became dead and inactive; thus in the day he sinned he surely died, and so he became earthly. In this degenerate state, he begat a son in his own likeness; he transmitted the human nature, which had been entirely deposited in his hands, thus corrupted and depraved; and in the same plight it is still propagated.
Corruption and sin are woven into our nature; we are shapen in iniquity, which makes it necessary that the nature be changed. It is not enough to put on a new coat or a new face, but we must put on the new man, we must be new creatures
Is spirit
Means partakes of and possesses His spiritual nature.
Speaking of the man ingrafted into Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose nature is everlasting and immortal.
To be continued
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