The New Birth, Part 2

Ah no, friends, no! Beware, I tell you: God will not deceive you. For he says through the prophet, Malachi 3, verse 6, “I am the Lord, I do not change.” All that he has testified to us in his holy word, through his prophets and through Christ and his apostles, is his eternal, unchangeable will; on this we may all rely if we do not wish to deceive our souls. In short, all counsel and advice are in vain: true repentance and the birth from above must take place; we must believe Christ and his word, and we must willingly abide by his Spirit, ordinance and example, or eternal misery must be our portion. This is incontrovertible.

Therefore I admonish and entreat you, as those whom my soul loves: repent! repent! Do not delay. “The axe is laid to the root of the trees; therefore every tree which does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire,” Matthew 3, verse 10. Watch over your poor souls, which have been bought with a precious price, and be comforted no longer with open lies, nor be fed on chaff; for see, I tell you, there is nothing under heaven that can or will stand before God except the new creature, “and faith which works by love,” “and the keeping of the commandments.”

My faithful reader, do not merely believe me, but believe the word, to which by the grace of God I have directed you with my small talents. For as truly as the Lord lives, all who teach otherwise than we have shown from the word of the Lord, whoever they are, are prophets who deceive you, who put pillows under your arms and cushions under your heads, who whitewash the wall with delusions and speak peace to the wicked, but not out of the mouth of the Lord. For as certain as it is that the penitent and regenerated are the true Christians, who have obtained God’s truth, the true light, the pardon of their sins and the sure promise of eternal life, so certain it is also that the sensual and impenitent are false Christians, and have serpentine lies, darkness, a bent toward sin, and the certain promise of eternal death. That this is the truth will be found so in eternity before Almighty God; of this his word is a true witness to me, and I am confidently assured of it through his grace.

Now perhaps some may answer: Our belief is that Christ is the Son of God, that his word is truth, that he purchased us with his death and blood, and that we were regenerated in baptism and received the Holy Spirit; therefore we are the true church and congregation of Christ.

We reply: If your faith is as you say, why do you not do the things which he has commanded you in his word? His command is: Reform. Be converted. Keep the commandments. Yet it is evident that you are growing worse every day, that unrighteousness is your father and wickedness your mother, and that the express command of the Lord is foolishness and mockery to you. Since you will not do as he commands, or as he would have you do, but act as you choose, it proves well enough that you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, although you say so. Nor do you believe that his word is truth; for faith and its fruits are inseparable — this you will all have to confess by the grace of God. O you poor, blind men! Be silent and blush; let Christ Jesus with his Spirit and word be your teacher and example, your way and your mirror. Do you think it is enough merely to acknowledge Christ according to the flesh? Or merely to say that you believe on him and are baptized, that you are Christians, and that you are purchased with the blood and death of Christ? Ah no! I have told you often and tell you again: you must be born of God; you must be so converted and changed in your life that you become new creatures in Christ, that Christ is in you and you in Christ, or you can never be Christians; for “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature,” Second Corinthians 5, verse 17.

If you rightly believe in Christ, as you boast, then show by your lives that you believe; for “The just shall live by faith,” as the Scriptures say. That all this is true has been fully testified and shown by the works of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, David, Matthias, Zaccheus, Magdalene, Paul, and all the pious children of God who have been from the beginning until this day. But how you conduct yourselves in your faith, and how you are minded, may be plainly seen in your excessive lies, fraud, avarice, hoarding, cursing, swearing, pride and wantonness; for your hearts burn with unrighteousness; you fear neither God nor his word; and nevertheless you boast that you believe on Christ, that you have his word, that you are Christians, and so on. I say it again: reform, or hold your peace and be ashamed.

Further, you imagine that you were regenerated in your baptism and received the Holy Spirit. Faithful reader, remember: even if it had been with you as you say, you will have to acknowledge that your regeneration then took place without hearing the word, without faith in and knowledge of Christ, and without any knowledge and understanding at all; and besides, that this birth and the Spirit you received are altogether without working, wisdom, power and fruit — indeed, that they are vain and dead in you. That you live neither after the Spirit nor in the power of the new birth is evident from your gross avarice, drunkenness, pride and idolatrous, carnal lives, of which all those baptized among you are my witnesses. Indeed, my friends, if you had been born of God in your baptism and had received the Holy Spirit, as your comforters persuade and assure you, then it could not be otherwise than that the new, spiritual life and its fruits would also be seen, as was the case with the saints from the beginning, and still is. For it is clear that the regenerated do not live presumptuously in sin, but through faith, in true repentance, are buried by baptism into the death of Christ and also rise with him to a new life; and those who have the Spirit of the Lord also bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. That you do not bury your sins but serve them with all your strength, and do not bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, is testified daily by your vain, carnal and abominable lives. My friends, out of true love I warn, admonish and entreat you to awake and observe what the word of the Lord teaches; for the Spirit of the Lord will not dwell in a wicked soul, nor in a body subject to sin.

In the second place, I say: if you are rightly baptized according to the word of the Lord, as you imagine, then you have put on Christ and live no longer after Adam’s inborn, evil nature, but after the regenerated, good nature of Christ. But since this is not the case with you, and you are still altogether carnal and earthly, as is evident from all your fruits, it is clear that you are not regenerated, baptized Christians but impenitent, carnal pagans; for your works are done chiefly after a heathen will, as we may see and hear. Once more I say: awake and hear what the word of the Lord says: “If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness,” Romans 8, verse 10.

In the third place, I tell you: if you are rightly baptized according to the word of the Lord, then you are members and joint heirs of the body of Christ and have the evidence of a good conscience before God. Now a body is never divided against itself, nor does it hate its members or do them harm, but one member serves and helps another. Yet it is evident, and is indeed found so with you, that you unmercifully persecute, murder and root out the chosen members of Christ, who are of your own flesh and blood, whom he purchased by his death, regenerated by his word, endowed with his Spirit and chose as his own peculiar people — who, besides having a regenerated, new and good conscience, seek no help or comfort from human institutions but cling solely, with a pure faith, to the grace, righteousness, prayer, merits, death and blood of the Lord — while you depend on and comfort yourselves with the masses, confession, absolution, holy water, bread, wine, oil and vigils of the priests and monks. So the works themselves testify that you are not useful members of the body just mentioned, but rather its destroyers and defilers; and that you do not have a firm, joyful, peaceable and good conscience, but a wavering, condemning, restless and evil conscience before God. For we see that all these superstitions and false worship named above, which all regenerated, pious and good consciences regard as mere abominations, are your chief support and comfort, because you neither have Christ nor know him. My friends, beware: you are miserably deceived by your comforters. The spirit of prophecy says, “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things says the first and the last, who was dead and is alive; I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan,” Revelation 2, verses 8 and 9. Well may it be said at the present time to all the great and plausible sects: I know the great slanders, and see the wicked lives, of those who say they are regenerated, baptized Christians, and are not, but are Satan’s synagogue; for I do not see how they could do worse.

But if we come to the rulers and potentates, there we find nothing but haughtiness and pride, splendor, dancing, whoring, pleasure riding, sport, stabbing, killing, warring, destroying cities and countries, and living according to the lusts of the flesh.

If we come to the lesser officers and judges, there we find insatiable avarice, treachery and roguery, cunning devices to defraud the helpless and God-fearing (I do not mean the good and pious among them); they seek gifts and presents; they pervert the right of the righteous and willingly accept gifts to shed innocent blood; they persecute the truth; they reject what is right and good; the fear of God is not before their eyes.

If we come to the divines, whether preachers, priests or monks, there we find such an idle, lazy, wanton and carnal life, such a corrupted, antichristian doctrine and understanding of the Scriptures, such hatred, envy, slander, betrayal, lying and uproar against all the pious, that I would be ashamed to mention it before the virtuous and honest. The common people run like a frantic heifer, as the prophet laments, Hosea, chapter 4. They lie, cheat, curse and swear by the wounds and sacraments of the Lord, by his judgment, hand, power, suffering, death and blood. I am ashamed to have to think of these scandalous abominations. They gamble, drink and quarrel. In short, neither their excessive, wicked lives nor their great folly can be checked; and yet it must be said that these lords, judges, learned men and common people are the truly regenerated church and baptized congregation of Christ! May the merciful Lord graciously preserve all his chosen children from such a regeneration, baptism and church in all eternity.

I testify the truth to you in Christ Jesus; take heed, if you will: Jesus Christ has never from the beginning endured such openly impenitent, carnal sinners in his holy city, kingdom and church, and he never will endure them. This you may believe.

O Almighty God and Lord, how miserably your holy and fatherly will and your adorable great name are derided, and how little your saving, precious word is esteemed! Indeed, what an abominable, idolatrous, carnal, vengeful and bloodthirsty devil is made of your beloved Son; for they cover all their abominations, sins and disgraces with his blessed, holy name, word, death and blood.

Be ashamed, O you heedless, perverse men; be ashamed, I say, before God and his angels, that you are so rebellious and unruly, that you live so coarsely, and yet dare to say that you are the rightly regenerated congregation and baptized church of Christ. Often have I told you, and I tell you again, that all who are born of God and rightly baptized with the Spirit, fire and water, as the Scriptures teach, are of a heavenly and divine mind. They bury their sins and lead a penitent, pious, virtuous life according to the word of the Lord. They show by word and work the nature and power of Christ which dwells in them; they bring forth the fruits of the Spirit and subdue the works of the flesh; they are useful members of the body of Christ and labor according to the gift they have received. In short, they are fruitful branches of the true vine, and their fruits abide to eternal life, John, chapter 15.

But since it is plain in you that you show the reverse in all your fruits, and we do see in your whole lives that it is nothing but world and flesh with you, it is clear that your boasting of the new birth, the Spirit, baptism, congregation and church is not the truth, but vanity, lies and falsehood.

The holy Scriptures and our common belief teach us that the holy Christian church is an assembly of the righteous and a congregation of saints; and whoever can see even partly into the Scriptures must confess that your church and assembly are a church and assembly of the unrighteous, the lascivious, the impenitent, the sensual and sodomites — indeed, of bloodthirsty wolves, lions, bears, basilisks, serpents and fiery flying dragons.

Ah, friends, lift up your heads and open your eyes! O you bewitched ones, look over the whole world and see what life they lead who have received the same baptism as you, who practice the same sacraments and worship, who indulge in the same boasting of the death and blood of the Lord, and say that they are the church and people of Christ. For it is clearer than midday that many of you are so senseless, so driven by the spirit of the devil, that you hate, envy, bite and devour one another, so that you utterly destroy principalities, cities, castles and citadels with your accursed fighting and uproar. You shed human blood like water; you deprive the poor townsman and peasant (those of your own faith) of body and possessions by burning, robbing, plundering, seizing, exactions and torture — indeed, even those who have never harmed you or given you a hasty word. In truth, I do not know how the infernal Behemoth could be more devilish and cruel than you or your members, who imagine that they are the church of Christ. God preserve us! You disgrace families; you persecute the pious and God-fearing; you encourage open brothels, tippling houses, boxing schools, gaming boards and the like disgraces, idolatrous houses and images, with all false service and the like, without measure or bounds. I will not touch on your intolerable, blasphemous cursing and swearing, lying, cheating, drunkenness, whoring, pomp, splendor and so on. What more shall I say? I will forbear; for it seems to me that no one can be found under the broad canopy of heaven who could relate in detail the gross abominations, wicked acts, abuses and scandals of your fellow believers in infant baptism; a righteous person must be astounded at such great sins. O dear Lord, strengthen us! Indeed, whoever does not rightly understand that you are not born from above, but are baptized contrary to all Scripture, and that all your boasting of the forgiveness of sins, of the mercy, grace, merits, flesh, blood, cross, death, church, kingdom and eternal promise of God is vain and without the Scriptures — he, we may say, must be an irrational man.

Ah, readers, how little you think on the word of the Lord, which is so highly commended to you, and how little you regard your poor souls, which are bought with such a precious price and are to live eternally with God in heaven, or to be dying forever with the devil in hell! Do you think, my friends, that the Lord is a dreamer, or his word a fable? Ah no! Not one letter of all that he spoke will fall to the ground. It is high time you reflected that God’s promise of grace is given not to the unregenerated and impenitent, but to the regenerated and penitent. Let everyone take warning and trust no longer in lies, believing that he is baptized and regenerated; nor trust in long-standing usages, nor in papal decretals, nor in imperial mandates, nor in the wisdom and glosses of the learned, nor in the good opinion of any man, council, institution or wisdom. God says through the prophet, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” The word of God is eternal. Neither princes nor power nor the commands of men, with all their imperial edicts, are to constitute faith, nor can a soul be saved by them. We must hear and follow only the heavenly counsel which Jesus Christ, God’s first and only begotten Son, himself brought from heaven, taught from the mouth of his Father, confirmed by signs and wonders, and finally sealed with his crimson blood. This counsel stands and can never be changed or prevailed against by the gates of hell. By this counsel we are all taught that we must hear Christ, believe in him, follow his footsteps, repent, be born from above, become as little children — not in understanding, but in malice — be of the same mind as Christ, walk as he did, deny ourselves, take up his cross and follow him; and that if we love father, mother, children or life more than him, we are not worthy of him, nor are we his disciples. Again, that adulterers, whoremongers, murderers, drunkards, idolaters and similar sinners shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That we are not to love the world and the things in it, nor conform to the world; that through faith we are to die to our evil flesh and conquer the devil; that through faith we are to lead an upright, blameless, pious life in all things and act according to the will of the Lord. Again, that we are to baptize upon faith and not without it, and celebrate the Lord’s Holy Supper in a sincere, penitent communion — I mean as far as man can judge. That we practice exclusion, or the ban, according to the Scriptures. That we are to fear, serve and love the Lord with all the heart and walk in his commands, and that we are to help, comfort and serve our neighbor as far as it lies in us; and similar doctrine and instruction.

See, worthy reader, here you have in part the unchangeable, eternal counsel of God, which was sealed in the councils of his Majesty; and besides this he recognizes no other. Blessed are those who receive it with a firm faith and conform to it according to their abilities, in all weakness — that is, who live according to the Spirit, word, ordinance, command, prohibition and blameless example of Christ. On the other hand, cursed are those who despise, reject, curse, hate, slander, mock, persecute, destroy and cast it from them, and comfort themselves with human power, institutions and fables. For they deny the Lord who bought them and reject the gospel of peace; they do not believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah, Savior, High Priest and Prophet. Ah, how well it would be for them if they had never been born! May the Lord mercifully grant them converted and renewed hearts, that they may repent and be eternally saved, if it is possible.

I will now close the matter and direct the well-meaning reader to the Scriptures. Since the whole world, with few exceptions, is built on human doctrine, lies, invented fables, perverted glosses, vain idolatry and false service, by which the people of the world comfort themselves and boast of what they neither have nor are, I have therefore briefly, according to my few talents and in sincere, faithful love, shown you in this epistle who, according to the unadulterated word, are the truly regenerated and baptized Christians that have the promise, and who are not; so that all who truly hunger and thirst and are zealous for God may be rightly satisfied with the truth to their eternal salvation, and no longer follow deceit to their eternal condemnation. Indeed, I have done it so that all who stand before the eyes of the Lord with their poor, miserable souls may be helped, made whole and saved. The Lord strengthen you! Believe God’s infallible word, reform your sinful lives, pray with confidence and be obedient to the gospel of Christ, that you may receive, to your eternal joy and salvation with all the saints, the eternal promise which God the merciful Father has promised to all his beloved children through Christ Jesus. Grace be with all who seek Christ and eternal life with all their heart. Amen. If you will allow Jesus Christ, with his eternal Spirit and word, to be judge, then you will learn that the sure Foundation of truth has been shown.