“Jesus answered, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
In the name of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever been asked if you are “born again?” How did you answer?
To be born “from above” is to be “born of water and the Spirit.” You were born of water and Spirit when water and the Lord’s Words were splashed on you at your Baptism. In Baptism, you were “born from above” or “born again.”
On Holy Trinity Sunday, we hear about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father loves us this way: He gave up His Son. God the Son, the One who came from above, is lifted up on the cross so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. God the Spirit delivers and keeps us in this Christian faith.
The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not some abstract teaching that is too complicated for us to understand. No, this is our Faith: God is Triune. The Father created us. We turned away from Him. He sent Jesus to redeem us. The Spirit sanctifies us, makes us holy, by delivering what His Son did for us in the waters of our Baptism. We are saved by the work of the Holy Trinity.
And for our joy and salvation on the same day we hear about the mystery of how the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but we do not have three Gods but one, we also hear about how we are born “from above’ when the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was put upon us in Holy Baptism.
Have you ever been “born again?” You were born from above in the waters of Holy Baptism. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity; let us give glory to Him because He hath shown His mercy to us. O Lord, our Lord; how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!” (Introit for Trinity Sunday)
Higher Things Reflections are written by Rev. George F. Borghardt III, Assistant Pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX.