How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!
Read Chapter 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...
The unhoped-for salvation, that is, not hoped for by the wicked, will surely be given to the righteous, not to the wicked. Indeed, it will not be given to those who, not hoping for it, live badly, but to those who, justly hoping for it and abstaining from carnal desires, observe the salutary precepts of blessed Peter, who says, "Beloved, I exhort you, as strangers and pilgrims, to abstain from the desires of the flesh that war on the soul. Let your conduct among the pagans be irreproachable." - "On the Forgiveness of Sins 2.3.3"
