© 03 Colin Melbourne
God came and said
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Holy Bible, Jn. 3:5 KJV
The speaker is Almighty God in the Flesh, the LORD Jesus Christ. Since He is the Judge of the living and the dead, the One to whom each of us must give account, it is vital we attend to His word, believe it, and obey it.
Here He lays down two conditions for a person to enter the kingdom of God, without both being fulfilled the person is barred from God’s kingdom. Christ declared that everyone who wants to enter the kingdom of God must be born of water, and born of the Spirit.
I’m writing this article to highlight what God means by the expression, born of water, because as a full-time missionary, I come across all kinds of false teaching on the matter. The cults love to distort the meaning of this passage to snare sinners into believing in their doctrine, instead of God’s word. To cause people to depend upon man’s word, instead of The word of God. In doing so they divert the soul from the only genuine salvation into demonic bondage, and the sinner remains condemned to Hell.
Many cults such as Roman Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Christ (ICC), and so on, teach that in order to be saved a person must be baptised in water. Often they claim that water baptism is the actual point of salvation, calling it baptismal regeneration. This is completely false.
I believe in, and practice, water baptism. I was baptised in water within hours of being saved in a Baptist fellowship in New Zealand in 1988. But water baptism is only for those who are already saved. It adds nothing to a person’s salvation. For much more about this, and water baptism, please read these Articles on Biblical Baptism.
Numerous cults, often originating in the Far East; Korea, Taiwan, Philippines etc. produce free printed material on the topic of being ‘born of water’, and many poor souls are deluded, and confused by their errors. Their convoluted interpretations of this verse are balanced upon a rickety framework of Bible verses, and can appear to be plausible to those unfamiliar with God’s word. Beware of one such false teacher called Paul C. Jong, who is actively promoting this error on the internet.
A central theme of all of them is the false teaching that being born of water refers to being water baptised, or to Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist.
If you come across anybody teaching this in their doctrine, you know that you are dealing with a false believer, and a false teacher, you should ignore all they say, and seek sound Bible doctrine from the Lord Himself, and genuine Christian teaching.
When Christ was speaking of being ‘born of water’ He was not referring to water baptism in any way. Not to a believer’s water baptism, nor to His own baptism by John the Baptist.
So what was Christ referring to when He said that we must be born of water?
There is no need to speculate, no need to guess, God gives us the answer quite clearly within the same passage of Scripture in John Chapter 3.
Christ was speaking with Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was still in his sins. He was not born again, nor could he be born again until after Christ arose from the dead, and had sealed the New Covenant with His Blood.
Nicodemus approached Jesus covertly looking for pointers on how to please God, and get to Heaven. Jesus knew his real motive and told him bluntly, Ye must be born again. Nicodemus was thinking in natural terms, and showed it by replying,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born?
Now stop and answer this question: What process was Nicodemus speaking of?
It’s plain enough. He was referring to childbirth wasn’t he? He’s talking about parturition, when a human baby first comes into the world.
Then Christ responds with, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
So it is clear from Christ’s response that being born of water is different from being born of the Spirit, and they surely are!
If this is all He had said we might have some room to speculate what He meant. But His next sentence clarifies precisely His meaning, leaving no room for doubt or discussion.
He continued, That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
He then gives an illustration of what it means to be born of the Spirit, likening it to the blowing of invisible wind. But that’s another topic. Here we want to pin down the meaning of born of water.
So Christ describes being born of water as, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and He describes being born of the Spirit, as that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Answer this question: ‘What was Christ speaking of when He said, That which is born of the flesh is flesh?’
It’s not difficult is it?
He was speaking of childbirth of course. He was telling Nicodemus that to be born again you have to be born of the flesh first, and only then can you be born of God’s Spirit.
Nobody can be born again, until they’ve been born the first time can they?
To be born of water means to be born of woman. It’s a simple as that!
There’s no need to resort to demonic doctrines to explain or understand it.
To confirm this, think of childbirth; when a mother is in labour, and about to deliver the child. The baby is in her womb. What is the child surrounded by during gestation?
Amniotic fluid, which is a biological liquid very similar to dilute sea-water. The baby develops and grows completely submerged in amniotic water. Even the child’s lungs are filled with this water until it is born and takes its first breath of air. Before it can do so, the sac must rupture, or be cut open in a caesarian operation. What do doctors and midwives call the natural rupture of the amniotic sac at the point of birth?
Yes, they call it the ‘bursting of the waters’.
I’m an English farm vet, as well as a missionary. Farm terminology is a tad more earthy than the midwife’s. When a cow or pig is trying to deliver its offspring, the first question a vet asks the farmer is, ‘Has the water-bag burst yet?’ Referring to the amniotic sac.
Every mammal, and every human, comes into this world born of water, floating in the water of the amniotic sac where it has grown in its mother’s womb. Knitted together by Almighty God Himself.
That’s what born of water means
Simple isn’t it?
I’ve heard some sincere Christians complain that it is too self-evident, and they concoct all sorts of intricate spiritual concepts to explain it. I was the same before the Lord showed its meaning to me by revelation. He uses water as a symbol of His word, washed by the word, and so on, and I used to think born of water meant born of the word of God, but that never quite sat well in my heart, and certainly made John 3 far more convoluted than it is.
Born of water simply means, born of the flesh. Christ spoon-fed poor Nicodemus, after first chiding him for his ignorance. Then showed him (and us) in the plainest terms how to get to Heaven.
Yes, it is simple. I thank God He’s made it clear and simple, so even cow doctors can get saved.
So don’t let any cults and theologians deceive you by distorting Scripture, leading you to destruction, drawing you away from simple faith in the finished work of Christ.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
2 Pe. 3:17 KJV
Finally, you’ll understand from Scripture that all of us are born in sin separated from God by our sinful nature that we inherit from our ancestors Adam and Eve. That is why we need to be born again, born of God’s Spirit, reunited with God through faith in the Sacrifice of Christ.
Are you genuinely saved? You can be born again right now.
If you Dear Reader, have been hoodwinked by any cult, or false teacher, realise that you are reading this because God is drawing you to repent and believe in the LORD Jesus Christ, to escape the bondage of sin and false teaching.
Are you ready to repent and believe in Him now?
© 03 Colin Melbourne
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