This is a collection of writings dealing with answers to what being born of water and the spirit means. Different views are clear, and it becomes an issue of controversy.

1. BORN OF WATER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I tell you,
no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is
born of water and the Spirit.
Question: "What does it mean to be born of water?"
Answer: In John 3, Jesus uses the phrase “born of water” in answer to
Nicodemus’s 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 one can enter the kingdom of
God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5).
Being “born of the Spirit” is easily interpreted—salvation involves a
new life that only the Holy Spirit can produce (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:6).
But there are a couple different schools of thought on what Jesus meant
when He said, “born of water.” One perspective is that “born of water”
refers to physical birth. Unborn babies float in a sack of amniotic fluid
for nine months. When the time for birth arrives, that sack of water
bursts, and the baby is born in a rush of water, entering the world as a
new creature. This birth parallels being “born of the Spirit,” as a
similar new birth occurs within our hearts (2 Corinthians 5:17). A
person once-born has physical life; a person twice-born has eternal life
(John 3:15–18, 36; 17:3; 1 Peter 1:23). Just as a baby contributes no

2. effort to the birth process—the work is done by the mother—so it is
with spiritual birth. We are merely 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 often employed by
comparing a spiritual truth with a physical reality. Nicodemus did not
understand spiritual birth, but he could understand physical birth so
that was where Jesus took him.
The other perspective is that “born of water” refers to spiritual
cleansing and that Nicodemus would have naturally understood it that
way. According to this view, “born of water” and “born of the Spirit”
are different ways of saying the same thing, once metaphorically and
once literally. Jesus’ words “born of water and the Spirit” describe
different aspects of the same spiritual birth, or of what it means to be
“born again.” So, when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must “be born of
water,” He was referring to his need for spiritual cleansing. Throughout
the Old Testament, water is used figuratively of spiritual cleansing. For
example, Ezekiel 36:25 says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and
you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities” (see also
Numbers 19:17–19; and Psalm 51:2, 7). Nicodemus, a teacher of the law,
would surely have been familiar with the concept of physical water
representing spiritual purification.
The New Testament, too, uses water as a figure of the new birth.
Regeneration is called a “washing” brought about by the Holy Spirit
through the Word of God at the moment of salvation (Titus 3:5; cf.
Ephesians 5:26; John 13:10). Christians are “washed . . . sanctified . . .
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our
God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). The “washing” Paul speaks of here is a
spiritual one.
Whichever perspective is correct, one thing is certain: “born of water”

3. is not a reference to water baptism. Baptism is nowhere mentioned in
the context, nor did Jesus ever imply that we must do anything to
inherit eternal life but trust in Him in faith (John 3:16). Water baptism
is an outward sign that we have given our lives to Jesus, but not a
requirement for salvation (Luke 23:40–43). GOTQUESTIONS.COM
Witness Lee
More excerpts from this title...
BORN OF WATER AND OF THE SPIRIT
Regeneration denotes a new birth. This new birth has two elements; it
includes being born of water and of the Spirit. In 3:5 the Lord Jesus
said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” For
generations, this verse has troubled Bible teachers and expositors. From
the time I was saved and first began to love the Word of God, I was
bothered by the expression “born of water and the Spirit.” I inquired of
others and I read books on this matter in order to get the right
understanding. However, no explanation fully satisfied me. Eventually,
through the Lord’s mercy, I believe that we have received the proper
understanding of what it means to be born of water and of the Spirit.
Some unusual interpretations have been given of the water in 3:5. In
1964 I was talking with some believers who strongly opposed the
practice of water baptism. During the course of the conversation, I
asked the leading one among them about the Lord’s word concerning
the water and the Spirit in John 3:5. He answered by giving a very
strange, peculiar, and extraordinary explanation of the words “born of
water.” He said that the water in 3:5 signifies the water in the womb of
our mother. He went on to say that every genuine Christian has
experienced two births. In the first birth we pass through the water in
our mother’s womb, and in the second birth we are born of the Holy

4. Spirit. According to him, this is the meaning of being born of water and
of the Spirit. I was astounded at that interpretation. I had been
preaching and teaching the Bible for more than thirty years, and I had
read a number of books on John 3. But never had I heard anyone say
that the water in 3:5 refers to the water of our mother’s womb. Such an
interpretation is altogether incredible and unreasonable. Can you
imagine that when the Lord Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, an
elderly man, He was referring to the water of our mother’s womb?
What a terrible thought! If that were the situation, then what is spoken
of in 3:5 would not be a sign.
The words “of water and the Spirit” should have been plain to
Nicodemus without any need of explanation. Similar words were spoken
by John the Baptist to the Pharisees in Matthew 3:11. Hence, they
should have been fully understood among the Pharisees. Here
Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, is speaking to the Lord, and the Lord
speaks these familiar words. Water was the central concept of the
ministry of John the Baptist, that is, to terminate people of the old
creation. Spirit is the central concept of the ministry of Jesus, that is, to
germinate people in the new creation. These two main concepts put
together are the whole concept of the matter of regeneration.
Regeneration, to be born anew, is the termination of people of the old
creation with all their deeds and the germination of them in the new
creation with the divine life.
According to Matthew 3:11 and 12 John the Baptist said, “I indeed
baptize you in water unto repentance; but He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to bear; He shall
baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire; whose winnowing fork is in His
hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather
His wheat into His barn, but He will burn the chaff with unquenchable
fire.” Here John clearly speaks of baptismal water. He seemed to be
saying to the Pharisees and Sadducees, “I baptize you only with water.
Because I am merely a man, you may be a hypocrite and be able to
cheat me. But you will not be able to deceive the One who is coming. He
is not only man, but also God. He will baptize you either with the Spirit

5. or with fire. If you are genuine, He will put you into the Spirit. But if
you are hypocritical, one day He will put you into the fire.”
Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee, must have been familiar with the word
of John the Baptist concerning water and the Spirit. The Lord Jesus
must have realized this. Therefore, when Nicodemus spoke to Him
regarding signs, the Lord told him about being born of water and of the
Spirit. The Lord Jesus seemed to be saying to Nicodemus, “You need to
be born of the water according to what John the Baptist said, and you
also need to be born of the Spirit. John was the forerunner of My
ministry and introduced to you the matters of baptism in water and in
the Spirit. Now, Nicodemus, you must take the water and the Spirit. You
must be born of the water and of the Spirit. Do you know what the
water will do for you? The water will terminate you by burying you.
Nicodemus, you are a gentleman with a good education and a high
position in society. You refer to Me as a rabbi. You don’t need a rabbi,
Nicodemus. You need someone to bury you. You don’t need more
teaching. You already have enough. You need a burial, a burial in water.
John tried to bury you in water, but you Pharisees wouldn’t take it. Now
you come to Me and refer to Me as a teacher come from God. Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless you are born of the terminating water and the
germinating Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of
John, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
BIBLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED: WHAT DOES “BORN OF WATER
AND THE SPIRIT” MEAN IN JOHN 3:5?
April 7th, 2016
By Tom Stegall
What did Jesus mean in John 3:5 when He said to Nicodemus, “Unless
one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of

6. God”? The meaning of the phrase “born of water and the Spirit” has
been debated throughout church history, resulting in four main
interpretations. The first of these views is doctrinally false and
contradicts the rest of Scripture. The other three views are all
doctrinally acceptable, but the last view best explains the exegetical
evidence.
View #1: The Roman Catholic and majority interpretation within
Christendom contradicts biblical teaching on salvation by grace apart
from works. It concludes that “born of water and the Spirit” refers to
the rite or sacrament of water baptism which supposedly bestows
regeneration.
View #2: The majority view among Protestant Reformed Christians
interprets “water” as a figure of speech for the Holy Spirit, with Jesus
saying essentially, “born of water, even the Spirit.”
View #3: A minority view among Protestants also interprets “water”
figuratively, not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but to the Word of
God and its cleansing effect, similar to Ephesians 5:26, “the washing of
water by the Word.”
View #4: A prominent view among evangelicals is that “water” refers to
literal water—the amniotic fluid of a mother’s womb that breaks in
childbirth, so that “water” refers to a physical, womb birth, while
“Spirit” refers to one’s rebirth or regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Thus,
“born of water and Spirit” refers to two kinds of birth (a womb birth +
a Holy Spirit birth) rather than two means to be born again (such as
water baptism + the Holy Spirit). In John 3:5, Jesus not only answers
Nicodemus’s question and misunderstanding from verse 4 about
reentering his mother’s womb and being born physically a second time,
but He clarifies for Nicodemus that physical birth alone is not enough to
qualify a person for entrance into God’s kingdom—a person must also
receive a second birth to be spiritually reborn from above. This
interpretation is faithful to the details of the inspired text of John 3 and
harmonizes with the truth found elsewhere in Scripture that salvation is

7. solely God’s work for man, received by His grace alone, apart from
human merit, on the condition of faith alone in Jesus Christ.
“Born Again of Water”?
Before examining the context, the first step in correctly interpreting this
passage is to observe the actual words of the text. Notice that the Lord
does not say to Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again of water and the
Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Early in church history
when the Greek New Testament was being translated into Latin, the
Latin word renatus (“born again”) was incorrectly used to translate the
Greek word gennēthē (“born”) in John 3:5, rather than the correct
Latin word natus (“born”). The incorrect reading of renatus soon
prevailed among the majority of Latin manuscripts, so that it became
the standard reading of the Latin Vulgate. A textual basis for the
doctrine of baptismal regeneration quickly became ensconced in
western Christendom. To this day, even many Protestants are adversely
affected by the ancient Latin textual error, often wrongly assuming that
Jesus in verse 5 speaks of two requirements for being “born again”
(water + Spirit), rather than two ways of simply being “born” (physical
+ spiritual).
Immediate Context & Flow of Thought
Immediate context is the primary factor in determining the meaning of
a word in any given passage. The physical birth explanation of “water”
in verse 5 accounts best for the change in phraseology from “born
again” (v. 3) to “born” (vv. 5-6) and the fact that Jesus’ statement in
verse 5, “born of water and Spirit,” occurs between the reference to
“womb” in verse 4 and “flesh” in verse 6. The interpretation that views
“born of water and Spirit” in verse 5 as a reference to two different
kinds of birth (physical and spiritual) fits most naturally with the flow
of the conversation, as seen below.
In the immediate context of verses 3-8, Jesus is addressing the “what” of
the new birth, not the “how” of the new birth. Verses 3-8 explain the

8. necessity and nature of the new birth—that it is something spiritual in
contrast to physical and that it comes from above by the Holy Spirit.
The “how” of the new birth in terms of the human requirement to
obtain it only comes later, starting in verse 9 with Nicodemus’s question,
“How can these things be?” The answer found 7 times in verses 10-18 is
simply to “believe.” But if “water” in verse 5 refers to baptism as the
human means to obtain the new birth, then the reference to “water”
should come later in the context of verses 9-18; but it is absent there.
The figurative interpretation of “water” in John 3:5 as a reference to
the Word of God also does not fit the context of verses 3-8. Though the
truth of God’s Word being the agent used by the Holy Spirit in
regeneration is consistent with biblical teaching, it is completely foreign
to the context of John 3 and out of place in a discussion where the word
“Spirit” is used repeatedly to convey the spiritual nature of the new
birth. If, in Jesus’ clarification in John 3:5, He really meant “the Word
of God” when He said “water,” the connection surely would have been
missed by Nicodemus. The interpretation that views “water” as a
reference to God’s Word can only be held by reading passages such as
Ephesians 5:26, James 1:18, and 1 Peter 1:23 backwards into John 3:5.
John’s Pattern of Misunderstanding
Some interpreters object that “water” in verse 5 cannot be a reference
to physical birth since such a statement by Jesus would be too obvious
to be correct, like saying, “In order to born a second time you must be
born the first time.” Yet, Nicodemus’s misunderstanding about a second
“womb” birth in verse 4 and its reiteration by Jesus as “water” in verse
5 fits a common pattern in John’s Gospel. In John, people routinely
misunderstand the spiritual significance of Jesus’ words and works
because they lack faith and can only see or understand the physical. In
response to such misunderstanding, Jesus often uses repetition (and
sometimes rephrasing and reaffirmation) of a previous objection when
responding with His clarification. This pattern of reiteration permeates
and characterizes John’s Gospel (4:10-14, 20-24, 32-34; 6:31-35; 7:27-
28; 8:12-14, 32-36, 39-40, 41-42, 48-49; 9:2-3, 40-41; 13:8-10, 36-38;

9. 14:5-6, 8-9; 16:17-22; 18:36-37; 19:10-11).
Put No Confidence in the Flesh
If “water” in John 3:5 is an expression for physical, “womb” birth, then
this further explains the difficulty Nicodemus would have had in his
spiritual blindness in seeing his need to be “born again” (3:3). Religious
Jews of the first century notoriously trusted in their physical lineage as
descendants of Abraham to gain them favor with God. In John 3:3 and
3:5, Christ spoke to Nicodemus about seeing or entering “the kingdom
of God,” which was the hope of salvation for every Jew. Like Paul (Phil.
3:3-5) and John the Baptist (Matt. 3:9), the Lord Jesus Christ also
warned the Jews that they should not trust in their Abrahamic pedigree
as a guarantee of entrance into the kingdom (Matt. 8:10-12).
Cultural Understanding of “Water” as Birth
Many commentators bypass the context of John 3:3-7 in search of an
Old Testament or extra-biblical alternative meaning for “water” in 3:5,
other than a physical “womb” birth. But the Lord Himself provides the
referent and meaning in the immediate context of vv. 4-6. While many
scholars and commentators deny, even vehemently, that there was any
cultural or Old Testament background among first-century Jews about
water referring to physical birth, their denials simply “don’t hold
water.” There is sufficient evidence to show that “water” was used
metaphorically to describe either conception, embryonic development,
or birth for centuries in Middle Eastern culture leading up to the time
of Christ. For Old Testament examples, see Job 38:8-11, 28-30; and
Song of Solomon 4:12-15. For extra-biblical sources, see the Dead Sea
Scrolls (Hymns Scroll, IQH, Hymns 3, 6, 10, 24) and 4 Ezra 8.8.
“Water” and “Spirit” Are Not Equivalent
Several commentators note that in the phrase “out of water and Spirit”
(ek hydatos kai pneumatos), both “water” (hydatos) and “Spirit”
(pneumatos) are governed by the same preposition, ek, since they share
the same case and are separated by the conjunction kai. They say this

10. effectively unifies the two nouns, “water” and “Spirit,” so that Jesus
was referring to essentially one subject, resulting in the meaning of
“spiritual water” or “water, even the Spirit.” However, the syntax of this
verse does not prove that “water” and “Spirit” are equivalent since the
same syntactical construction occurs in 1 John 5:6, which says that
Christ came “by water and blood” (di’ hydatos kai haimatos). In this
verse, both hydatos and haimatos are governed by one preposition, dia,
separated by the conjunction kai, and they have the same case; but they
are clearly not equivalent since John goes on to distinguish them in
verse 6, saying, “not only by water, but by water and blood.” For similar
Johannine examples, see “in Spirit and in truth” in John 4:24 and “to
the chief priests and Pharisees” in John 7:45, where “Spirit” and
“truth” have separate and distinct meanings, as do “chief priests” and
“Pharisees” (cf. John 11:47). These examples show that the nouns
“water” and “Spirit” in John 3:5 are not necessarily semantically
equated.
Kai in the Gospel of John
Some claim that “water and Spirit” really means “water, even the
Spirit,” where “water” is a metaphor of the Holy Spirit since the Greek
word for the conjunction “and” (kai) can sometimes mean “even.”
While admittedly kai can have this ascensive or intensive use in the New
Testament, it is also quite rare in John’s Gospel, making it unlikely as
the intended meaning in 3:5. The word kai occurs 828 times in the
Gospel of John, with fewer than a dozen of these occurrences being
possible ascensive uses (5:21, 26; 8:17; 9:27; 10:15; 11:22; 12:13; 12:42;
14:9, 12; 21:11). John 12:13, “even the king of Israel,” is the only clear-
cut ascensive use of kai. However, the reading of kai in 12:13 is also a
disputed textual variant, being omitted by the Majority Text but
included with brackets by the Nestle-Aland text. This demonstrates that
John’s pattern of usage for kai makes the interpretation of “water, even
the Spirit” in John 3:5 highly unlikely. To insist on the meaning of
“water, even the Spirit” on the basis of the conjunction kai occasionally
having an ascensive meaning of “even” really amounts to special
pleading. “Born of water and Spirit” is the best translation, which

11. conveys two distinct births.
Conclusion
The conclusion that “born of water and Spirit” refers to two different
kinds of birth—physical and spiritual, rather than two means of the
second birth—is best supported by all the evidence, whether contextual,
syntactical, cultural, semantical, or parallel biblical teaching. All the
evidence pertaining to John 3:5 shows that the new, second, spiritual
birth from above is an absolute necessity for someone to enter the
kingdom of God. In addition, the evidence clearly shows that this birth
from the Holy Spirit is spiritual in nature, in distinction to physical
birth, and it is not conditioned on water baptism. Though “water” may
be the means of initial, physical birth, the passage shows that it is not
the means of spiritual birth. This interpretation of John 3:5 harmonizes
perfectly with biblical teaching from other passages that eternal
salvation is not by works of righteousness, such as baptism, but it is
solely by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:4-16; Eph.
2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7). ■
_______________________
1. H. A. G. Houghton, Augustine’s Text of John: Patristic Citations and
Latin Gospel Manuscripts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 132,
172.
2. Margaret Pamment, “Short Note on John 3:5,” Novum Testamentum
25 (1983): 189-90; Ben Witherington III, “The Waters of Birth: John 3.5
and 1 John 5.6-8,” New Testament Studies 35 (1989): 155-60.
3. Based on the Nestle-Aland 27th edition.
Tom Stegall is a graduate of the Grace Institute of Biblical Studies, an
elder at Duluth Bible Church, and publications director for Grace
Gospel Press.
Copyright 2019 Grace Gospel Press | All Rights Reserved

12. What does it mean to be 'born of water and the Spirit'?
John 3:5
ESV - 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Clarify • Share • Report • Asked December 24 2014 • Tito Dulay Lim
Steve Nearman A sinner saved by grace. Fredericksburg, VA
The Lord is telling Nicodemus he needs a second birth, being born
again, to be able to enter God’s kingdom. The first birth was his
physical birth, coming for the womb (the water birth of the flesh). The
second birth is a spiritual birth from the Spirit of God.
Put another way; For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all
principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands (a spiritual circumcision of the heart),
by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of
Christ, buried with Him in baptism (putting to death the physical), in
which you also were raised with Him (spiritual birth) through faith in
the operation of God, who raised Him from the dead (physical). Col 2:9-
12
Nicodemus had his first physical water birth from his mother’s womb,
but he need, just like everyone else does, a second spiritual birth, the
work of God. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:13

13. Having been born again, not of corruptible seed (man's flesh) but
incorruptible (God's Spirit), through the word of God (the gospel, 1 Cor
15:3-4 which lives and abides forever, 1 Pet 1:23
BORN OF WATER, BORN OF THE SPIRIT
What Did Jesus Mean by Being "Born of Water?"
Joseph D. McPherson
Jesus' words to Nicodemus found in John 3:5 are not only startling, but
strongly enforced. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
One hears now and then an interpretation of the words born of water as
a reference by Jesus to physical birth. Those who maintain this view like
to believe that because the human embryo prior to birth is suspended in
an enclosure of water and is brought into the world with an
accompaniment of that element, Jesus must have had physical birth in
mind as He spoke of the necessity of being born of water. This
interpretation is not found exclusively in any one Christian sect, but is
observed to have its advocates within various denominations,
particularly those of the holiness movement. It has long been a favorite
view of those who feel greatly driven to combat what they like to call
"baptismal regeneration."
Because so many have been baptized by water without any observable
accompaniment of the Holy Spirit's work in the heart and without any
evidence of a transformed life, there seems to have evolved an attitude
that minimizes the value of this sacrament and too often questions it
necessity. It is assumed among some that water baptism is essentially an
unnecessary religious ritual and that a profession of having been

14. baptized by the Holy Spirit is sufficient enough. Nevertheless, do we not
find in the "great commission" Christ's commandment not only to teach
and make disciples of all nations, but also to baptize all nations? (Matt
28:19).
It is essential for us to keep in mind that the disciples and the clergy of
all ages who have followed them, could only baptize with water, which is
the divinely designated sign and symbol of Spirit baptism. Jesus alone
baptizes with the Holy Ghost. On the authority of the Scriptures,
therefore, it is clear that when afforded the opportunity, believers are
commanded to be baptized by water. Therefore, taking Jesus' words
born of water as referring to physical birth seems to be another attempt
to support the attitude that water baptism is non-essential.
The third chapter of John shows Jesus to be in serious dialogue with a
man who had already been physically born many years before. Jesus is
stating the conditions necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God.
Can it be thought reasonable to suppose that Jesus would really make
physical birth a condition for entrance into the kingdom of God? In
accordance with such an interpretation, could not physical birth be
considered also as a condition for going to hell and everlasting
perdition? Does not such a thought and interpretation come close to
being ridiculous, if not altogether absurd? Dr. Rob Staples shows that
the Apostle John had no thought of physical birth in this passage.
Against it is John's own declaration in 1:13 that birth from God has
nothing to do with human birth. More importantly, in 3:3 Jesus tells
Nicodemus that "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born
again" (or "born from above," as the Greek phrase may best be
translated). After Nicodemus' expression of incredulity, Jesus explains
the meaning of this by using the phrase "born of water and the Spirit"
in verse 5. Thus "born from above" (or "born again") is the equivalent
of "born of water and the Spirit." The expression in verse 5 defines that
of verse 3. The whole expression "of water and the Spirit" defines the
manner in which one is born from above.

15. No human being ever chose to be physically born. Therefore no
conditions were ever met thereby. We are either physically born or we
do not exist. It is only after we come into this world and achieve
sufficient maturity that we have the capacity to make choices and fulfill
conditions set forth by the Master.
It is clear that Jesus was enforcing His conditions for entering into the
kingdom of heaven upon a man who, as we formally noted, was
physically born many years before. Nicodemus is being told of
conditions he has not yet met, but must meet if he is to enter into the
kingdom of God - conditions that all who are already physically born
must meet. Nicodemus, along with us all must be born again. Jesus is, of
course, speaking of a spiritual new birth, typified by water baptism.
It is not altogether safe for one to trust alone in his own understanding.
Therefore, a total of more than thirty commentaries were researched by
this writer. Without exception they all interpreted Jesus' reference to the
necessity of being born of water as referring to water baptism. None has
yet been found holding a different view.
We learn from John 3:26 that Jesus was already admitting disciples into
His kingdom by the rite of baptism and this seems to explain the
allusion to water here. From Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, we read:
A twofold explanation of the "new birth," so startling to Nicodemus [is
revealed in this verse]. To a Jewish ecclesiastic, so familiar with the
symbolical application of water, in every variety of way and form of
expression, this language was fitted to show that the thing intended was
no other than a thorough spiritual purification by the operation of the
Holy Ghost. Indeed this element of water and operation of the Spirit are
brought together in a glorious evangelical prediction by the prophet
Ezekiel.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an

16. heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk
in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezek
36:25-27).
This commentary goes on to show that this promise in Ezekiel might
have come to the remembrance of Nicodemus had such a spiritual
understanding not been almost lost in the reigning formalism of his
time.
Already had the symbol of water been embodied in an initiatory
ordinance, in the baptism of the Jewish expectants of Messiah by [John]
the Baptist, not to speak of the baptism of Gentile proselytes before
that; and in the Christian Church it was soon to become the great
visible door of entrance into "the kingdom of God," the reality being the
sole work of the Holy Ghost. Titus 3:5 refers to the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
In The Wesleyan Bible Commentary we find these comments by Harvey
J. S. Blaney:
Jesus described this experience as being born of water and the Spirit.
The beautiful analogy of the new birth need not be encumbered with
strained interpretations, such as seeing in the water a reference to a
phenomenon of the physical process of birth. The water referred to the
rite of baptism. Conversion was very closely associated with baptism...
being synonymous in time. Baptism, which was a ritual cleansing,
became associated with Christian conversion as the evidence of having
accepted the Gospel.
In "A Treatise on Baptism," John Wesley defined this rite as "the
initiatory sacrament, which enters us into covenant with God. It was
instituted by Christ, who alone has power to institute a proper
sacrament, a sign, seal, pledge, and means of grace, perpetually
obligatory on all Christians."
In his Journal dated February 5, 1760, he writes: "I baptized a
gentlewoman at the Foundry; and the peace she immediately found was

17. a fresh proof, that the outward sign, duly received, is always
accompanied with the inward grace." Here and in numerous other
references to water baptism, one finds Wesley fully convinced that this
sacrament can and should be a means of grace. He persuasively shows
water baptism to be a divinely intended means of the new birth in
regeneration. However, that statement must be harmonized with his
notes upon John 3:5: "Except he experience that great inward change
by the Spirit, and be baptized (wherever baptism can be had), as the
outward sign and means of it" [he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God].
Adam Clarke assures us in the following words that water was used as
an emblem of the Holy Spirit's work of cleansing.
The soul was considered as in a state of defilement, because of past sin:
now, as by that water the body was washed, cleaned, and refreshed, so,
by the influences of the Holy Spirit, the soul was to be purified from its
defilement, and strengthened to walk in the way of truth and holiness.
When John came baptizing with water, he gave the Jews the plainest
intimations that this would not suffice; that it was only typical of that
baptism of the Holy Ghost, under the similitude of fire, which they must
all receive from Jesus Christ.... Therefore, our Lord asserts that a man
must be born of water and the Spirit, [that is] of the Holy Ghost, which,
represented under the similitude of water, cleanses, refreshes, and
purifies the soul.
Clarke continued by exhorting sacramentalists not to rely alone upon
the external ritual of water baptism. Jesus baptized all his followers
with the Holy Ghost and, according to Clarke, this baptism with the
Holy Ghost is what essential distinguishes the Christian dispensation
from that of the Jewish. "He who receives not this baptism has neither
right nor title to the kingdom of God."
The modern holiness movement has obscured the significance of water
baptism by making the baptism with the Holy Spirit an experience
subsequent to entrance into the kingdom of God. The "one baptism" to

18. which we find reference in Ephesians 4:5, is in reality, the same baptism
with a dual manifestation. It consists of an inward, spiritual effusion by
the Holy Spirit, outwardly typified by the application of water as its
emblem. The comments of Dr. Charles Carter in The Wesleyan Bible
Commentary elucidate this passage.
As water baptism, of whatever mode, is an outward sign of the inward
work of God by His Spirit in the believer's heart, so the baptism with
the Spirit is the fulfillment of what is signified. Thus in each instance it
is one baptism.
Water baptism and Spirit baptism have been said to be two halves of
one act. That one act is entrance into the kingdom of God. By one Spirit
we are baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13). By the sacrament of water
baptism, one not only testifies to having embraced the Gospel and the
one Christian faith, but according to early teachings of Methodism,
avails himself or herself also of the divine means by which this baptism
with the Spirit is to be received, regenerating and giving life to the soul
formerly dead in trespasses and sins.
One final word of caution seems appropriate to add to the foregoing
discussion. From his comments at the close of Acts 10, we quote Adam
Clarke once more as he warns his readers against taking either of two
extreme and dangerous attitudes toward religious rites. With water
baptism and the Lord's Supper particularly in mind, he writes:
We must beware neither to despise outward rites in religion, nor to rest
in them. Most people do either the one or the other. God gives us
outward helps, because he knows we need them. But do we not
sometimes imagine ourselves to be above that which, because of our
scantiness of grace, is really above us? We certainly may overrate
ourselves, and underrate God's bounties. He who is taught by the Spirit
of God will be saved from both.

19. BORN OF WATER AND SPIRIT
Dr. W. A. Criswell
John 3:5
10-19-86 10:50 a.m.
The message today is an exegetical study, an exegetical sermon. It is the
word as God uses it. So we are going to turn to the third chapter of
John. And we are going to stand in a moment and read the first six
verses, John 3:1-6.
The title of the message is Born of Water and of Spirit, out of water and
out of Spirit. And it will be a study of the words that Jesus uses in
describing how it is we enter into heaven. "I want to go to heaven! I
don’t want to be lost! Lord, how do I get into heaven? Think of how
long eternity is. I want to be with You, God. How do I get into those
pearly gates and walk with God’s redeemed family?" Jesus tells us, and
that is our message today. Now let us stand together and read the Word,
John 3:1-6 together:
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know
Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles
that Thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of

20. water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.
[John 3:1-6]
Now may we be seated, and we will begin. "Except a man be born of
water and Spirit" [John 3:5]. There’s no "the" in it. "Except a man be
born out of hudatos, water, kai pneumatos, and Spirit. Except a man be
born out of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"
[John 3:5]. Had the Lord said just "Spirit; except a man be born of
Spirit" – it would not have been unusual. It would have been the most
usual thing we could have imagined our Lord saying. But when He
adds "water," that’s different. This is the only place in the Bible you’ll
find that. It’s not elsewhere in Scripture, it is just here. What does He
mean? There is no possibility of a literal interpretation. There is no
such thing as a man being born of water. The answer is found in John
himself. He was a mystic.
Everything Jesus did, and everything our Lord said, John saw a deeper,
and ulterior, and more spiritually, heavenly meaning in everything the
Lord did and everything the Lord said. For example, you have it
translated "miracles" here in the King James Version. John never used
the word "’miracle," not one time. He uses the word semeion, "sign."
What Jesus did, and what He said, had a deeper and spiritual meaning.
The whole book, the whole Book of John is that. It’s symbolic of great,
spiritual instruction and revelation.
For example, in the second chapter that we have preached through,
John says the Lord instructed the servants to fill those six big stone jars
of water, which were used for the purification, after the manner of
people coming into the house. They washed their feet and hands and
purified themselves after the law of Moses. So they filled those six big
stone jars full of water. Then the Lord said, "Draw out now from the

21. well and bear to the governor of the feast." And on the way it turned
into wine [John 2:6-9].
Now, John saw in that a semeion, he calls it semeion, a "sign" [John
2:11]. It had a significance, a meaning, beyond actually what was done.
Those six big stone jars represented the ritual law, and the law of Moses
was filled to the brim [John 2:7; Matthew 5:17]. Then the gospel of
grace is the new wine that is brought to the people who enjoy the feast
[John 2:9].
Well, the whole gospel is that way. When Jesus feeds the five thousand
[John 6:5-13], John sees in the Lord the manna, the bread that comes
down from heaven [John 6:5]. When He opens the eyes of the blind
[John 9:1-11], he sees Jesus is the light of the world [John 8:12]. When
the Lord raises Lazarus from the dead [John 11:43-44], he sees in Him
the resurrection and the life [John 11:25]. When the Lord washes feet,
he sees our humble and gracious loving service for each other [John
13:1-16]. When the Lord was crucified [John 19:16-30], it is only John
who notices that out of the wound, out of the side – of the Roman spear
– John sees blood and water flow out [John 19:34]. When we come to
that; we’ll preach on that.
So the whole gospel is just that. Now this is another typical instance of
John listening to the Savior and finding in what He says a great symbol
of spiritual truth. "Except a man be ex hudatos, out of water, kai
pneumatos, and Spirit, he cannot be saved, he cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven" [John 3:5].
So we begin. As far back as I can remember, practically, if not all of the
Baptist preachers that I have listened to interpreted this hudatos, "out
of water" as referring to our physical birth; and they have a
substantiating text for it; the next verse says, "That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" [John 3:6].
Being born of water refers to a physical birth. All of us know that the
little babe in the womb is cushioned in water. And there is a type of a
birth that is called a water birth. And these old-time Baptist preachers

22. would say that to be born of the flesh is not enough; to be born of water
is not enough. We must be reborn. We must be born of Spirit. God
must regenerate us before we can enter the kingdom of heaven.
In our natural birth, we are sinful. We are born in iniquity with a
propensity to transgression [Psalm 51:5]. We must be remade. We must
be reborn. And that’s what Jesus meant when He said, "Except one be
born of water" – physical birth, and "except to be born of Spirit" [John
3:5] – a spiritual birth. First birth is not enough; we must be born again
to enter the kingdom of God.
That’s all right. I have no quarrel with that at all. There’s a great
truth in it, a great truth. But I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant. I
think it kind of extraneous. It’s superfluous to say that a man has to be
born physically, because here I am physically. Well, anyway there’s
another meaning that can be found in it. "Except a man be born of
water" [John 3:5]; it could refer to the water baptism of John. John the
Baptist administered a cleansing rite in water; a baptism, a
submergence in water, that had two meanings to it. The first; it
represented repentance. Mark’s Gospel begins in Mark 1:4. "John
preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;" and
Jesus, here using that symbol water [John 3:5]. No man can enter into
the kingdom of heaven who first does not repent [Mark 1:15]. That is
what the man has to do. He has to turn, then the Holy Spirit of God
regenerates his heart [Titus 3:5]. That could be the meaning here: a
man, to enter into the kingdom of God, has to be baptized in water, in
repentance [Acts 19:4-5]; a sign of a change in his own heart and
commitment. Then God changes his heart; rebirths him, reborns him,
remakes him [2 Corinthians 5:17].
The second thing that John’s baptism represented was an open
confession of faith in the Lord Jesus. In the seventh chapter of the Book
of Luke, Luke says the Pharisees rejected the baptism of John [Luke
7:29-30]. Therefore Nicodemus, in the first verse here, comes to the
Lord by night; he comes furtively and secretly [John 3:1-2]. And the
Lord is saying to him, "You cannot be saved secretly, furtively. For a

23. man to be saved, he must openly, unashamedly, statedly confess his faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot be ashamed of Me, and hide your
faith from the world in Me and be a Christian. You cannot do it."
Romans 10:9-10 says avowedly:
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in thine
heart that God raised Him from the dead –
that He lives –
thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart one believeth unto –
a God-kind of –
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
[Romans 10:9-10]
If I am to be saved, I must openly, unashamedly, confess that faith
before the Lord. And John’s baptism represented that; an open
confession of commitment to Christ [Acts 19:4].
Jesus in this passage refers to Nicodemus as a didaskalos, a teacher.
And He says, "You are a teacher – do you not realize these things?"
[John 3:10]. He did! In the days of Egyptian bondage, the blood of the
Passover lamb had to be placed on the lintel and on the doorpost outside
where the whole world could see it [Exodus 12:7, 13, 22]: "This is a
family of God."
When Moses stood in the camp, he said, "Who is on the Lord’s side?
Let him come and stand by me" [Exodus 32:26].
Joshua said, "Choose you this day whom you will serve!" [Joshua
24:15]

24. Elijah cried, saying, "How long halt you between two opinions? If God
be God, serve God! If Baal be God, serve Baal – but you must choose"
[1 Kings 18:21].
That’s what the Lord meant in one interpretation, in this passage,
John’s water baptism; an open, unashamed, stated, public confession of
your faith in the Lord Jesus [Luke 12:8]. That is our part. God’s part
then is to regenerate the human heart.
A third interpretation of this "born of water and of Spirit" [John 3:5]:
it could refer – and practically all of Christendom believes this – it
refers, they say, to baptismal regeneration. In the act of being baptized,
we are saved. It is a rite and a ritual that is necessary to our
presentation before God. We are baptized into the family of God. We
are saved by the ritual of baptism.
I call that "cutaneous religion." It’s religion that is on the skin. You
wash your way, you cleanse your way, you’re baptized into the kingdom
of God. I only have one trouble with that, which would be obvious. You
could be baptized every day of your life, every hour on the hour. You
could be scrubbed with lye soap and still it does not enter the heart. It
does not regenerate the heart. Outward religion, ritualistic religion,
ceremonial religion is as such and nothing before God. There has to be
something far more than that.
Well, these who avow baptismal regeneration, that we are saved in the
act of baptism, they have three texts in the New Testament that they use
for that. The first one is in Mark 16:16: "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be ashamed."
Now, as for me – and I’m speaking just for me – in my study of textual
reality, textual criticism, the text of the Bible, Mark’s Gospel ends with
the eighth verse. The ending of Mark has been lost. It has been lost
from the beginning.
Whoever wrote, beginning in verse 9 through the rest of this chapter –
whoever did that was a superstitious half-believer that’s beyond my
imagination! Nobody knows who wrote it. It is certainly not a part of

25. the Word of God. For example, he says, they shall take up serpents, and
if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. That to me is
unadulterated superstition!
And when we read here in the Southland of these snake handlers, that’s
the text they use. They’re handling snakes! And some of them get
bitten and die! That’s idiocy! That’s foolishness! And God is not an
idiot, and God is not foolish. And whatever God writes, and whatever
God says, has tremendous reason in it and import in it. Now that is I;
you may be able to receive things like that. I cannot! Period.
Exclamation point! I’m just telling you that in the study of the text –
textual criticism, they call it – the Gospel of Mark ends with the eighth
verse [Mark 16:8]. And whoever wrote the ending there nobody knows;
but it is certainly not a part of the Word of God.
Well, anyway, even in what he wrote – whoever wrote it – "He that
believeth and, is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned" [Mark 16:16]. Our salvation turns not upon our baptism,
but upon our belief. It is trusting in Christ that saves us [Romans 10:9-
10], even in this anomalous passage added to the Gospel of Mark.
The second passage that is used to substantiate baptismal regeneration –
that in baptism we are saved – is in Acts 2:38: "Then Peter said unto
them," at Pentecost, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit."
"Baptized for the remission of sins," now there’s a very obvious thing
here. That word translated "for" is the word eis, e-i-s, eis. Baptized,
the remission of sins – and there are other passages in the Bible which
we don’t have time to even to mention. There are other passages in the
Bible where eis cannot be translated in another way but "because of."
Well, let’s translate it that way here, as it is elsewhere. "Repent, and be
baptized every one of you, be baptized because of, eis, because of the
remission of your sins" [Acts 2:38]. It is a sign of the cleansing and
sanctifying grace of God in our hearts.

26. Now, the one other passage that is used is in the twenty-second chapter
of the Book of Acts: "And now why tarriest thou?" says Ananias to Saul
of Tarsus who has been converted on the way to Damascus; "Arise, and
be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord"
[Acts 22:16]. There are two things to be observed about that. Number
one: he was already saved. Baptism didn’t save him. He was saved
gloriously in that vision of Christ on the way to Damascus [Acts 9:1-6].
And the Lord said to him, "You go into Damascus; and it will be told
thee what you must do; My plan for thee" [Acts 22:10].
So he’s already saved. He’s already gloriously converted. And Ananias
says to him, "And now arise, and be baptized" [Acts 22:16]. Then let’s
put our comma there, "wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the
Lord." It’s calling on the name of the Lord that washes away our sins!
God does it! These are always the same marvelous revelations of God.
There are not confusion in these texts in the Bible. They all move in the
same direction, if we’ll just let them speak to us. Water does not wash
my sins away.
First John 1:7 avows, "The blood of Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us
from all sin" [1 John 1:7]. It is an inward, moral reality – always!
Always! And these who are saved are always baptized after their
regeneration, after they become a Christian. Baptism is always a sign of
God’s cleansing grace in our lives.
For example, as they went on their way, the Ethiopian eunuch said to
Philip:
Here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may.
And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God.
Then he commanded the chariot to stand still; then they went down into

27. the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him – having
received the Lord as his Savior.
[Acts 8:36-38]
Take again in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians. Paul, writing to the
Corinthian church, says: "I thank God I baptized none of you, but
Crispus and Gaius" [1 Corinthians 1:14]. Now listen to the next verse,
"For God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" [1
Corinthians 1:17]. What an amazing avowal, if we are saved, if we are
regenerated, if our sins are cleansed from our souls by baptism! "God
sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel" [1 Corinthians 1:17],
the apostle says. Now the reason for that is most obvious. Our sins are
washed away in the blood of Christ, in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord;
1 John 1:7, it is the blood of Christ that "cleanseth us from all sin."
That is the message from heaven itself – saved by the blood of the
crucified One.
All praise to the Father,
All praise to the Son,
All praise to the Spirit,
The great three in one!
Saved by the blood of the crucified One!
Glory, I’m saved!
My sins are all pardoned
And my guilt is all gone,
Saved by the blood of the crucified One!

28. ["Saved By the Blood"; S. J. Henderson]
Never saved by being baptized, regenerated by immersion in water;
always we are saved by the atoning grace of Christ. And baptism is an
open and public avowal that we have accepted the grace and mercy of
our Lord that alone saves us from eternal death [John 3:36; Ephesians
2:8].
"Now, pastor, what do you think that means?" I have a very, very, very
deep persuasion of its meaning according to the Word of God, not
according to what I think; "born of water and born of Spirit" [John
3:5].
"Born of water," born of the cleansing power of God’s Word, born by
the gospel message, born by the hearing of the grace of our Lord that
brings us into the presence of Jesus. Look: 1 Peter 1:23 and 25: "Born
again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
Born of water, of the word, and of Spirit, by the regenerating power of
the Spirit in our hearts, without which no man shall ever see the
kingdom of God [John 3:5]. Look again in James 1:18: "Of His own
will beget He us with the word of truth." Look again in John 15:3:
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you," the
cleansing power of the Word of God." Look again in Ephesians 5:25
and 26: "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it; that He might
present it to Himself a glorious church, that He might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" [Ephesians 5:25-27].
The gospel message, the word of Christ, the inspired, infallible Word of
God, cleanses us! We are washed by the Word!
Just one other out of a multitude; Paul writes to his son Timothy, "That
from a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation" [2 Timothy 3:15], the Word of God,
without which no man can ever be saved, never, ever! Any time anyone

29. comes into the knowledge of the will of God for his life, always it is
through the delivery of the Word of God from the mouth and the tongue
of another man. Always! [Romans 10:14] First, we hear; then we
repent and come to God and are regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God:
but always that first ex hudatos, out of water [John 3:5] – the cleansing
power of the gospel message of Christ, the Word of God.
Look at this just for a minute: when the Lord Jesus appeared to Saul of
Tarsus, as he went to Damascus hale into and to imprison those that
called upon the name of the Lord [Acts 9:1-2; 22:4-5], blinded by the
glory of the effluent presence of Jesus, he fell at the feet of that celestial
appearance of the Lord God Christ, and said, "Who art Thou, Lord?"
And the Lord replied, "I am Jesus of Nazareth" [Acts 9:3-6; 22:6-8].
Then the Lord said to him, "You go into Damascus; and there it will be
told thee what thou must do" [Acts 9:6; 22:10]. Why didn’t Jesus tell
him what to do? He is there talking to him. This man falling at His feet
accepts the Lord, believes in the Lord – why didn’t Jesus tell him what
to do? Because no man ever comes into the knowledge of the will of
God for his life except through the voice and word of another man; the
preaching of the gospel [Romans 10:14].
Take again, in the tenth chapter of the Book of Acts; an angel appears to
Cornelius, the Roman centurion. And the angel says to him, "You send
down to Joppa for one Simon who will come and tell thee words
whereby thou and thy house may be saved" [Acts 10:3, 5-6]. Why
didn’t the angel tell him the words? Because no man ever comes into
the knowledge of the will of God except through the preached gospel
from the lips and the tongue of another man; never an exception!
Take again, the avowal of that written out for us in the tenth chapter of
the Book of Romans:
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and

30. how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how
shall they hear without a preacher?
As it is written,
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
[Romans 10:13-15, 17]
"Born of water" [John 3:5] – born of the listening to the gospel, born of
the preached Word – faith coming by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God [Romans 10:17]. "How shall they hear without a preacher?"
[Romans 10:14]. We are born again by the Word of God [1 Corinthians
15:2], the cleansing power of the gospel message of Christ, and by the
regenerating Spirit of God in our hearts [Titus 3:5]; born of water, of
Spirit [John 3:5]: born of the gospel message, and born by the
regenerating power of the Lord in our souls [Titus 3:5]. I have to close.
A man said, "I have to make a decision. Either I give my heart to Christ
or I must cease attending church. I cannot continue attending church. I
cannot continue listening to the gospel message. I’ve got to quit going or
respond." You’ll find that in your life. If you come to church and listen
to the gospel of the Son of God; if you come, the day will also come
when you’ll find it impossible to say no to the claims of Christ, to the
appeal of the grace of our Lord [Ephesians 2:8]. You can’t sit there
continually and repudiate the truth of the gospel message that is
delivered. You’ll have to cease attending the services. It will be one or
the other.
How wonderful it is to be the other way around! I love to listen to the
exposition of the Word of God. I love to listen to a message from God’s
Holy Book; telling us about the Lord; telling us about heaven; telling us
about all the wonderful, marvelous things of Christ Jesus.
More, more about Jesus;

31. More of the Lord in His Word,
Holding communion with our Lord;
Hearing His voice in every line,
Making each faithful saying mine;
More, more about Jesus.
[ "More About Jesus" Eliza Hewitt]
Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of life.
Let me more of their beauty see,
Wonderful words of life.
[ "Wonderful Words of Life" Philip Bliss]
You’ll experience that. You come to church and you listen to the Word
of God, and one of two things; you’ll either find your heart responding
to the grace and love presented in those holy pages, or you’ll cease
coming. How much better to respond with your heart! Lord, Lord,
Your grace and Your blessing, so full and so rich, opening heart and life,
and house, and home to the blessed Savior; pilgrimaging with Him, a
fellow traveler on the way to heaven, up to glory one triumphant day.
And that is our appeal to your heart. May we pray now?
Our Lord in heaven, what a sweet and precious thing to gather in God’s
house with an open Book, written on the page the marvelous grace of
our wonderful Savior; O God, no wonder You said, "Blessed is he that
hungers and thirsts after righteousness" [Matthew 5:6]. Blessed is that
heart that opens the soul of life to the blessed, wonderful, saving
message of Jesus our Lord. And our Lord, we humbly pray that in this

32. moment of appeal, there will be families, there will be people, there will
be children, there will be men and women, there will be young people
who will come to Thee and to us. Sanctify and hallow the appeal with a
gracious harvest. We will love Thee, Lord, for the answered prayer and
every soul You give us, in Thy saving name, amen.
A family you, a couple you, a one somebody you, "Pastor, this is God’s
day for me and for us, and I am on the way." Make it now. Come now,
while we stand and while we sing.
by Phil Ware (01/26/2015) | Two Minute Meditations
"It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks!"
Almost everyone has heard this truism. Many who have heard it
actually believe it. Now that I have turned sixty and find myself in the
"old dog" category, I don't believe it… or at least I don't want to believe
it! Several of my greatest heroes have shown this doesn't have to be true
— thanks Lynn, Paul, Sister Sanders, and Joe!
Jesus didn't believe it. When Nicodemus approached him one night, he
recognized that Nicodemus was searching for truth — he came in the
darkness to find the true light of God (John 3:1-2 & John 3:16-21).
What Nicodemus didn't realize was that Jesus was about to call him to a
radical re-start of his spiritual life, something Nicodemus couldn't hear
at this point in his relationship with Jesus.
Nicodemus was the best of the best that Judaism had to offer. He
recognized that Jesus had come from God (John 3:2). He was a Pharisee
— someone dedicated to keeping the Law of God and separating himself
from the sin of the world (John 3:1). He was also a high ranking leader
and a respected member of the Jewish Ruling Council, also called the
Sanhedrin (John 3:1; John 7:50-51). He also knew other "secret

33. followers" of Jesus among the religious elite and the Ruling Council
who had access to Pilate, the Roman governor (John 12:42-43; John
20:38-42). Jesus addresses Nicodemus as "Israel's teacher" (John 3:10).
So standing before Jesus was a great rarity: an influential and
important Jewish religious leader with power who respects the words
and actions of Jesus. Nicodemus isn't just any "old dog," he's a godly
and powerfully important "old dog"! Yet Jesus doesn't soft-pedal what
Nicodemus must have happen in his life. He must be "born from
above."*1 Nicodemus had achieved his religious status through personal
commitment and hard work. He couldn't allow himself to understand
the phrase to mean "re-born from above" or "being re-born of God"
(John 1:11-13) — what Jesus means by the phrase. Instead, Nicodemus
is trying to figure out what he can do to make this new birth happen.
Jesus expands and clarifies what he means. Nicodemus needs to be
baptized*2 and be reborn by the Holy Spirit if he is going to be a part of
God's kingdom (John 3:5-7). John's baptism by immersion was only for
hardened sinners and Jewish immersion was only for Gentiles.*2
Everything Nicodemus had achieved in his religion showed he was
beyond such unclean living and debased existence. Yet that is what Jesus
impresses on him. Nicodemus was pursuing the kingdom of God
through religious performance. Jesus was saying that there was only one
way for Nicodemus to find the kingdom: a complete life re-boot. He had
to be completely remade by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit alone makes a person a child of God (Romans 8:9). The
Holy Spirit cleanses us of all sin, sanctifies us while making us holy, and
justifies us as innocent and pure before God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The
Spirit comes to live inside of us and makes us the dwelling place of God
in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We don't control the Spirit or
determine how or when he will do his work in causing this rebirth;
human effort and will cannot accomplish this (John 3:6-8). After Jesus'
return to the Father, he poured out the Spirit on Pentecost to begin his
new kingdom work in the world (Acts 2:32-33).

34. On that Pentecost as people realized their sin and religious error, they
turned from their own way to Jesus as Lord and Christ and were
baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and to receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit (Acts 2:34-39) — Jesus poured out the Spirit upon them and
they were born into God's family (Titus 3:3-7). They experienced what
Jesus called Nicodemus to do (John 3:3-7) and what John prepared
people to accept (Mark 1:4-8).
In Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus, the seeds of this Pentecost response
are anticipated.
An emphasis on needing to turn from our own ways of religious
accomplishment to be born of God — flesh can only give birth to flesh;
we must be born of God (John 3:6; John 1:11-12; Acts 2:33-37).
An emphasis on immersion — a willing participation in the Spirit's
work of rebirth (John 3:5; Titus 3:3-7; Acts 2:36-39).
An emphasis on absolute trust that Jesus was "lifted up" on the cross
for our sins and raised for our being made right with God (John 3:13-
17; Romans 4:25; Galatians 3:26-29; Acts 2:33-36).
A primary emphasis that spiritual rebirth is the work of Jesus pouring
out the Spirit and the Spirit completely remaking — "rebirthing" — us
into a new existence as God's child (John 1:11-12; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11;
Titus 3:3-7>.
Jesus believes — no, more accurately stated, Jesus knows — that old
hearts, weary souls, men and women of every age can be reborn by the
Holy Spirit into a new life in Jesus. The whole book of Acts gives
testimony to this. Young and old, men and women, Jew and Gentile,
slave and free, are all remade by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.
These people are brought into fellowship with each other — notice the

35. beautiful phrase "fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 13:14)
and made a part of God's family (1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:26-
29).
There is no new life in Jesus apart from the gracious work of the Holy
Spirit. Works-based justification along with status-based and
achievement-based religion end up in the failed efforts of human flesh
(John 3:5-6; Romans 7:21-25; Galatians 3:1-11). But thanks to Jesus our
Lord, the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit brings us before the Father as
his holy children (Romans 8:1-4; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Colossians 1:21-
22) and brings us life that lasts until we see our Lord face to face and
are caught up in the wonders of his grace forever (Romans 8:9-11; 2
Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:4).
Yes, we must be born from above… born of water and Spirit… born of
God. And how sweet and precious is that birth by the Spirit's
transformational power and presence!
*1 The phrase here means both "born from above" and "born again"
John 3:30; John 3:31 where the same phrase is used to mean "from
above". Clearly Jesus means "born from above" or "born of God," but
in Nicodemus' confusion, he understands it as being born again.
*2 Baptism in the New Testament means immersion. The Greek word,
baptizo means dip, immerse, or plunge. This understanding lies behind
John baptizing where there was "much water" (John 3:23) and
probably the identification of baptism with being "buried with Christ"

36. (Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12). While Jews would self-perform what
were called washings for ritual cleansing in a mikveh or ritual religious
purification pool, John's baptism was different. John actually baptized
people — something normally reserved for only Gentiles who wanted to
convert to Judaism. As someone extraordinarily careful to be righteous
and religiously accomplished, there was simply no way for Nicodemus to
see himself needing baptism.
While it has become popular in the last several hundred years in
evangelical interpretation to see "born of water" to mean "the waters of
physical birth," a number of things mitigate against this interpretation:
Jesus is not referring to two things in the phrase "born of water and
Spirit," but one. Both water and Spirit stand under one preposition,
linking the two as one event — this is technically called hendiadys and a
reminder the two would not normally be grammatically separated as
two separate and contrasting events, but one event characterized by
both elements.
Until the last several hundred years, the near universal understanding
of the phrase "born of water and Spirit" was understood to refer to
Christian immersion and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The modern
interpretation of the water of physical birth occurring only in the last
several hundred years.
The context, as in all good biblical interpretation, must be strongly
considered. In the near context of this passage, you have talk of John's
baptism (John 3:22-23) along with Jesus baptizing (John 3:6) and Jesus'
disciples baptizing (John 4:1-2). Then in prior context, you have
extended discussion of John's baptism (John 1:19-34).
The connection of the Holy Spirit with baptism (Acts 2:38-39; Acts 8:12-
17; Acts 9:17-19; Acts 10:44-48; Acts 19:1-7) and also with water as an
image of Spirit-filled life that runs throughout the New Testament (John
7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Titus 3:3-7). Rather than seeing baptism
as a work, the New Testament connects it to grace (Romans 6:2-14;
Titus 3:3-5) and faith (Acts 2:33-39; Galatians 3:26-29; Acts 16:25-34).

37. Ultimately, however, all the debates about baptism and faith must give
way to the emphasis of Jesus in the new birth: the essentiality of the
Holy Spirit's coming! Without the Spirit, we are left to our own striving
and accomplishment, something that is doomed to failure. We are saved
by grace as we trust in Jesus' work and surrender our lives to him as
Lord. The cleansing, rebirth, coming, and power of the Spirit are what
make salvation real in the life of a disciple.
The cleansing, rebirth, coming, and
power of the Spirit are what make
salvation real in the life of a disciple.
Phil's response to comments below:
I appreciate the comments and questions. I believe Acts helps us in
addressing the questions and statements here. What many of us want
coming from a modernist mindset (that's all of us folks who grew up
baby boomers or older) is a clean, clear, one-size fits all set of events. So
different conservative, deeply committed Bible-believing groups kinda
chose a horse and rode it and tried to make everything line up the same
way every time.
The discussion about 1 event or 2 with Spirit and water baptism,
baptism not being necessary in every case, the need for repentance with

38. confession, and a host of other things can be brought into the discussion.
However, I think we may be spitting hairs over things because we are
approaching things as a modernist — wanting the order, the events, and
the specifics to be very clear and color by numbers. But those of us who
have walked with people and been a part of people coming to Christ
know that the process is different for each of them, both because they
are each a unique person coming from unique circumstances and
because the way God brought the message of grace into each person's
life can be different — remember the 3 stories of lost things being found
in Luke 15 and let's realize this is just a picture of the Father's desire to
save lost ones and what he will do to find them and rejoice when they
are found.
What I want folks to recognize is that all throughout Acts and the New
Testament letters we find further testimony to this. The teaching of
Jesus does as well. All throughout there are a couple of key principles or
movements in the coming of salvation in the lives of people who become
Jesus' disciples. Each of these principles, elements, or movements are
part of faith and shouldn't be split away from faith or it merely becomes
a work we do between our ears to get heaven's goodies. These are
shared as first, second, etc., just to distinguish the movements, not to set
priority in importance — at least from my understanding. Each is a
part of saving faith and inextricably linked to Jesus.
First, God — Father, Son, and Spirit — are sovereign and can do and
have done many things to make sure truly seeking hearts find their way
to Jesus and surrender to His Lordship and receive the Father's grace
through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Father knows each heart and
Jesus promised seekers would find. So we need to not paint God into a
box or a formula so it is easier for us to explain and have a formula.
Second, we need to admit that we have made faith into less than what it
was in the early church. Our individualistic society has offered a
response to Jesus that can largely be between the ears because we've
made belief little more than what we think in our heads. This allows
evangelists to talk about decisions they've helped people make for Jesus

39. when Jesus is really concerned about us making disciples — people
yielded to His will, following His teaching, leading other people to Him,
and teaching those people how to live for Him. James talks about the
devil having that easy kind of intellectual faith that doesn't manifest
repentance or submit the heart to the Lordship of Christ. When we look
at our culture, there are many people who call themselves Christians
because they've been taught what they think about Jesus is faith and
that it doesn't require any obedience or submission to His will or His
teaching or His way of life. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus made clear that at judgment, there are going to a lot of these folks
who are disappointed and surprised. Thankfully, it is not our job to
decide or judge anyone's heart, but we are taught by the Lord to check
the fruit of a person's life. Salvation isn't just being saved from sin, but
being save for a life with the Lord.
Third, in Acts, we see a cluster of things that are part of a person's
salvation response — sorry, I can't think of another way to describe it.
Each is fundamentally important and for some reason, different
religious groups want to split up these four and pick one as their focus.
Yet for me, these are not supposed to be divorced — Jesus puts them
together, the apostles put them together, and the book of Acts shows
them all as important.
There is a willingness to recognize Jesus not just as Lord of all, but Lord
of me — I turn to Him and commit to honor Him because of Who He is
and also because of what He has done for me. You can call this
repentance. You can call it confession of Jesus as Lord and a surrender
to His Lordship. However, no matter what we call it — Acts describes in
several ways — we recognize that without Jesus we are lost, that our
way is not going to save us no matter how religious or non-religious we
are, and we turn our hearts and lives over to Him to find the abundant
life He longs to give us. This repentance, this turning to Jesus as Lord, is
a necessary dimension of true and biblical faith.
There is trust — belief that demonstrates itself through investing our
life — in Jesus' death burial and resurrection. Paul calls this "first

40. importance" in salvation and what we believe. We confess our faith to
show that trust. We give up our own attempts of being righteous on our
own, because we believe that Jesus paid the price to make us righteous
and invites our lives to be joined to His. This revolutionary trust is
absolutely a necessary ingredient in our response to God's grace and
Jesus' work in life, death, and resurrection — it is a necessary
dimension to true and biblical faith.
Thee is baptism in the name of Jesus and a sharing in His death, burial,
and resurrection as we all on His name to save us. Baptism is not
something we do. It done to us. It roots us in a physical experience to
keep our faith from simply slipping into some individualistic Gnostic or
Docetic form of faith where bodily actions don't matter and
unimportant. It becomes an experience of the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus and in what saves us. This practice was part of
Jesus' last command and was practiced all throughout the book of Acts,
quite often with an emphasis that there was no delay from the person's
time of faith.
There is baptism in the Holy Spirit — we are cleansed, made holy, and
made righteous by the sanctifying work of the Spirit as He makes us
God's holy place of dwelling, His holy temple in which God lives in the
form of the Holy Spirit. This means we are the people and the place
where God lvies and dwells and works in us to bring us to maturity in
Christ — which is the real work work of the Holy Spirit — as we begin
to display the fruit of the Spirit's presence in us.
Now I could pile up a bunch of Scriptures on each of these, but it would
be a lot simpler to just read Acts the the letters of Paul and we'd find
this for ourselves. My plea is for us to quite fussing and fighting over
our primary emphasis we prefer of these four and recognize the
importance and role that each of these four play and then go celebrate
them as they happen in the lives of others and invite more people to
come meet Jesus and share in all four of these streams of mercy that
merge into one movement of God's saving grace.

41. We can argue about order — but Acts talks about receiving the Holy
Spirit at water baptism (Acts 2:38), also has people baptized and not
receive the Holy Spirit till the apostles come and lay hands on them
(Acts 8), and then Cornelius and his household receive the Holy Spirit so
that Peter knows he needs to baptize them in water and include them in
the family of God (Acts 10-11). The Philippian jailer is told he must
believe to be saved, but like the Ethiopian in Acts 8, he is either taught
or recognizes that he and his household need to be baptized in water
and so they are baptized immediately despite the inconveniences, and
then they rejoice because they have come to faith (Acts 16). In each of
these, the show of submission/repentance is clear in every case as is the
absolute trust in Jesus to save. So instead of arguing about order or
what we can leave out and be saved, let's honor Jesus, learn from the
early church, and trust God is way big enough to figure all the
exceptions out without making the exceptions the rule.
I can tell you I was dunked under water many times by my buddies at a
swimming pool, in a lake, and even in a stock pond. I got wet in each of
them. But I was saved because I shared in baptism trusting the Spirit
would remake me and that what Jesus did alone could save me, so I
wanted to live for Jesus and honor Him with all I am. As Carrie
Underwood sings, "There Must Be Something in the Water" — and this
case, I think that "something in the water" was me, as I experienced the
Holy Spirit and trusted Jesus as He met me there and pledged to live for
Him as My Lord. Since then, everything has been different... or in my
circle of buddies we like to say, "Things were way more better!"
Grace and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Phil
Born of the Spirit

42. Author: Ray C. Stedman
Read the Scripture: John 3:1-16
Everyone today is familiar with the term "born again." It has become so
popular that it is used for all kinds of situations that have nothing to do
with the way the New Testament uses it. If a football team has a bad
season and the next year comes to life again and does much better, the
sports writers say it has been born again. I heard a man say last week
that his marriage, which had been threatened but was now recovered,
had been "born again." I read in the paper that the Equal Rights
Amendment, which is again being pushed hard by the women's
movement, has now been "born again." If all this happened in line with
the New Testament view of that term it would be very encouraging. How
nice to know that football teams, women's movements and marriages
are born again! But obviously that is not the way they use the term;
rather they are referring to a kind of renewal.
In Chapter 3 of John's gospel we see this phrase used for the first time
in connection with a famous night visit to Jesus.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these
signs that you do, unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew[born again] he cannot see the
kingdom of God." (John 3:1-3 RSV)
John calls attention here to two things about Nicodemus: who he was,
and what he said.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He was a member of
the Sanhedrin, the council of seventy men who ran the religious affairs
of the nation and who had religious authority over any Jew anywhere in
the world. That council was almost entirely made up of Pharisees.

43. It is very important to understand who the Pharisees were. If ever there
was a group, which could be called religious fanatics, it was the
Pharisees. They were a select group -- never more than 6,000 of them --
who had each one taken a solemn vow before three witnesses that he
would devote every moment of his entire life to obeying the Ten
Commandments, as a way of pleasing God. The Pharisees took this very
seriously. As you know, the Ten Commandments speak about
worshipping the true God and not having idols in your heart, honoring
your father and mother, refraining from lying, adultery, and various
other sins. The commandments are given in rather general terms. In
order to be specific it was felt necessary to define those terms and to
spell out how they applied to certain situations, so there had grown up
in Israel a group of people called the scribes, who were members of the
Pharisees. These men spent their lives studying the Ten Commandments
and applying them to situations of life so that the Pharisees could carry
out these commands and thus obey God.
The scribes took their work very seriously. In fact, to demonstrate how
seriously they took it, they had compiled a very thick book, which the
Jews still have today, called the Mishnah, made up of sections devoted to
applying the Ten Commandments to life. In the Mishnah, the section on
obeying the rule of not working on the Sabbath occupies twenty-four
chapters. Besides that they have another book, the Talmud, which is
made up of commentaries on the Mishnah. In the Talmud 156 pages are
devoted to the Sabbath as it applied to life! We can see how serious the
Pharisees were about keeping the Law.
We had for a while here at Peninsula Bible Church a Scribe School. We
called the young men and women who were studying here, "scribes."
We have dropped that name. We call them interns now, largely because
when I took some of those young men with me on trips and they were
introduced as scribes, everybody immediately assumed that I was a
Pharisee!
In their interpretation of the commandment forbidding work on the
Sabbath the scribes decreed that any form of labor which a man

44. engaged in to make his living was forbidden. For example, a farmer
could tether his animals with a rope during the week, but he could not
tie a knot on the Sabbath. If a sailor tied knots in the course of his
labors through the week that was fine, but he could not tie a knot on the
Sabbath. Knot-tying was regarded as work -- with, of course, certain
exceptions. If it was absolutely necessary to life, one could tie a knot on
the Sabbath. Knots that could be tied with one hand were permitted,
but not one that required two hands. A woman could tie a knot in her
girdle or in a scarf that she tied around her neck. That was essential to
women, therefore it was permitted.
So people began to look for loopholes in order to get around these laws.
If a man needed to draw a bucket of water out of a deep well, he was not
permitted to tie a rope onto the bucket because that would be violating
the Sabbath; but if he tied the rope to a woman's girdle and then tied
the girdle to the bucket, he could draw up water! These meticulous,
narrow, rigid interpretations constituted the whole life of the Pharisees.
The Law said that mortar could not be made on the Sabbath for that
would be work. The scribes said that if one spat on the ground on the
Sabbath it would be making mortar, therefore spitting was forbidden.
But if one spat on a rock there was no dirt involved, so one could spit on
a rock on the Sabbath day but not on the ground. One had to take a
good aim at the target!
The scribes limited the distance one could journey from one's home on
the Sabbath day to a thousand yards. But people found ingenious ways
to get around that. They tied a rope at the end of the street they lived on
and that made the whole street their home, therefore they could journey
a thousand yards beyond that. If people traveled around their city
during the six days before the Sabbath, planting caches of food here and
there so that they would have something to eat wherever they went, then
they could call the whole city their home. Thus one could journey a
thousand yards outside the city, but no further. By these ingenious
applications the Pharisees conducted their punctilious attempts to
observe the Law and thus please God. That is the kind of man
Nicodemus was.

45. It is amazing that he would come to Jesus at all, because the Pharisees
regarded themselves as superior to other men in spiritual status before
God due to their total dedication to obeying the law of God. But not only
did this Pharisee and ruler of the Jews come to Jesus, he asked certain
questions of him. John tells us that he began his word with a courteous
introduction, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God;
for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him." The
key word there is "teacher." This is a rather amazing statement. Notice
the word we: "we know that you are a teacher." Nicodemus is probably
speaking for the rest of the Sanhedrin -- or at least for a majority of the
members -- and he is admitting that the Pharisees, who were rabid
opposers to the freedom and liberty that Jesus represented, knew in
their hearts that he really was a man from God, a teacher. Nicodemus
regarded Jesus as a successful teacher, because God put his seal of
approval on him by doing miracles through him. Nicodemus had no
miracles to his record; nor could any of the other members of the
Sanhedrin work miracles. Therefore Nicodemus came with a great deal
of respect for Jesus, regarding him as a superior teacher, able to instruct
in the meaning of the Law.
That concept of teaching indicates that the basic philosophy of this man
(as it was with all the rulers of the Jews) was that all humanity needed
in order to do right and to please God was good teaching -- an
instructed mind and a committed will. If one had those and really
worked at it, one could please God. I hope you recognize that this is a
widespread, popular view of religion today. There are probably people
here this morning who believe that what God expects of them is to do
their best to obey the Ten Commandments, to live life as best they can,
to try hard to do what the Law says, and if they do that they will please
God and be accepted by him.
Notice how Jesus cuts right across that with a sharp and penetrating
sentence that must have gone like a sword thrust right into Nicodemus'
heart. He said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again
he cannot see the kingdom of God." Observe what Jesus is saying in this
startling word to Nicodemus. He introduces his words with this little

46. phrase, "truly, truly." I have come to understand that that term is a sign
our Lord gives that what he is about to say is extremely important and
should not be missed. It is a revelation of a fundamental reality about
life; a basic, elementary fact that we need desperately to understand if
we are going to live realistically in this world. In 19th century,
billboards and newspaper advertisements, a hand with the index finger
pointing was frequently used to highlight the important words. When I
see these words, "truly, truly," I always see it in that light: a finger
pointing at the important words that follow.
These then are the words which Jesus highlighted: "Unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God." A new birth is absolutely
essential to enter the kingdom. John uses a very interesting word here
that is translated "anew," or "again." It is the Greek word, anothen,
which has three meanings: It means again to do it a second time; it also
means to begin radically, completely, a new beginning; and it also means
from above, and it is used in that sense in other places in Scripture. It
signifies God must do this. The Christian understanding of this word
includes all three of those meanings. It is speaking of something radical,
a new beginning. It is a second birth, but it comes from above. It is God
that does it, not man; and it results in a new creation, a new beginning.
This idea appears many times in the New Testament. Paul speaks of
"babes in Christ," (1 Corinthians 3:1). Peter says, "as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow," (1 Peter 2:2).
Again Peter says we are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible," (1 Peter 1:23 KJV). And he speaks of being "born to a
living hope," (1 Peter 1:3). Paul speaks not only of being new creatures
in Christ but of a new creation; of passing from death unto life, of a
new, radical start. Jesus makes clear that this is the only way to enter
the kingdom of God. If you do not come this way you cannot enter.
There is no way you can even see the kingdom of God without this.
To be in "the kingdom of God," of course, is to belong to God; it is to be
a part of his rule, his reign, his domain. Paul speaks of being transferred
from "the kingdom of darkness, ruled by the god of this world, into the

47. kingdom of the Son of his love," (Colossians 1:13). Thus, Jesus was
referring to a transfer of citizenship, a radical departure from what we
once were.
Jesus sensed in Nicodemus a deep hunger, an emptiness. Here was a
man who was doing his level best to obey what he thought God wanted,
yet he had an empty and unsatisfied heart that led him to seek out Jesus
by night, at the risk of the displeasure of his peers, to talk with him
about the kingdom of God. Sensing this our Lord immediately puts him
on the right track, saying to him, in effect, "You are wasting your time if
you think you can enter the kingdom of God the way you are. You
cannot do it. You must be born again." John Wesley's favorite text,
which he preached all through England, Wales and Scotland, was this,
"You must be born again." Someone said to him once, "Why do you
preach so often on 'you must be born again'?" Wesley's answer was,
"Because -- you must be born again." That is what Jesus is saying.
But Nicodemus misunderstood. He took the word anothen in its first
sense, of "a second time." With an obviously puzzled look on his face he
said to Jesus, "How can this be? How can a man be born when he is
old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
This is a frequent reaction of many in the Gospel of John. Jesus is
forever using symbols when he talks to individuals and they take him
literally. In the first chapter, he said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it up again," (John 2:19 RSV). They
thought he was talking about the building, but John tells us Jesus meant
the temple of his body, of which the building was but a picture. When he
says to Nicodemus, "You must be born again," Nicodemus immediately
thinks of gynecology: "How am I going to get back into my mother's
womb and start life all over when I am already old and grey? How can I
do that?" (John 3:4 RSV). Taken in that sense, how absurd it must have
seemed to him! What he is really asking is for Jesus to explain what he
means.
Many people think like that yet today. Perhaps you do. Have you ever
said, or heard someone say, "Oh, if I could just do it over again! If I

48. knew then what I know now, and could go back and live it all over
again, I think I could get it right!" But this is absolutely wrong; you
would never get it right. The problem with humanity is not that we do
not know enough, it is because of what we are. That is what makes us do
the things that are wrong.
Mark Twain once said, "It is not what I don't know about the Bible that
troubles me, it is what I do know!" He was not doing what he knew.
This is the real problem. Most people know what is right but they do not
do what is right. The reason they do not do what is right is because there
is something wrong about who they are. That is true of us all.
Here our Lord is laying the foundation for that most unpalatable
doctrine of Scripture that teaches we all belong to a lost race. That is the
problem. It is who we are that is wrong, not so much what we do or do
not do. Once again Jesus prefaces his reply with the words 'truly,
truly":
"Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I
said to you, 'You must be born anew.' The wind blows where it wills,
and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or
whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." (John
3:5-8 RSV)
Jesus is here answering Nicodemus' question, "How can a man be born
when he is old?" "By water and by the Spirit," is Jesus' reply.
Many have been disturbed by the word "water" here. They do not know
what it means. Some have thought it to be a reference to the bag of
waters that breaks just before a baby is born; that it therefore refers to
the physical life -- you must be born physically in order to be born
spiritually. That, of course, is tautology; it is obvious. But when Jesus
answers the question, "How can a man be born when he is old?" he is
not making a reference to physical birth.

49. It is clear from the context that Jesus is talking about baptism. John's
baptism was the sensation of the nation at this time. Everyone was
talking about it. The Pharisees had sent a delegation to John to ask him
why he was baptizing. The meaning of John's baptism was the central
theological question of the day in which our Lord speaks. What Jesus
means, then, is what baptism signifies. It is not the water that changes
anybody. Many people superstitiously think that if they baptize their
babies that will assure the children entrance into the kingdom of
heaven; or if they themselves were to be baptized as adults that would
guarantee them admittance into heaven. That is rank superstition.
Water does not change anybody that way. It may make you a little
cleaner, you might even smell better, but it does not make you any
different in God's eyes. What the baptism stands for is what is
important. Do not, like the many in John's gospel, miss the real meaning
because of the symbol! The symbol behind baptism is repentance, an
honest admission of need.
I have been preaching and teaching the Scriptures for almost fifty years,
and I want to tell you that the one thing that keeps most people from
being born again is that they do not want to admit their need. They do
not want to admit that there is something basically wrong with them;
they still cling to the idea that there is some good thing about them that
God ought to accept, and if they do more good than bad he ought to let
them into glory. I do not think anything has been more destructive in
the whole realm of theology than that idea. No, repentance is necessary,
an awareness that despite your best efforts you are not fulfilling God's
law. You are not able to do so. You desperately need a Savior. That is
what baptism acknowledges.
When a man, or a woman, boy or girl, admits he or she needs help and
comes to Jesus, then the Spirit does something. God does what no man
can do: he imparts his own life to that individual. After all, what is a
birth but an impartation, or transferral, of life? When a man and
woman have a child, what have they done? In a most remarkable way
they have transferred their lives to that child; they have imparted life.

50. As Jesus continues, he indicates there is a clear and radical difference
between the old and the new birth. He says, "That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." What do you get
from your first, fleshly, birth? More flesh! You get a body, a living body.
Then what do you get from a new birth, a spiritual birth? You get a
living spirit; your spirit is made alive. Paul wrote to the Ephesian
Christians, "You has he quickened [made alive] who were dead in
trespasses and sins," (Ephesians 2:1 KJV). Only God can make one
alive in the spirit. It is quite obvious that it does not make any difference
how hard you try; if you do not have God's life you cannot live in a way
that pleases him. There is no way to do that. If you are trying, with an
unchanged, fallen nature, to please God, you can reduce it to the most
ridiculous applications and tedious spelling out of what this means, but
you still will not be able to do it. You will only miss the point. That is
what Jesus is telling Nicodemus.
Finally, Jesus indicates in a most remarkable way that the new birth will
result in a totally new lifestyle; he will never be the same. He illustrates
this with another symbol: the wind. While he and Nicodemus were
talking they could probably hear the wind blowing through the streets
of Jerusalem. Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wills." It is
sovereign; no man directs it.
Isn't it remarkable that this is still true today? The weather forecasters
tell us each day where the jet stream is, but they cannot say where it is
going to be tomorrow. It goes where it wants; nobody has been able to
control it. We cannot even figure out what makes it move. Television
weather reports filmed by satellite from 22,000 miles up in the sky show
where the jet stream is, but no one knows how it got there. It is under a
sovereign direction and is not subject to man. That is the way the life of
someone who is born again will be. There is a different drumbeat in his
life, a different Lord directing his affairs, and that will make him
behave differently. No man knows where he comes from or where he
will be sent. You will not be able to predict the purposes of God in an
individual life; God will direct that life. So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit.

51. I heard once of a Christian in England who was asked to sign a church
guest register. He noticed that a number of guests had entered their
degrees after their names. He wanted to put some letters after his name,
but had never been to a university. So he wrote, "John Smith, BA and
MA." Asked what the letters stood for, he said, "John Smith, Born
Again, and Marvelously Altered!"
Jesus is saying, "Do not marvel at that; that is to be expected." When
God's life becomes your life, you can expect many changes. It may take
awhile; there is growth involved. You are like a new baby at first, but
watch: you cannot be the same person; you cannot go on the way you
were. If you do, you have never been born again. When you get in touch
with the life of God, things are going to be different.
Once again Nicodemus is puzzled. "How can this be?" he asks (John 3:9
RSV). For the third time Jesus answers with a "truly, truly":
Jesus answered him. "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not
understand this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know,
and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our
testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how
can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:10-12 RSV)
It is Jesus' turn to be astonished now. He has spoken to a man who is the
teacher of Israel, a man who has given his life to studying the Old
Testament. Jesus also knew that book. He knew that Isaiah had spoken
about a new life from God; that Jeremiah had predicted a new creation
that would be given; that Ezekiel had said that God would take out the
old heart of stone and give a new heart of flesh. All through the Old
Testament there are statements about a new birth, a new beginning, a
new creation, a new life that would come as a gift of God to those who
would humbly, without pride, receive it as something they desperately
needed. So Jesus says to Nicodemus, "How can this be? How can you, a
teacher of Israel, not know about these things?"
It was our Lord's understanding that the Scriptures (as he put it on
another occasion) "are they which testify of me," (John 5:39 KJV).