# Confession of Faith, According to the Holy Word of God. · Page 14 of 44 [Previous page: Confession of Faith, According to the Holy Word of God.](/en/stories/mm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god/part-13/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: Confession of Faith, According to the Holy Word of God.](/en/stories/mm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god/part-15/) “One that returneth from righteousness to sin: the Lord prepareth such a one for the sword.” Syrach 26:28; Jer. 17:13; Prov. 3:21; Heb. 6:6. “The Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” Ex. 32:33; Rev. 3:5; Ps. 69:29; Isa. 1:2; 30:1; Jer. 18:7. How infants are simple and ignorant, and that therefore neither faith nor unbelief may be imputed to them; but that they are well-pleasing to God through his grace, without any other means, read: “Moreover, your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.” Deut. 1:39; Matt. 19:14. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11; Heb. 5:13. “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children.” 1 Corinthians 14:20; Eph. 4:14; Matt. 18:2; 19:13; Mark 10:13; Luke 18:15. ARTICLE XIII. Of regeneration and the new creature, we confess: Inasmuch as our first parents, Adam and Eve, through their transgression, separated themselves from God, and fell into temporal and eternal death, with all their posterity, and, consequently, lost the image of God, which is righteousness and true holiness; became depraved in their nature, and inclined to sin and wickedness from their youth; so that of all men none can attain unto faith and a godly conversation through the power of their first birth, which has sprung and proceeded from sinful seed; because that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and hence, carnally minded, and the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; therefore, all men, having come of the earth, shall return to dust and earth, and, in part, are also like to the corrupted earth, which of itself does not bring forth good grain, but must thereto be prepared anew, and sown with good seed. Thus also, all men, when they have passed their youth, and have come to understand and discern good and evil, we perceive, that their carnal hearts and earthly life, being conceived in sin, are inclined to sin, which conceives by its own lust, which awakens sin in them, and allures and moves them to actual sin; and thus they fall from grace,—to which they had been redeemed through the atonement of Christ—which plunges them into the death of sin. Hence, God the Lord requires and demands through his word, of all men of understanding, a true reformation and a renewing from these their own actual sins; that is, that through the hearing of the word of God they receive the faith, become regenerated from above, of God, be created anew in the inner mind of the heart, according to the image of God, and circumcised, being translated from the carnal into the spiritual, from unbelief into faith, from that which is earthly-minded and like Adam into that which is heavenly-minded and like Jesus Christ; that they crucify and mortify their earthly members, and feel, prove, and taste that which is heavenly, and not that which is earthly. To this, God promises life, peace, and all heavenly riches; and it is the sanctification in the spirit of the mind, and the appropriation of all the benefits of Christ (which have been lost through our own actual sin), and has the promise of eternal salvation. And wherever this renewing and conversion of the mind and the heart is not found (among all those who know sin have served it), there Christ and the life do not exist; and without this renewing neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, baptism nor Supper, nor any ceremonies, however glorious they may appear, avail anything. And as man in the beginning is brought forth with pain and anguish from the flesh, so the second, spiritual generation is also called a birth; and it takes place with godly sorrow over sin, and with the crucifying and mortifying of the earthly members. And as men by the fall of Adam were not altogether deprived and divested of all godly virtues and qualities, so as to become like Satan in evil, but through the grace of God have retained many good principles, so the innate sinful nature, affection for, and proneness to sin are not utterly removed by regeneration, but remain until death in the regenerated; so that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the lust or indwelling sin wars against the law of the new mind, so that the regenerated enter upon a continuous warfare, and must constantly crucify and mortify the lusts of the flesh, tame and bring into subjection their bodies, and abstain from fleshly 372 lusts, which war against the soul; and thus fighting, they must keep the victory unto death. ## Original source [Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#Page_372) [Edition details](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65855) [Previous page: Confession of Faith, According to the Holy Word of God.](/en/stories/mm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god/part-13/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: Confession of Faith, According to the Holy Word of God.](/en/stories/mm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god/part-15/) --- Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/stories/mm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god/part-14/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+Confession+of+Faith%2C+According+to+the+Holy+Word+of+God.+%C2%B7+Page+14+of+44&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AConfession+of+Faith%2C+According+to+the+Holy+Word+of+God.+%C2%B7+Page+14+of+44%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fstories%2Fmm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god%2Fpart-14%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+mm-confession-of-faith-according-to-the-holy-word-of-god--b00381-o000000%0A%0ADate+currently+shown%3A+16th+century+%28source+section%29%0A%0A%23%23+Correction+or+addition%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Sources+and+evidence%0APlease+include+book%2Fpage+references%2C+archive+links%2C+or+first-hand+documentation.%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Image+credit+%28if+applicable%29%0ACreator%2C+source%2C+and+permission+or+public-domain+basis.%0A%0A%0A%0ASubmitted+for+review%3B+this+issue+does+not+publish+changes+automatically.)