You Must Be Born Again of Water and Spirit
Question
What does it mean to exist born of water?
Reply
In John three, Jesus uses the phrase "born of h2o" in answer to Nicodemus'due south question about how to enter the kingdom of heaven. He told Nicodemus that he "must be born again" (John 3:3). Nicodemus questioned how such a thing could happen when he was a grown man. Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no 1 tin can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit" (John iii:5).
Being "born of the Spirit" is easily interpreted—salvation involves a new life that simply the Holy Spirit tin can produce (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:half-dozen). But there are a couple different schools of thought on what Jesus meant when He said, "born of h2o." One perspective is that "born of water" refers to physical nascence. Unborn babies float in a sack of amniotic fluid for 9 months. When the time for birth arrives, that sack of water bursts, and the infant is born in a blitz of water, entering the world as a new animal. This nascence parallels being "built-in of the Spirit," as a like new birth occurs within our hearts (2 Corinthians 5:17). A person once-born has physical life; a person twice-built-in has eternal life (John 3:15–xviii, 36; 17:three; 1 Peter i:23). Merely equally a baby contributes no effort to the birth process—the work is done by the mother—then it is with spiritual nativity. We are only the recipients of God's grace as He gives us new birth through His Spirit (Ephesians 2:8–9). According to this view, Jesus was using a teaching technique He oft employed by comparing a spiritual truth with a concrete reality. Nicodemus did not understand spiritual birth, but he could understand concrete birth so that was where Jesus took him.
The other perspective is that "born of water" refers to spiritual cleansing and that Nicodemus would accept naturally understood it that fashion. According to this view, "born of water" and "born of the Spirit" are different means of saying the aforementioned thing, one time metaphorically and once literally. Jesus' words "built-in of water and the Spirit" draw different aspects of the same spiritual nativity, or of what it ways to be "born again." So, when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must "exist born of h2o," He was referring to his need for spiritual cleansing. Throughout the Old Testament, water is used figuratively of spiritual cleansing. For case, Ezekiel 36:25 says, "I will sprinkle clean water on yous, and you will be clean; I volition cleanse yous from all your impurities" (see too Numbers nineteen:17–19; and Psalm 51:two, vii). Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, would surely take been familiar with the concept of physical water representing spiritual purification.
The New Testament, too, uses h2o equally a effigy of the new birth. Regeneration is chosen a "washing" brought about by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God at the moment of conservancy (Titus three:5; cf. Ephesians 5:26; John thirteen:10). Christians are "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians six:11). The "washing" Paul speaks of here is a spiritual one.
Whichever perspective is correct, 1 thing is sure: Jesus was non instruction that one must be baptized in water in order to be saved. Baptism is nowhere mentioned in the context, nor did Jesus ever imply that nosotros must do anything to inherit eternal life but trust in Him in organized religion (John 3:xvi). The emphasis of Jesus' words is on repentance and spiritual renewal—we need the "living water" Jesus later on promised the woman at the well (John four:x). Water baptism is an outward sign that we have given our lives to Jesus, but not a requirement for salvation (Luke 23:40–43).
Questions about John
What does it mean to exist built-in of h2o?
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This page concluding updated: January 4, 2022
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