How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Solomon 5:5 Go To Wisdom of Solomon 5
Bede
AD 735
"What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit." The nature of the Spirit is invisible, that of the flesh, visible. Thus generation according to the flesh occurs visibly, with visible growth"one born of the flesh grows with the passage of time. Generation according to the Spirit, by contrast, takes place completely invisibly. We see one who is baptized descend into the font, be immersed in the water and come out again, but we do not in any way see what effect the bath of regeneration has had. Only the piety of the faithful knows that he descends into the water a sinner but comes out purified; he descends a child of death but comes out a child of the resurrection; he descends a child of transgression but comes out a child of reconciliation; he descends a child of wrath but comes out a child of mercy; he descends a child of the devil but comes out a child of God. Only Mother Church, who generates him, knows this, but to the eyes of the foolish it seems that he comes out of the font just as he went in, and the whole thing is just a game. Consequently, at the end, seeing the glory of the saints, groaning in torment they will say, "Here are the ones whom we once derided and who were the target of our insults. How is it that they are numbered among the children of God?" And the apostle John says, "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we will be." In fact, what is born of the Spirit is Spirit, because the one who is regenerated by water and the Spirit is invisibly changed into a new person, and from being carnal he becomes spiritual. And he is rightly called not only spiritual but even spirit, because as the essence of the spirit is invisible to our senses, likewise one who is renewed by the grace of God, in a way invisible to our eyes, becomes spiritual and a child of God, though he seems to all to be visibly flesh and a child of human beings.
