Fallible as we are, so was Justin, and he clearly says so here, if this is a verbatim translation, his thought was flawed and unscriptural, contradicting the Holy Ghost, for what Jesus said to Nicodemus was, precisely from the Koine:
>> Jesus answered and He said unto him,
>> "Amen, amen I am saying unto thee,
>> 'Unless anyone be born* from above**,
>> he is not able to behold The Kingdom of
>> The God' " (Jn. 3:3)
* begotten, ** or again cf. Gal. 4:9
Furthermore, look at v. 5:
>> Jesus answered, "Amen, amen,
>> I am saying unto thee,
>> 'Unless anyone be born by* means of
>> water^ and of Spirit**, He is not
>> able to enter into The Kingdom
>> of The God. ...
^ cf. Eph. 5:26 (washing of water by the Word/hremati),
* ablative of means, ** anarthrous
Going on to V. 6:
>> The| one~ having been born* by** means
>> of the flesh is continually*** flesh
>> and the| one~ having been born by* means
>> of The Spirit is continuously*** spirit.' ...
| neuter, ~ child, * begotten,
** ablative of means, *** present tense
-----
Now to make a point, the only mention of The Kingdom of Heaven is made in Matthew, never anywhere else in the Bible. The Kingdom of Heaven was that which was announced to the Jews under the Law, and was available only as long as John was alive. If the king, Herod, had bowed to Christ and offered up his authority to The Messiach Jesus, The Kingdom of Heaven, on earth, and visible, could have been instituted in place of this world system. But Herod, representing the Jews, beheaded the Messiah's plenipotentiary, John Baptist, and the offer was withdrawn. That was not the same as The Kingdom of The God, which is invisible, and not of this world system, but is in the midst of those qualified by new birth. From thenceforth Jesus preached only the Kingdom of The God. And that is what he taught Nicodemus (and Nicodemus believed).
So Justin was just plain flat-out doctrinally wrong in that statement--and in the same breath voiced another doctrine which is insupportable by Scripture, whatever anyone says beyond what the Holy Ghost has given. Remember, none of the Twelve (and one of them was a devil) were saved at the time they were all baptized into discipleship. And none of the other eleven were mentioned as having been baptized anywhere else. Why? Because salvation was not conferred by the determinate action of any human.
But it is crystal clear that water baptism of the professed believer was ordained by Christ as applying to disciples made by the Apostles, not merely to converts; nor did John nor Christ nor the Apostles baptize to impart salvation. The purpose was to publicly signify a persistent faith in the Person and Work of The Christ, unto death. By faith, my sins were remitted at the Cross, not by the public rite of inductance into discipleship. That real occasion of invisible commitment was again rehearsed in a public figurative-literal rite of immersion thus displaying in a figure of that which is recounted in Romans 6:3,5 in the likeness of His death, a Biblical metaphor of what happened at the cross for all, and accepted by trusting in His Faith.
BTW, when was John the Beloved (or Peter, or any of the 11 apostles regenerated? Not twice, I hope.
let’s consider for a moment how the universal church became the Catholic Church.
the apostles, especially Paul went thru the known Roman world and preached the good news of salvation thru Jesus Christ. this means they went to greece, syria, lebadon, turkey, israel, egypt, rome, etc. etc. PREACHING THE SAME GOSPEL, THE SAME JESUS, THE FAITH, THE SAME WAY OF REGENERATION.
so when the last Apostle to die, John the Beloved around 95ad, there were thousands, if not tens of thousands of Christians spread all thru the Empire. and when a Christian from Rome went to Antioch, and one from Jerusalem went to Athens, and one from Alexandra went to Syria, WHAT DID THEY FIND??? They found they had THE SAME UNIVERSAL FAITH.
how is this possible? because the author of the faith was the same, THE HOLY SPIRIT! the Holy Spirit led them to all truth.
now, since they all received the same FAITH, THEY NAMED THIS SHARED FAITH, THE CATHOLIC FAITH, THEY NAMED THE CHURCH “CATHOLIC” SINCE IT WAS UNIVERSALLY PLANTED BY THE APOSTLES AND IT’S LEADERS COULD TRACE THEIR FAITH TO AN APOSTLE AND THEY HAD THE WRITINGS FROM THE APOSTLES ( THE NT )
now, since it was very dangerous to be a Christian ( i.e. Rome might kill you, like it did Peter, Paul and Justin ), if you were a Christian, i think it’s not a stretch to think they took their FAITH seriously.
what two doctrines CAN WE BE SURE the Christians completely understood from the Apostles??
1. who is Jesus Christ?
2. how does one have their sins forgiven and become a Christian?
Hopefully you are with me so far, this is just common sense.
Now, i agree Justin Martyr’s writings are not Scripture, if they were, the Church would have included them WHEN IT SET THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE.
but although not Scripture, Justin’s writings ACCURATELY convey what HE WAS TAUGHT the CATHOLIC FAITH RECIEVED FROM THE APOSTLES WAS.
Justin was born late 1st century, early second century. THERE IS NO DOUBT HE WAS TAUGHT THE FAITH FROM MEN WHO WERE TAUGHT THE FAITH DIRECTLY FROM THE APOSTLES.
WHAT JUSTIN WROTE ABOUT BAPTISMAL REGENERATION NOT ONLY WAS IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH WHAT PAUL, LUKE AND PETER TAUGHT ABOUT BAPTISM IN THE BIBLE, IT ALSO WAS IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH WHAT THE APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC FAITH WAS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD!!
IT’S AS IF YOU LEARNED THE FAITH FROM A MINISTER, WHO LEARNED THE FAITH FROM AN ENGLISH MINISTER 40 YEARS AGO.
DOES ANYONE NOT BELIEVE YOUR MINISTER COULD ACCURATELY TEACH YOU WHAT HE LEARNED FROM THE ENGLISH MINISTER 40 YEARS AGO??? OF COURSE HE COULD, ESPECIALLY IF IT’S WHAT EVERYONE BELIEVED!!
I think it is very safe to say that Justin learned how to be regenerated and become a Christian very well, after all the Apostle John had only died 20 or some odd years before.
so we have the Scriptures all teaching baptismal regeneration, and we have the whole CATHOLIC CHURCH believing it from Apostolic times, but what don’t we have??
we don’t have RECORD of anyone from 95 ad on that believed or taught:
1. that there are two baptisms, spirit and water.
2. that baptism is some kind of public rite or act of obedience.
3. that there is something called believers baptism.
4. that someone is supposed to say a sinners prayer to become a Christian.
Don’t you find it odd that we don’t see any of those 4 beliefs??? you can’t say it’s because the Church killed anyone who believed this, the Church was busy avoiding Roman soldiers itself, to be persecuting anyone.
this should make ANY SINCERE SEEKER OF TRUTH GO, HMMMMM!!!
now, to answer your question, when were the Apostles regenerated? the Scriptures are silent, so i will be also.
we do know they were baptized at some point or else they would not have been regenerated or in Christ.
we do know Paul was regenerated in Acts 22:16 by BAPTISM.
i guess you don’t want to admit to following the CATHOLIC TRADITION of a 27 Book NT, I UNDERSTAND!!
Thank you for your well reasoned and Biblical responses. I was baptized as an infant into the Roman Catholic Church. This was something done TO me, supposedly FOR me, yet it was not until I was gently led to the passage in John 10:27-30 and I read God's word for myself, that I first understood what saving faith was all about. I came to faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and was later baptized (for the second, but really the first, time) as a public profession of faith and as a testimony to henceforth walk in newness of life, a follower of Jesus Christ. My salvation was assured the moment of my belief in and trust of Christ to save me from my sins through his sacrificial death on the cross and it was at that moment also that I received the Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of my inheritance in Christ. This is the blessed assurance we are to live with and which gives our lives purpose and meaning as we do the works preordained by God that we should walk in them. I praise the Lord that He made sure we had His Holy Scriptures so that we can know what is the truth and we would not have to depend upon fallible human beings to tell us - though it is His desire that we have preachers and teachers who know and speak the truth. It is the Holy Spirit within that leads us into all truth and who illuminates that truth within our hearts.