572. I. Unless a person is born again and as it were created anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Unless a person is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God; this is what the Lord teaches in John, where this passage occurs:

Jesus said to Nicodemus, Amen, amen ¹ , I say to you, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And again, Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a person is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit, John 3:3, 5-6.

The kingdom of God means both heaven and the church, for the kingdom of God on earth is the church. It is the same in other places where the kingdom of God is named; as Matthew 11:11; 12:28; 21:43; Luke 4:43; 6:20; 8:1, 10; 9:11, 60, 62; 17:21, and elsewhere. To be born by water and the spirit means by the truths of faith and by living by them. For water meaning truths, see Apocalypse Revealed 50, 614-615, 685, 932. Spirit means living by Divine truths, as is plain from the Lord's words in John (John 6:63). Amen, amen means that it is the truth; and because the Lord was the truth itself, that is why He said it so often. He is also called the Amen (Revelation 3:14). Those who are regenerated are called in the Word sons of God and born of God; regeneration is described by a new heart and a new spirit.

Footnotes:

728. VIII. The Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God.

The reason why the Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God is that, as said above, the Lord is then present and introduces into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, who are regenerated. The Holy Supper can effect this because the Lord is then present in His Divine Human too; for it was shown above that in the Holy Supper the Lord is wholly present and so is the whole of His redemption. For He says of the bread 'This is my body' and of the wine 'This is my blood.' Thus He then admits them into His body; and the church and heaven make up His body.

When a person is being regenerated, the Lord is certainly present, and by means of His Divine action prepares the person for heaven. But in order really to enter heaven, the person must really present himself to the Lord; and because the Lord really presents Himself to the person, the person really receives him, yet not as He was hanging on the cross, but as He is in His glorified Human, in which He is present. Divine good is His body, Divine truth His blood. These are given to the person and are the means of his regeneration, so that he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him. For, as shown above, the eating which occurs in the Holy Supper is a spiritual eating. A correct perception of this establishes that the Holy Supper is a guarantee and seal put upon the adoption as sons of God of those who approach it worthily.