Analogy of Physical and Spiritual Birth

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writer, will not make; and which to the one who—like Paul in Philippians 1, 8 Philippians 1:8: "For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ."—loves people "with the love of Christ, and thus earnestly desires to bring the truth very close to them, and to see its light shine ever more generally," must be all the more joyful. Furthermore, many readers will soon find this testimony, which I so very gladly provide, confirmed. It will be pleasant for them, and perhaps unnoticeably become even more pleasant, to find in a presentation without any artifice or writerly vanity something that their heart sought—something that lay in their soul, unknown even to themselves—which they also, in part, would have discovered and clearly seen for themselves upon a closer examination of what is called in the Scripture, and indeed by Jesus himself, the new and spiritual birth A reference to the "new birth" or regeneration described in John 3, a central tenet of Pietist theology emphasizing an internal transformation over external ritual. And these truths, which they so gladly welcome, will not be presented to them in a cold and wearying Speculation original: "Speculation"; in this context, it refers to abstract, dry, or purely intellectual theorizing that lacks spiritual "warmth" or practical application. The tea-