John 3:8 (WEB)
The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Catechism · 2
The Sacrament of Confirmation
“On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit,” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8.
"I Believe in the Holy Spirit"
“He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus,” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Jn 3:5-8.
Fathers and councils · 38
Gregory of Nyssa
“…here in the case of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as Their power resides in Their nature (for the Holy Spirit breathes “where He listeth,” and “worketh all in all as He will,” and the Son, by Whom all things were made, visible and invisible, in heaven and in earth, “did all things whatsoever He…” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8
Read the whole comment“Again, the Lord makes manifest the Spirit’s independent power and operation in His discourse with Nicodemus, when He says, “The Spirit breatheth where He willeth.”” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8
Read the whole comment“But as things are, with his addition of his profane phrase, “surpassing all the creatures of the Son,” he produces turbid confusion by assigning to Him Who “breatheth where He willeth,” and “worketh all in all,” a mere superiority in comparison with the rest of created things.” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8
Read the whole comment“For “the Spirit breathes where He wills, and thou hearest His voice, but canst not tell whence He cometh or whither He goeth.”” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8
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Cyril of Jerusalem
“For our bodies are begotten by parents who are seen, but our souls are begotten anew through faith: for the Spirit bloweth where it listeth: and then, if thou be found worthy, thou mayest hear, Well done, good and faithful servant, when thou art found to have no defilement of hypocrisy in thy conscience.” — editor's note: John iii. 8.
Read the whole comment“…that though the titles of the Holy Ghost be different, He is one and the same; living and subsisting, and always present together with the Father and the Son; not uttered or breathed from the mouth and lips of the Father or the Son, nor dispersed into the air, but having a real substance, Himself speaking, and…” — editor's note: Origen, in the Catena on St. John iii. 8: “This also shews that the Spirit is a Being (οὐσίαν): for He is not, as some suppose, an energy of God, having…
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Origen
“We must understand, therefore, that as the Son, who alone knows the Father, reveals Him to whom He will, so the Holy Spirit, who alone searches the deep things of God, reveals God to whom He will: “For the Spirit bloweth where He listeth.”” — editor's note: John iii. 8.
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Ambrose of Milan
“Moreover, it is your wont to detract from the Holy Spirit, though you cannot deny that it is written: “The Spirit doth breathe, where He will.”” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8. The same word in Greek at least, serves to denote “wind” and “spirit”—the invisible and yet sensible and real air, wind, or breath being taken…
Read the whole comment“We know, then, by the testimony of the Son that there is no loss in the division of spiritual grace; for He Who breathes where He wills is everywhere free from loss.” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8.
Read the whole comment“…rational creation through the ineffable fulness of His Godhead, having over all things the power of breathing where He wills, and of inspiring as He wills.” — editor's note: S. John iii. 8.
Read the whole comment“The Spirit breatheth where He willeth, and thou hearest His voice, but knowest not whence He cometh or whither He goeth, so is every one who is born of the Spirit.”” — editor's note: It has been thought well in translating this verse to keep the words “spirit” and “breath” as suiting the argument of St. Ambrose. But there can be little…
Read the whole comment“The Spirit breatheth where He listeth, and thou hearest His voice, but knowest not whence He cometh or whither He goeth, so is every one who is born of the Spirit.”” — editor's note: S. John iii. 7, 8.
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Augustine of Hippo
“When the wind blows, thou feelest it; why it blows, or from what treasure of His wisdom it is brought forth, thou knowest not; yet thou owest to God the worship of faith, for it would not blow unless He had bidden who made it, unless He had brought it forth who created it.” — editor's note: John iii. 8.
Read the whole comment“But let those who on this account take from the Holy Spirit His proper power, look to that which we read to have been spoken by the Lord, “The Spirit bloweth where It listeth.”” — editor's note: John iii. 8.
Read the whole comment“…and then pardoned, and the guilt which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and so true is it that “the wind bloweth where it listeth,” that some have never known the second stage, that of slavery under the law, but have received the divine assistance as soon as they received the commandment.” — editor's note: John iii. 8
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John Chrysostom
“Ver.” — the author cites it
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Jerome
““Now the spirit bloweth where it listeth,” and “the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.”” — editor's note: Joh. iii. 8, R.V. marg.
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Hilary of Poitiers
“The Holy Ghost, descending from above, hallowed the Virgin’s womb, and breathing therein (for The Spirit bloweth where it listeth), mingled Himself with the fleshly nature of man, and annexed by force and might that foreign domain.” — editor's note: St. John iii. 8.
Read the whole comment“So is every one who is born of water and of the Holy Spirit.” — editor's note: St. John iii. 7, 8.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“For He bloweth where He wills and on whom He wills, and to what extent He wills.” — editor's note: John iii. 8.
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Leo the Great
“No interpretation is required for understanding, no practice for using, no time for studying, but the Spirit of Truth blowing where He wills, the languages peculiar to each nation become common property in the mouth of the Church.” — editor's note: Cf. S. John iii. 8; and below, Gen. i. 2.
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Catena Aurea on John
- John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Nicodemus coming to Jesus, as to a man, is startled on learning greater things than man could utter, things too lofty for him. His mind is darkened, and he does not stand firm, but reels like one on the point of…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
The question put thus sounds as if a boy might enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born. But Nicodemus, we must remember, was an old man, and took his instance from himself; as if he said, I am an old…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Thou callest Him Rabbi, and sayest that He comes from God, and yet receivest not His sayings, but usest to thy master a word which brings in endless confusion; for that how, is the enquiry of a man who has no strong…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
It is the Spirit that speaketh, whereas he understandeth carnally; he knew of no birth save one, that from Adam and Eve; from God and the Church he knows of none. But do thou so understand the birth of the Spirit, as…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
While Nicodemus stumbles, dwelling upon our birth here, Christ reveals more clearly the manner of our spiritual birth; Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
As if He said, Thou understandest me to speak of a carnal birth; but a man must be born of water and of the Spirit, if he is to enter into the kingdom of God. If to obtain the temporal inheritance of his human…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
If any one asks how a man is born of water, I ask in return, how Adam was born from the ground. For as in the beginning though the element of earth was the subject-matter, the man was the work of the fashioner; so…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Because He does not say, Except a man be born again1 of water and of the Spirit, he shall not have salvation, or eternal life; but, he shall not enter into the kingdom of God; from this, some infer that children are…
Read the whole comment - Haymo of HalberstadtCatena Aurea on John
But Nicodemus being unable to take in so great and deep mysteries, our Lord helps him by the analogy of our carnal birth, saying, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Do not look then for any material production, or think that the Spirit generates flesh; for even the Lord’s flesh is generated not by the Spirit only, but also by the flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
But who of us does not see, for example, that the south wind blows from south to north, another wind from the east, another from the west? And how then do we not know whence the wind cometh, and whither it goeth?
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
It is the Holy Spirit therefore, Who bloweth where He listeth. It is in His own power to choose, whose heart to visit with His enlightening grace. And thou hearest the sound thereof. When one filled with the Holy…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
The Psalm soundeth, the Gospel soundeth, the Divine Word soundeth; it is the sound of the Spirit. This means that the Holy Spirit is invisibly present in the Word and Sacrament, to accomplish our birth.
Read the whole comment - Alcuin of YorkCatena Aurea on John
Therefore, Thou knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; for, although the Spirit should possess a person in thy presence at a particular time, it could not be seen how He entered into him, or how He went…
Read the whole comment - Haymo of HalberstadtCatena Aurea on John
Or, Thou canst not tell whence it cometh; i. e. thou knowest not how He brings believers to the faith; or whither it goeth, i. e. how He directs the faithful to their hope. And so is every one that is born of the…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Or thus: If thou art born of the Spirit, thou wilt be such, that he, who is not yet born of the Spirit, will not know whence thou comest, or whither thou goest. For it follows, So is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
This completely refutes Macedonius the impugner of the Spirit, who asserted that the Holy Ghost was a servant. The Holy Ghost, we find, works by His own power, where He will, and what He will.
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Cross-references · 23
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit III.10.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith II.6 and 1 other place.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 75.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 75.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 75.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit III.10.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 75.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 75.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit III.10.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit III.10.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit III.10.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith II.6.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit III.10.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith II.6.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith II.6.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.11.