John Calvin Commentary John 1:13

"who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." — John 1:13 (ASV)

Who were born not of blood. Some think that an indirect reference is made here to the preposterous confidence of the Jews, and I willingly adopt that opinion. They continually had in their mouth the nobleness of their lineage, as if, because they were descended from a holy stock, they were naturally holy.

And they could justly have gloried in their descent from Abraham if they had been lawful sons and not bastards; but the fervor of faith ascribes nothing whatever to carnal generation, but acknowledges its obligation to the grace of God alone for all that is good. John, therefore, says that those among the formerly unclean Gentiles who believe in Christ are not born sons of God from the womb, but are renewed by God, so that they may begin to be His sons.

The reason he uses the word blood in the plural appears to have been to express more fully a long succession of lineage. For this was a part of the boasting among the Jews: that they could trace their descent by an uninterrupted line upward to the patriarchs.

The will of the flesh and the will of man appear to me to mean the same thing, for I see no reason why flesh should be supposed to signify woman, as Augustine and many others explain it. On the contrary, the Evangelist repeats the same thing in a variety of words in order to explain it more fully and impress it more deeply on the minds of men.

Though he refers directly to the Jews, who gloried in the flesh, yet from this passage a general doctrine may be obtained: that our being counted as sons of God does not belong to our nature and does not proceed from us, but is because God begat us willingly (James 1:18)—that is, from undeserved love.

Hence it follows:

1. Faith does not proceed from ourselves but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration, for the Evangelist affirms that no one can believe unless he is begotten of God; and therefore faith is a heavenly gift.
2. Faith is not bare or cold knowledge, since no one can believe who has not been renewed by the Spirit of God.

It may be thought that the Evangelist reverses the natural order by making regeneration precede faith, whereas, on the contrary, regeneration is an effect of faith and therefore should be placed later. I reply that both statements perfectly agree, because by faith we receive the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), by which we are born again to a new and divine life.

And yet faith itself is a work of the Holy Spirit, who dwells only in the children of God. So then, in various respects, faith is a part of our regeneration and an entrance into the kingdom of God, so that He may count us among His children.

The illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit belongs to our renewal, and thus faith flows from regeneration as from its source. But since it is by this same faith that we receive Christ, who sanctifies us by His Spirit, for that reason it is said to be the beginning of our adoption.

Another solution, still more plain and easy, may be offered. For when the Lord breathes faith into us, He regenerates us by some method that is hidden and unknown to us. But after we have received faith, we perceive, by a lively feeling of conscience, not only the grace of adoption but also newness of life and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit.

For since faith, as we have said, receives Christ, it puts us in possession, so to speak, of all His blessings. Thus, as far as our experience is concerned, it is only after having believed—that we begin to be the sons of God.

But if the inheritance of eternal life is the fruit of adoption, we see how the Evangelist ascribes the whole of our salvation to the grace of Christ alone. And indeed, however closely people examine themselves, they will find nothing worthy of the children of God except what Christ has bestowed on them.