re the doctrine of original sin alan e alan idler aidler sol uvic ca writes alan we can also analyze to whom the lord is addressing marvel alan not that i said unto thee ye must be born again john alan here jesus is clearly directing his remarks to nicodemus a alan ruler of the jews not a child yes but jesus also made a very general and doctrinal statement in the same conversation flesh gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit john clearly infants are not born of the spirit thus without baptism they are unspiritual they are not born with the image of god but in adam s fallen image cf gen they have no righteousness of their own just as adults have no righteousness of their own there is only the imputed righteousness of christ which believers receive through faith alan we can ask ourselves why the lord would even introduce the alan concept of spiritual re birth through baptism if newborn babies alan weren t free from sin your point is a little obscure here but i think you are saying that christ used the innocence of newborn babes as a metaphor for spiritual re birth but this is not what he did if you look at the text he did not speak of spiritual re birth but of spiritual birth we are born of the spirit once not twice or several times we are also born of the flesh once the lord makes it clear that these are separate and different events it is true that other scriptures refer to spiritual birth as re birth because it is a second birth for example titus but it is not a second spiritual birth the only thing the two births have in common is the concept of birth which is used as a symbol of new life not of innocence when an infant is born or conceived a new life is begun but it is neither innocent nor righteous similarly when that same individual is baptized or perhaps when they believe prior to baptism they begin a new life in christ romans colossians titus ephesians then the believer has god s assurance of the forgiveness of their sins and of christ s imputed righteousness for references see the augsburg confession article ii original sin the apology to the augsburg confession article ii original sin the formula of concord article i original sin and luther s large catechism part baptism for something more recent see baptized into god s family the doctrine of infant baptism by andrew das available from northwestern publishing house andrew is a graduate of concordia lutheran seminary st louis and is now pursuing doctoral studies at yale divinity school david wagner but mad reason rushes forth a confessional lutheran and because baptism is not dazzling like the works we do regards it as worthless martin luther large catechism part baptism
