Being Born Again of Water and Spirit
Question
What does it mean to exist born of water?
Answer
In John three, Jesus uses the phrase "built-in of h2o" in answer to Nicodemus's question about how to enter the kingdom of heaven. He told Nicodemus that he "must be born once again" (John three:3). Nicodemus questioned how such a thing could happen when he was a grown man. Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no 1 can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5).
Beingness "born of the Spirit" is easily interpreted—salvation involves a new life that simply the Holy Spirit can produce (cf. two Corinthians 3:6). But at that place are a couple dissimilar schools of thought on what Jesus meant when He said, "born of water." Ane perspective is that "built-in of water" refers to concrete birth. Unborn babies bladder in a sack of amniotic fluid for nine months. When the time for birth arrives, that sack of h2o bursts, and the baby is born in a rush of water, inbound the earth as a new creature. This nativity parallels existence "born of the Spirit," equally a similar new nascency occurs within our hearts (2 Corinthians five:17). A person in one case-born has concrete life; a person twice-born has eternal life (John 3:15–18, 36; 17:3; i Peter 1:23). Just as a infant contributes no effort to the birth procedure—the work is washed by the female parent—so it is with spiritual birth. Nosotros are merely the recipients of God's grace as He gives the states new nascency through His Spirit (Ephesians 2:8–9). According to this view, Jesus was using a instruction technique He ofttimes employed by comparison a spiritual truth with a concrete reality. Nicodemus did not understand spiritual birth, but he could sympathise concrete birth so that was where Jesus took him.
The other perspective is that "born of water" refers to spiritual cleansing and that Nicodemus would take naturally understood it that style. According to this view, "born of h2o" and "built-in of the Spirit" are different ways of saying the same thing, once metaphorically and once literally. Jesus' words "born of water and the Spirit" draw unlike aspects of the aforementioned spiritual birth, or of what it means to be "born once again." Then, when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must "exist born of water," He was referring to his need for spiritual cleansing. Throughout the Quondam Testament, water is used figuratively of spiritual cleansing. For example, Ezekiel 36:25 says, "I volition sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse yous 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 concrete h2o representing spiritual purification.
The New Testament, also, uses water as a figure of the new birth. Regeneration is chosen a "washing" brought about by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God at the moment of salvation (Titus 3:v; cf. Ephesians 5:26; John thirteen:10). Christians are "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the proper noun of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians vi:11). The "washing" Paul speaks of hither is a spiritual one.
Whichever perspective is correct, one thing is certain: Jesus was not teaching that one must be baptized in water in lodge to be saved. Baptism is nowhere mentioned in the context, nor did Jesus ever imply that we must practice anything to inherit eternal life but trust in Him in religion (John iii:xvi). The emphasis of Jesus' words is on repentance and spiritual renewal—nosotros need the "living h2o" Jesus afterward promised the woman at the well (John iv:ten). Water baptism is an outward sign that nosotros have given our lives to Jesus, just not a requirement for conservancy (Luke 23:40–43).
Questions about John
What does it mean to be born of water?
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