Reflections on Esaias Stiefel's Booklet: On the Threefold State of Man and His New Birth

child to be called / he must put on God again / whom he has put off in Adam.

42. For we understand / that Adam with his imagination (understand / the soul) has entered from the Divine power / as from the second principium / into the outer / as into the third / and the poor soul now lies imprisoned in a strange hostel / where the devil plagues it / and constantly introduces his imagination into it / unless it gives itself entirely back into the other principium / which in Christ's person opened itself again in humanity / and in the same life is born again in God / otherwise it stands only bare with its root in the dark world / as in God's wrath / and with its likeness-figure in the desire of this outer world / therein it is not recognized and accepted as God's child.

43. Since it is now the case / however / that Adam has awakened the inner realm in wrath with his imagination into earthliness / so that it burns in him and all his children / and introduced earthly craving into his heavenly flesh: so we understand / that thereby the Holy Spirit has departed from the same essence / for God cursed the earth / that is nothing else than that He departed with paradise from man; the life of paradise / which was in Divine essence in Adam / that extinguished; Whereof God said to Adam / which day you eat of the tree or plant of the knowledge of good and evil / you shall die / that is nothing else than dying to the kingdom of heaven / and becoming alive to the earthly torment.

44. For thus also said the serpent / you shall not die / but your eyes will be opened thereby / and you shall be as God / but the serpent deceived Eve: Her earthly eyes were indeed opened / but the heavenly ones were closed to her.

45. Thus we understand also / that Adam with his imagination has introduced the soul's will entirely into the outer world / and has made his outer flesh entirely earthly and animal / wherein immediately the stars and elements the base building blocks of material nature have ruled / and is entirely dead to the heavenly essence; although there is no death or dying in the heavenly essence / only because God's Spirit departed from it / so it was closed into stillness / as into nothing / and man lost thereby the likeness of God / the noble image.

46. Therefore Christ spoke: You must be born again from water and