John 3:5 - Unless they are born of water and the Spirit

3:5

Jesus responds to Nicodemus’ incredulity by repeating the statement, but in an even stronger form. We find the same pattern of Jesus making a statement even stronger (or even more outrageous!) in John 8:49-58. This time He says no one can “enter” the kingdom of God, this is possibly even stronger than seeing the kingdom of God. And this time He says we need to be born of water and the Spirit. The precise meaning of this phrase “water and that Spirit” has given rise to numerous interpretations. The second part, “being born of the Spirit”, is the simpler to interpret. We need a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it is a supernatural birth, not a natural birth. But what about being born of “water”? Given that the next verse contrasts flesh and Spirit, some take it to refer to natural birth, with water referring to the amniotic fluid (a woman’s waters breaking at the time of giving birth). While this explanation seems plausible and theologically consistent, using water was not used to refer to natural birth.

Others take “water” as referring to baptism. There is an obvious connection with water there, and this explanation is widely accepted. The problem is that it would mean little to Nicodemus, unless we take it as referring to John’s baptism, with “water” referring to repentance. This again is theologically consistent. In order to be saved we need to repent and believe (Acts 2:38), but we cannot do either without the work of the Holy Spirit, and we need to become a new creation, which is the work of the Holy Spirit.

These are the main proposals, none of which is without problems, but none of them seem to be theological no-no’s. There have been other suggestions as well such as water referring to ritual washings of the Essenes, but none of these seem very convincing.

Carson supports the view that “water and spirit” form a single whole, with “spirit” rather than “Spirit” (the Greek text would give no way of telling whether we have s or S). The phrase “water and spirit” then means that the new birth involves both a cleansing and an inner renewal. This suggestion is not actually that much different in reality from the “John’s baptism/work of the Holy Spirit” idea.