That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I said to you, "You must be born again." The Spirit breathes where it will, and you hear its voice, but you do not know whence it comes and whither it goes: so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

The Lord, diverting Nicodemus' attention from the birth of the flesh, says: that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, that is, a person born of baptism becomes spiritual; for you must understand the word "spirit" instead of "spiritual." True, the one who is baptized does not become a divine spirit, but having received sonship, grace and honor by the Spirit, he is vouchsafed to be spiritual. Seeing that Nicodemus was still troubled, he said, "Do not be surprised." Then he tries to teach by sensual example. The Spirit, he says, breathes where he will, and you hear his voice, yet you do not know its direction, because it is irrepressible and unhindered, and by the force of nature it has a tendency in all directions. If it says, "It breathes where it will," it is not because the wind has the faculty of free choice and desire, but because it wants (as I have said) to indicate its natural movement and irrepressible force. But if you do not know where and how the wind breathes, this spirit that is subject to feeling, then how do you want to understand regeneration from the Spirit of God? If this spirit cannot be restrained, then how much more will the grace of the Holy Spirit not submit to the laws of nature. Let the Doukhobor of Macedonia and his predecessor Eunomius be ashamed. The former makes the Spirit a slave, but here he hears that the wind breathes where it will, and consequently the more so does the Spirit move autocratically and act where and how it wills. And Eunomius, having previously sinned in the same thing and calling the Spirit a creature, stretched out his insolence to such an extent that he seemed to know God as well as himself. Let him hear that he does not know the movement and striving of the wind; how, then, do you dare to appropriate to yourself the knowledge of the Essence of God?

Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can this be? Jesus answered and said to him, "You are a teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?" Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak of what we know, and bear witness of what we have seen; but you do not accept Our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you about heavenly things?

Nicodemus still remains with Jewish infirmity; therefore he asks again: how can this be? Wherefore the Lord, showing him that he asks thus out of simplicity, saith, Thou art a teacher of Israel; if you remember the glorious miracles performed in the Old Testament, beginning with the creation of man and onwards, namely, how he was created (Gen. 2:7. 21:22), how the woman was created from the rib, how the signs were performed in Egypt, how in the Red Sea (Exodus 7:8, 9, 14), how the barren gave birth (1 Samuel ch. 1), and so on, if you understand this, as the teacher of Israel, you will also believe what I am saying now. Moreover, I speak of what I know and what I have seen, that is, I know exactly. For by the word "seen" He does not mean bodily sight, but the most accurate knowledge. But you do not accept the testimony of "ours," that is, mine. The Lord does not say this to Nicodemus alone, but extends it to the whole race of Jews who remained in unbelief to the end. If I have told you about earthly things, and you do not believe, that is, if I have told you about the regeneration that takes place in baptism, and you have not accepted, but have asked, "How?" (He calls this birth "earthly" because it is performed on earth for the benefit of people living on earth; although it is heavenly by grace and dignity, we are baptized while on earth); Therefore, if I have spoken of this "earthly" birth, and have found you not believing, how will you believe if you hear of the ineffable heavenly birth, by which the only-begotten Son was born of the Father?

And some understood by "earthly" the example of the wind, so that the speech is presented in this sense: If I have given you an example of earthly things, and you are not convinced by it, how can you learn more exalted things?

No one ascended into heaven except the Son of man, who came down from heaven, who is in heaven.

And this, apparently, has nothing to do with the previous one. But if anyone looks attentively into the thought of the Lord, it turns out that this too is close to the previous one. Since Nicodemus called the Lord Teacher and Prophet, He says: Do not consider Me to be a prophet who is from the earth, sent by God to teach, but consider Me to have come down from above, as the Son, and not from the earth. None of the prophets ascended into heaven, but I alone have to ascend, as I descended. When you hear that the Son of Man came down "from heaven," do not think that the flesh came down from heaven. In fact, Apollinaris thought that Christ, having a body from heaven, passed through the Virgin as through a canal. But since Christ, consisting of two natures, was one Hypostasis or one Person, the names of Man are applied to the Word, and again the names of the Word are applied to Man. So it is said here that the "Son of Man" came down from heaven, because He is one Person and one Hypostasis. Then, so that when you hear "he who has descended," you do not think that he who has come down is no longer in heaven, he says: "He who is in heaven." Therefore, when you hear that I have come down, do not think that I am not there; but here also I am bodily present, and there I sit with the Father according to the Divinity.

And as Moses lifted up the 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.

Having first spoken of regeneration through baptism, then he speaks of the good deed done for us through the cross. For the cross and death are the cause of the grace given to us through baptism, since at baptism we depict the death of the Lord. He does not say directly that I will be crucified, but reminds us of the serpent and of ancient history (Num. 21:5-9), and in this way, on the one hand, teaches us that the old is akin to the new, and that the Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments is one and the same, although Marcion, Manes, and the rest of the assembly of similar heretics reject the Old Testament, saying, that he is the law of the evil demiurge (artist); on the other hand, it teaches that if the Jews avoided death by looking at the brass image of the serpent, how much more will we escape spiritual death by looking at the Crucified One and believing in Him. Compare the image, perhaps, with the truth. There is the likeness of a serpent, which has the form of a serpent, but has no venom: so here also the Lord is Man, but free from the poison of sin, Who came in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that is, in the likeness of the flesh subject to sin, but Himself is not the flesh of sin. Then those who beheld avoided bodily death, but we avoid spiritual death. Then the hanged man healed from the bite of snakes, and now Christ heals the wounds from the mental dragon.

When you hear: "I must be lifted up," understand it this way: to be hanged. For He was hanged on high, so that He who sanctified the earth by walking on it might sanctify the air, and understand the air "to be lifted up" and thus: to be glorified. For the cross has truly become the height and glory of Christ. In what He seemed to be condemned, He condemned the prince of this world. I will explain a few. Adam died justly because he had sinned. The Lord did not die out of the duty of justice, because He did not sin. Before the crucifixion of the Lord, death justly ruled over people. And since the Lord turned out to be sinless, what could the devil find in Him deserving of death? And since He was unjustly slain, He defeated Him who killed Him, and thus freed Adam from the death justly inflicted on him as one who had sinned. And it is different. Two subjects dominated the human race: pleasure and sorrow. The Lord, having passed through both, proved invincible. The tempter first approached Him on the mountain with an offer of pleasure (Matt. 4:3. 6. 9); but, finding Him invincible through this, He used a great cunning, brought sorrow, in order at least through it to possess Him, and for this purpose He raised up everything against Him: the denial of the disciples, the mockery of the soldiers, the blasphemy of those who passed by, death at the hands of the Jews, but even so He found Him invincible. For the sorrow on the cross could not arouse in the Lord hatred for the crucifiers, but He continued to love them and prayed for them, saying: Father, forgive them! Do not put this sin on them (Luke 23:34). You see how He conquered by what He seemed to be defeated. Thus the cross became both His exaltation and glory.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

God's love for the world is great and has extended to such an extent that He gave not an angel or a prophet, but His Son, and moreover the Only-begotten Son (1 John 4:9). If He had given the angel as well, then this would have been no small matter. Why? Because the angel is His faithful and obedient servant, and we are enemies and apostates. Now, when He gave His Son, what superiority of love did He show?! Again, if He had many sons and gave one, then this too would have been a very great thing. And now He has given the Only Begotten. Is it possible to praise His goodness worthily? The Arians say that the Son is called the Only-begotten because He alone was produced and created by God, and all other things were already created by Him. The answer to them is simple. If He had been called the Only-begotten without the word "Son," then your subtle invention would have had a basis. But now that He is called the Only-begotten and the Son, the word "Only-begotten" cannot be understood as you do, but that He alone is begotten of the Father.

Notice, I beseech you, that just as He said above that the Son of Man came down from heaven, although the flesh did not come down from heaven, but added to man the things that belong to God because of the unity of the Person and the unity of the Hypostasis, so here again the things that belong to man add to God the Word. God gave His Son to death, he says. Although God remained impassible, since God the Word and the Man subject to suffering were one and the same in Hypostasis, it is said that the Son is given over to death, who actually suffered in his own flesh.

What is the use of having the Son given? Great and inconceivable for man is that everyone who believes in Him should receive two blessings: one, so that he would not perish; another, that he may have life, and eternal life at that. The Old Testament promised long life to those who pleased God in it, and the Gospel rewards such people with a life not temporary, but eternal and indestructible.