by Jeff Smelser
Often we hear someone speak of having been born again, or claiming to be a "born again Christian." Some observations about this phrase and its use are in order.
First, as used in the Bible, being "born again" is not optional. In John 3:3, Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Second, those who most habitually use the phrase "born again" often misuse it. When asked to explain the phrase, the one who claims to have been so born may describe a change which occurred in his life. There certainly is a change in one's life when one becomes a Christian. However, this explanation falls short of recognizing the import of Jesus' words. And the import of Jesus words is important, because whatever Jesus meant in John 3:3 is absolutely necessary for entering into the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus didn't understand what Jesus meant and expressed his perplexity saying, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus' explanation was, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Now these words were intended to be such an explanation that Nicodemus would understand the meaning of the phrase, "born again". It is therefore, appropriate to ask what Nicodemus would conclude on the basis of Jesus' explanation.
As a Jew, Nicodemus already associated water with religious purification (John 2:6, 3:25). Furthermore, Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1) and such a man would certainly be familiar with what was going on in Jewish society. Mark tells us what was going on. He tells us of John baptizing people in the wilderness and said, "there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river Jordan" (Mark 1:5). Also, remember that a major part of John's message was "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). In view of these facts, can we possibly fail to see that when Jesus spoke of being born of water in order to enter the kingdom, Nicodemus would have thought of water baptism, and that Jesus intended for Nicodemus to think of water baptism?
Besides aiding Nicodemus' understanding, Jesus' explanation was intended to be such that the readers of the written record of his words would understand them. Therefore, it is also appropriate to notice the context surrounding the passage in question and determine what a reader of John's gospel would most naturally understand "born again" to mean. In John 1, our attention is directed toward John the Baptist and his relations to Jesus (verses 6-8, 19-34), and particular mention is made of John's baptizing in water (verses 25-28, 33). Chapter 2 brings the Jewish use of water for religious purifying to the reader's attention. In chapters 3 & 4, not only do we read again of John's baptizing and the necessity of much water (verse 23), but also ofthe fact that Jesus, or more precisely, Jesus' disciples, were baptizing large numbers of people (3:22, 26; 4:1-2). It is in the midst of this context that the reader finds Jesus' words, "born of water and of the Spirit," and the unprejudiced reader naturally understands this to be a reference to literal water in which one is immersed, or baptized.
However, we cannot conclude this article without noticing the words "of the Spirit," for they are no less important than the words with which we have heretofore concerned ourselves. One might be immersed in water, "baptized," for any number of reasons. He might do so because his church tells him to do so, or because it is hot, or because he trips while walking along the riverbank. Has he been born again? No, because he was not born of water and the Spirit. Peter uses a phrase similar to the one in John 3:5. In 1 Peter 1:23, we read, "being born again . . .by the word of God . . . " Peter explains to us that the word of God comes to man by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21, 1 Peter 1:10-12). Paul claimed the same thing (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). Thus one who responds to the word of God as found in the scriptures, is responding to the Holy Spirit, through whom that word came. Thus one who is immersed in water because the Bibles says he must be immersed is baptized at the behest of the Spirit. He is born of the water and the Spirit.
Remember what we observed at the outset: Being born again, of the water and the Spirit, is not optional. One cannot enter the kingdom of God except he be born of the water and the Spirit. What John 3:5 teaches is the necessity of baptism in response to the word of God. That is what Nicodemus would have understood. That is what one who reads the first three chapters of John, without bias, will understand.