“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. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Jesus gave the explanation in his next sentence. Born of water is not a reference to water baptism, but breaking water - physical birth.”
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The question, again. Where is the “water” in the new Protestant teaching of “Born Again”, the altar call?
Jesus’ term “Born Again” means water baptism.
Amnionic fluid is not used in Baptism. John baptized Our Lord with water, not “breaking water.”
Evangelicals and Calvinists attempt to explain away the many unambiguous verses in the Bible that plainly teach baptismal regeneration. One strategy is to say that the water in John 3:5 refers not to baptism but to the amniotic fluid present at childbirth. The absurd
implication of this view is that Jesus would have been saying, “You must be born of amniotic fluid and the Spirit.” A check of the respected Protestant Greek lexicon, Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, fails to turn up any instances in ancient, Septuagint or New Testament Greek where “water” (Greek: hudor) referred to “amniotic fluid” (VIII:314–333).
“Jesus’ term “Born Again” means water baptism.”
Not likely.
Nic tried to make it about physical birth, but Jesus rejected that. There is no doubt about what the first birth is, but the second birth must be spiritual. Notice what Nic said:
“Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” The man questioning Jesus brought up the womb.
Jesus then brings up two births:
“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. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
There is the birth of the flesh, and the birth of the Spirit. Born AGAIN. In the Spirit.
Lest anyone screw it up, Jesus goes on: “8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
You must be born of the spirit.
That Jesus does NOT mean the water of baptism giving a spiritual birth is obvious from all of what follows:
“9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 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. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
As Moses lifted up...”8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”
Notice there was no washing involved - just looking. And the passage that follows in John 3 talks about belief, not water baptism.
You could search a thousand uses of the word water in English, and not find it refer to amniotic fluid - yet we all know what happens when ‘the water breaks’.
Baptismal regeneration turns 500 verses on belief and faith upside down, and imposes a belief in magic as its substitute. That is what too much of Catholicism does, turning belief in God into a set of magical rituals performed by a magician - the priest that is never mentioned in the New Testament. It strips God of his sovereignty, and turns him into a celestial genie. Rub the bottle, say the right words, and He must obey.
“2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
You can sprinkle an infant. You can drown an infant. But you cannot make an infant believe, nor can you make your child believe as the infant grows.
I’m a baptist, and I believe in the importance of water baptism. But it does not cause the dead to come to life. If it did, then the Inquisition could have simply baptized the rebels, and they would have been compelled to become Catholics. Or they could have followed John 6, and forced the Lord’s Supper on them, and with it eternal life:
“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
But no one receives the seal of the Holy Spirit by magic. No ritual will save. You must believe the promise of God, and repent. Then and only then will water baptism save you, as Peter said it would - save you out of the wicked world. Sanctification. Not justification.
But it is used in BIRTH...And it's called water...Perhaps you figure Jesus didn't know that...
The scripture in question is talking about Birth, not baptism...
It speaks of the first birth, as Nicodemus knew, and it talks about a 'new' birth which Nicodemus didn't understand til it was explained to him...
Water does not mean baptism...Water means,,,water...
You’re really confused if you think that an altar call makes one born again.
That is not what being born again is.
Again,it’s another example of how Catholics cannot conceive of how others really think.
We see being born again as the work of the Holy Spirit in response to faith being exercised, not a matter of forcing God’s hand in response to some physical action we performed.
It’s a heart and spirit thing, not a works on our part thing.