by Debra L. Schaeffer Grime
Medical Doctor in St. Louis, Missouri

People are often excited when they hear that I deliver babies. Everybody would like a job where you get to see a miracle each day. How much more exciting for the church to be able to witness spiritual births at baptisms! If we acknowledge the miracle of our fleshly birth, how much more should we celebrate the miracle of our spiritual birth.

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' " (John 3:5-7)

I think that Jesus used the expression born again because He desires us to see the similarities of our spiritual and physical births. After delivering a friend's child, I was asked to be her godmother. Witnessing both her physical and spiritual births made me see parallels between the two events.

First of all, we are known both before our physical and spiritual births. My friend and I saw my future godchild by ultrasound before she was born. We knew she was a girl. We could even see her little fist that kept causing such pain for mom. We prayed for her before we knew her name. God also knows us before we are born either physically or spiritually. He searches for us, knowing our sin before we sin, providing salvation while we still are in our sinful state.

Being born either physically or spiritually is not a decision we can make. When children say, "I never asked to be born," they are right. Birth is not in our control. It happens to us. The spiritual life of faith given at baptism is not reliant upon something we do or say. It is imparted to us through the water and the Word by our loving God. Physical and spiritual birth occurs to us not by us. Even conception isn't our action. Begotten by father and borne by mother, we come into this world inheriting their sinful nature. Being born again in baptism by the Holy Spirit, we are given a new nature that allows us to see a remnant of God's creation in Eden where He made our first parents in His image.

Our spiritual and physical births occur only once. We have only one birthdate and we have only one baptismal birthdate. The product of these births, our physical body and our spiritual life, may grow or change but we always have the same body and the same faith. We don't get more. You either have life or you don't.

At our physical birth, we receive a name. A name gives us an identity. Our last name is the family name to whom we belong. That family is responsible for you. At our spiritual birth, God writes His name on us as we are baptized, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This is the God to whom we belong. This is the One to whom and by whom our worship begins, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This is the name by which our "called and ordained minister of the Word" forgives all our sins. We are not "of the world" but "of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." This is the name into which we are born again. God gives us our spiritual identity and faith.

In the womb, the baby is submerged in amniotic fluid, which we commonly call the bag of water. Prenatally, this water is vital for the maturation of the developing baby. At birth, this bag of water is either broken spontaneously or the physician opens the membranes allowing the water to pour out. Isn't it interesting that the essential element in baptism is water? The flow of water is vital for both physical and spiritual birth.

Lastly, being born is bloody business. The placenta that supports the life of the pregnancy is bathed in blood. After the birth is completed, this blood flows quite freely until the womb contracts. Blood is important to life because it takes away the body's waste products and brings vital oxygen and nutrients to the body's tissues. Spiritual life is bloody business too. Christ had to die. His blood was shed to take away our spiritual waste called sin and to bring us the vital spiritual nutrients of forgiveness, life and salvation.

"But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." (John 19:33-34)

New life always requires water and the shedding of blood. We see this in physical birth. We see this in the church's sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.