[imardmd1]

Jesus said water AND THE SPIRIT to Nic, as recorded in John 3.

Well, what I wrote is what the Greek says. "spirit" is anarthrous. "The" was added by the translators, putting some interpretation into the phrase. But that really does not matter too much. As Darby maintains, water is symbolic of the Word, over and over. Hearing of the Word and spiritual birth are inseparable.

[editor-surveyor]

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Now that we have the original Hebrew words of John made available to us, we can dismiss the shenanigans of the sloppy Greek translators (Pharisees).
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[MHGinTN]

My copy has, "ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. ... ὕδατος & Πνεύματος,

Born of water AND born of Spirit.