The Church's war, then, is not against the body but against its passions. If the man of the new creation is freed from his corrupt passions, his senses and his entire body will become pure and enlightened, and everything around him will shine with the love and glory of God. In the lives of the saints of our Church there are examples of liberation from the slavery of passions.

The heavenly birth that Christ speaks of is “the washing of regeneration and renewal that comes from the Holy Spirit,” that is, receiving the Holy Spirit through baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that renews the birth of man. This presence takes place within the Church through the sacrament of baptism and the other sacraments.