Analogy of Physical and Spiritual Birth

tested his knowledge Erkenntnis: specifically spiritual or experiential knowledge and his religious practice, and he would have been in a position to easily decide: "whether
"the doctrines which in our time are no longer
"supposed to be valid are, in fact, fanatical? original: "schwärmerisch" — a common 18th-century pejorative for emotional or mystical piety — whether he is a fanatic original: "Schwärmer"
"who asserts and seeks to prove in his life:
"that the love for sin must be killed and
"cast off through very painful repentance; that
"man can only return to the love of God
"in the certainty of the forgiveness of
"sins, which is granted to him through the
"imputation of the infinite merit of Jesus;
"and — that then this love of God
"must become the new life-force, and
"bring about the greatest possible diligence in
"sanctification Heiligung: the process of becoming holy through God's grace, so that we may become capable
"of the blessedness of the state of grace Gnadenstand: the spiritual condition of living under God's favor,
"which cannot possibly be a dream, because
"the Son of God purchased them so dearly,
"promised them so lovingly, and in many who
"were unbeatably faithful to him, so gloriously—