John 3:5-6, a Discussion
Regarding Baptism Regeneration by
Jack
Kettler
“Jesus answered, 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. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6)
In this study, we will look
at word definitions, Greek words from a
standard lexicon, commentary evidence, texts
that seemingly support baptismal regeneration
and a closing doctrinal statement from a
confessional source. Like the Bereans of old,
take your Bibles and see if these are so.
Definitions of Baptism:
An immersion or sprinkling of
water that signifies one's identification with
a belief or cause. In Christianity it is the
believer's identification with Christ in His
death, burial, and resurrection (Romans
6:4-23). It is done in the name and authority
(Acts 4:7) of Christ with the baptismal
formula of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
(Matthew 28:19). It does not save us (1 Peter
3:21). However, it is our obligation, as
believers, to receive it. **
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 94
Q: What is
baptism? A:Baptism
is a sacrament, wherein the washing with
water, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost,1 doth signify and
seal our ingrafting into Christ,2 and partaking of the
benefits of the covenant of grace,3 and our engagement
to be the Lord's.4
Matthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 11:23. For I have received of the
Lord that which also I delivered unto you,
That the Lord Jesus the same night in
which he was betrayed took bread... (see
context)
Galatians 3:27. For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ.
Romans 6:3. Know ye not, that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death?
Romans 6:4. Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death: that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.
Definitions of Baptismal
Regeneration:
The belief that baptism is
necessary for salvation, and that the act of
baptism causes regeneration; or the belief
that baptism is the usual means of
regeneration. *
The belief that baptism is
essential to salvation, that it is the means
where forgiveness of sins is made real to the
believer. This is incorrect. Paul said that he
came to preach the gospel, not to baptize (1
Corinthians 1:14-17). If baptism were
essential to salvation, then Paul would have
included it in his standard practice and
preaching of the salvation message of Jesus,
but he did not. (See also Colossians 2:10-11.)
For more information on this see Is Baptism
Necessary for Salvation? **
Digging deeper from Vine's
Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words:
A-1 NounStrong's
Number: g908 Greek: baptisma
Baptism, Baptist, Baptize:
“baptism,” consisting of the
processes of immersion, submersion and
emergence (from bapto,
“to dip”), is used
(a) of John's “baptism,”
(b) of Christian “baptism,”
see B. below;
(c) of the overwhelming
afflictions and judgments to which the Lord
voluntarily submitted on the Cross, e.g., Luke
12:50;
(d) of the sufferings His
followers would experience, not of a vicarious
character, but in fellowship with the
sufferings of their Master. Some mss. have the
word in Mat 20:22, 23; it is used in Mar
10:38, 39, with this meaning.
A-2 NounStrong's
Number: g909 Greek: baptismos
Baptism, Baptist, Baptize:
as distinct from baptisma
(the ordinance), is used of the “ceremonial
washing of articles,” Mar 7:4, 8, in some
texts; Hbr 9:10; once in a general sense, Hbr
6:2.
See WASHING.
A-3 NounStrong's
Number: g910 Greek: baptistes
Baptism, Baptist, Baptize:
“a baptist,” is used only of
John the Baptist, and only in the Synoptists,
14 times.
B-1 VerbStrong's
Number: g907 Greek: baptizo
Baptism, Baptist, Baptize:
“to baptize,” primarily a
frequentative form of bapto,
“to dip,” was used among the Greeks to signify
the dyeing of a garment, or the drawing of
water by dipping a vessel into another, etc.
Plutarchus uses it of the drawing of wine by
dipping the cup into the bowl (Alexis, 67) and
Plato, metaphorically, of being overwhelmed
with questions (Euthydemus, 277 D).
It is used in the NT in Luk
11:38 of washing oneself (as in 2Ki 5:14,
“dipped himself,” Sept.); see also Isa 21:4,
lit., “lawlessness overwhelms me.” In the
early chapters of the four Gospels and in Act
1:5; 11:16; 19:4, it is used of the rite
performed by John the Baptist who called upon
the people to repent that they might receive
remission of sins. Those who obeyed came
“confessing their sins,” thus acknowledging
their unfitness to be in the Messiah's coming
Kingdom. Distinct from this is the “baptism”
enjoined by Christ, Mat 28:19, a “baptism” to
be undergone by believers, thus witnessing to
their identification with Him in death, burial
and resurrection, e.g., Act 19:5; Rom 6:3, 4;
1Cr 1:13-17; 12:13; Gal 3:27; Col 2:12. The
phrase in Mat 28:19, “baptizing them into the
Name” (RV; cp. Act 8:16, RV), would indicate
that the “baptized” person was closely bound
to, or became the property of, the one into
whose name he was “baptized.”
In Act 22:16 it is used in
the Middle Voice, in the command given to Saul
of Tarsus, “arise and be baptized,” the
significance of the Middle Voice form being
“get thyself baptized.” The experience of
those who were in the ark at the time of the
Flood was a figure or type of the facts of
spiritual death, burial, and resurrection,
Christian “baptism” being an antitupon, “a
corresponding type,” a “like figure,” 1Pe
3:21. Likewise the nation of Israel was
figuratively baptized when made to pass
through the Red Sea under the cloud, 1Cr 10:2.
The verb is used metaphorically also in two
distinct senses: firstly, of “baptism” by the
Holy Spirit, which took place on the Day of
Pentecost; secondly, of the calamity which
would come upon the nation of the Jews, a
“baptism” of the fire of Divine judgment for
rejection of the will and word of God, Mat
3:11; Luke 3:16. (1)
From the Pulpit Commentary a
thorough analysis of the textJohn 3:5-6 :
Verse 5. - Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man (any
one) have been born (out) of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. This memorable utterance has been the
occasion of much controversy, arising from the
contested sanction thus supposed to be given
to the opus
operatura of baptism, and to the
identification of water baptism with Spirit
baptism. Expositors have asserted that the
rite of water baptism is not merely regarded
as the expressive symbol and prophecy of the
spiritual change which is declared to be
indispensable to admission into the kingdom,
but the veritable means by which that baptism
of the Spirit is effected. Now, in the first
place, we observe that the sentence is a reply
to Nicodemus, who had just expressed his blank
astonishment at the idea that a fundamental
change must pass over a man, in any sense
equivalent to a second birth, before he can
see the kingdom of God. Our Lord modifies the
last clause, and speaks of entering into the
kingdom of God rather than perceiving or
discerning the features of the kingdom. Some
have urged that ἰδεῖν
of ver. 3 is equivalent to εἰσελθεῖν
εἰς of ver. 5. The vision, say they, is
only possible to those who partake of the
privileges of the kingdom. But the latter
phrase does certainly express a further idea -
a richer and fuller appreciation of the
authority and glory of the King; just as the
"birth of water and of the Spirit" conveys
deeper and further thought to Nicodemus, than
did the previously used expression, γεννηθῇ
ἄνωθεν. The first expression was dark in
the extreme; the latter pours light upon it.
"Birth of water" points at once to the method
so frequently adopted in Jewish ceremonial, by
which a complete change of state and right
before God was instituted by water. Thus, a
man who had not gone through the appropriate
and commanded lustrations was unfit to present
his offering, to receive the benediction
sought by his sacrificial presentment; the
priest was not in a fit state to carry the
blood of the covenant into the holy place
without frequent washings, which indicated the
extent and defilement of his birth stain.
Nicodemus for probably thirty years had seen
priests and men thus qualifying themselves for
solemn functions. So great was the urgency of
these ideas that, as he must have known, the
Essenes had formed separate communities, with
the view of carrying out to the full
consummation the idea of ritual purity. More
than this, it is not improbable that
proselytes from heathen nations, when brought
into covenant relation with the theocratic
people, were, at the very time of this
conversation, admitted by baptismal rites into
this privilege. To the entire confusion of
Pharisee and Sadducee, John the Baptist had
demanded of every class of the holy people
"repentance unto remission of sins," a demand
which was accepted on the part of the
multitudes by submitting to the rite of
baptism. The vastly important question then
arises' - Did John by this baptism, or by any
power he wielded, give to the people
repentance or remission of sins? Certainly
not, if we may conclude from the repeated
judgment pronounced by himself and by the
apostles after him. Nothing but the blood and
Spirit of Christ could convey either remission
or repentance to the souls of men. John
preached the baptism of repentance unto
remission, but could confer neither. He taught
the people to look to One who should come
after him. He sharply discriminated the
baptism with water from the baptism of the
Spirit and fire. This discrimination has been
repeatedly referred to already in this Gospel.
Thus the Fathers of the Church saw distinctly
that there was no regenerating efficacy in the
water baptism of John, and the Council of
Trent elevated this position into a canonical
dogma. It is most melancholy that they did not
also perceive that this judgment of theirs
about the baptism of John applied to water
baptism altogether. Christ's disciples
baptized (not Christ himself, John 4:2) with
water unto repentance and remission; but even
up to the day of Pentecost there is no hint of
this process being more than stimulus to that
repentance which is the gift of God, and to
the consequent pardon which was the condition
of still further communication of the Holy
Spirit. The great baptism which Christ would
administer was the baptism of Spirit and fire.
The references to the baptism of the early
Church are not numerous in the New Testament,
but they are given as if for the very purpose
of showing that the water baptism was not a
necessary or indispensable condition to the
gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius and his
friends received the sacred bestowment before
baptism. The language of the Ethiopian ennuch
shows that he had received the holy and best
gift of Divine illumination and faith before
baptism. Simon Magus was baptized with water
by Philip, but was in the gall of bitterness
and un-spirituality. There is no proof at all
that the apostles of Christ (with the
exception of Paul) wore ever baptized with
water, unless it were at the hands of John.
Consequently, we cannot believe, with this
entire group of facts before us, that our Lord
was making any ceremonial rite whatsoever
indispensable to entrance into the kingdom.
His own reception and forgiveness of the woman
that was a sinner, of the paralytic, and of
the dying brigand, his breathing over his
disciples as symbolic of the great spiritual
gift they were afterwards to receive, is the
startling and impressive repudiation of the
idea that Christian baptism in his own name,
or, still less, that that ordinance treated as
a supernaturally endowed and divinely enriched
sacrament, was even so much as referred to in
this great utterance. But the entire system of
Jewish, proselyte, and Johannine baptisms was
in the mind of both Nicodemus and Christ.
These were all symbolic of the confession and
repentance, which are the universal human
conditions of pardon, and, as a ritual, were
allowed to his disciples before and after
Pentecost, as anticipatory of the great gift
of the Holy Spirit. No baptism, no "birth out
of water," can give repentance or enforce
confession; but the familiar process may
indicate the imperative necessity for both,
and prove still more a prophecy of the vital,
spiritual transformation which, in the
following verse, is dissociated from the water
altogether. Calvin, while admitting the
general necessity for baptism, repudiates the
idea that the rite is indispensable to
salvation, and maintains that “water” here
means nothing different or other than “the
Spirit,” as descriptive of one of its great
methods of operation, just as "Holy Spirit and
fire" are elsewhere conjoined.
Verse 6. - That which hath been born
of the flesh, is flesh. Σάρξ
is not the physical as opposed to the
spiritual or immaterial. nor is σάρξ
necessarily sinful, as we see from John 1:14,
but as it often appears in John's writing and
Paul's, σάρξ
is the constituent element of humanity as
apart from grace - humanity (body, intellect,
heart, conscience, soul, spirit) viewed on its
own side and merits and capacity, without the
Divine life, or the Divine supernatural
inbreathing. The being born of the flesh is
the being born into this world, with all the
privations and depravations, evil tendencies
and passions of a fallen humanity. Birth into
the theocracy, birth into national or
ecclesiastical privilege, birth that has no
higher quality than flesh, no better germ or
graft upon it. Simply produces flesh, humanity
over again. When the Logos “became flesh,”
something more than and different from
ordinary traduction of humanity took place.
Destitute of any higher birth than the birth
of flesh, man is fleshly, psychical, earthly,
σαρκικός
ψυχικός χοι'κός (Romans 7:14-25), and,
more than that, positively opposed to the will
and grace of God, lashed with passions,
defiled with debasing ideas, in enmity against
God. Hence the birth “from the Spirit” is
entirely antithetic to the birth from the
flesh. That which hath been born of the
Spirit, is spirit. There is a birth which
supervenes on the flesh-be-gotten man, and it
is supernaturally wrought by the Spirit of
God. As in the first instance, at man's
creation, God breathed into man the breath of
life, and by that operation man became a
living soul; so now the new birth of man is
wrought in him by the Spirit, and there is a
new life, a new mode of being, a new bias and
predomimating impulse. “A spiritual mind which
is life and peace” has taken the place of the
old carnal mind. He is “spiritual,” no longer
“psychical,” or “carnal,” but able to discern
the things that are freely given to him. The
eye of the spirit is opened, unsealed, the τὰ τοῦ
πνεύματος are revealed to him (1
Corinthians 2:12-16; 1 Corinthians 3:1-5). The
reference to “birth of water” is not repeated,
because the birth from water is relatively
unimportant, and of no value apart from the
Spirit-change of which it may be a picture, or
even a synonym. More than that, the
Spirit-birth, the Divine operation, is the
efficient cause of that which, under the form
of a human experience, is called μετάνοια.
The human metanoia, rather than the new birth,
is the great burden of our Lord's public
address, as recorded in the synoptic Gospels.
In both representations the same fact, the
same condition and state of the human
consciousness, is referred to. In
“repentance,” however, and in the moral
characters which are the several preliminaries
to the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount,
a change is declared necessary for the
constitution and inauguration of the kingdom
of heaven. This change is there viewed from
the standpoint of human experience, and urged
in the form of a direct appeal to conscience.
In this discourse to Nicodcmus the same change
is exhibited on its Divine side, and as one
produced by the Spirit of God. In the Sermon
on the Mount “meekness,” “poverty of spirit,”
“mourning,” “hunger after righteousness,”
“purity of heart,” the spirit of forgiveness
and long suffering, are the moral conditions
of those minds and hearts which would become
the city of God and the light of the world
(Matthew 5:1-12). On this occasion, when
addressing the learned rabbi, Christ sums all
up in the demand for a birth from the Spirit -
a new and spiritual recommencement of life
from the Spirit of God. The clause found in
the Vetus
Itala and the Syriac,
quia Deus spiritus est, et de Deo
natus est, is a gloss sustained by no
Greek manuscript authority. Thorns here quotes
two interesting passages from Philo, 1:533,
599, where the νοῦς is spoken of as given to
man from above, and where the supremacy of the
spiritual over the fleshly is made the only
guarantee of admission into the world of
spirit. But Philo obviously meant the
intellectual rather than the moral element in
human nature, and prized the ascetic process
rather than the supernatural regeneration. (2)
Article on Baptismal
Regeneration from the International Standard
Bible Encyclopedia:
bap-tiz'-mal re-jen-er-a'-shun: As indicated in the general
articles on BAPTISM and SACRAMENTS, the
doctrine ordinarily held by Presbyterians,
Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, and
also by Low-Church Episcopalians, differs from
that of the Roman and Greek churches, and of
High-Church Anglicans, in its rejection of the
idea that baptism is the instrumental cause of
regeneration, and that the grace of
regeneration is effectually conveyed through
the administration of that rite wherever duly
performed. The teaching of Scripture on this
subject is held to be that salvation is
immediately dependent on faith, which, as a
fruit of the operation of the Spirit of God in
the soul, already, in its reception of Christ,
implies the regenerating action of that
Spirit, and is itself one evidence of it. To
faith in Christ is attached the promise of
forgiveness, and of all other blessings.
Baptism is administered to those who already
possess (at least profess) this faith, and
symbolizes the dying to sin and rising to
righteousness implicit in the act of faith (Ro
6:1-23). It is the symbol of a cleansing from
sin and renewal by God's Spirit, but not the
agency effecting that renewal, even
instrumentally. Baptism is not, indeed, to be
regarded as a bare symbol. It may be expected
that its believing reception will be
accompanied by fresh measures of grace,
strengthening and fitting for the new life.
This, however, as the life is already there,
has nothing to do with the idea of baptism as
an opus
operatum, working a spiritual change in
virtue of its mere administration. In
Scripture the agency with which regeneration
is specially connected is the Divine "word"
(compare 1Pe 1:23). Without living faith, in
those capable of its exercise, the outward
rite can avail nothing. The supposed
"regeneration" may be received--in multitudes
of instances is received--without the least
apparent change in heart or life.
The above, naturally, applies
to adults; the case of children, born and
growing up within the Christian community, is
on a different footing. Those who recognize
the right of such to baptism hold that in the
normal Christian development children of
believing parents should be the subjects of
Divine grace from the commencement (Eph 6:4);
they therefore properly receive the initiatory
rite of the Christian church. The faith of the
parent, in presenting his child for baptism,
lays hold on God's promise to be a God to him
and to his children; and he is entitled to
hope for that which baptism pledges to him.
But this, again, has no relation to the idea
of regeneration through baptism. James Orr (3)
Examination of Texts that
seemingly support baptismal regeneration:
John 3:5: “Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God.”
Calvin rejected a reference
to baptism here, and proponents of baptismal
regeneration are hard put to explain a
reference to Christian baptism by Christ to
Nicodemus long before Pentecost and the
institution of the NT church. We may
understand the expression “born of water and
of the spirit” as a hendiadys. There is no
article in the Greek text which reads simply
"water and spirit." Hendiadys is a figure of
speech in which two nouns connected by and are
used instead of one noun and an adjective. The
second noun has the force of a superlative or
emphatic adjective. In John 3:5 the meaning
is, therefore, “spiritual water.” This is
essentially the same conclusion Calvin
reached. He saw water and spirit as signifying
the same thing.
Would “spiritual water” have
conveyed anything to Nicodemus? Assuredly it
would. He was well aware of the waters of
separation (Num. 19) and the cleansing waters
specifically associated with obtaining "a new
heart" and receiving God's Spirit (Ezek.
36:25–27). The Lord Jesus was showing him that
these had to be understood as references, not
to sacramental ablutions, but to the activity
of the Holy Spirit. Paul follows the same line
of thought in Eph. 5:26, “the washing of water
by the word.”
Mark 16:16: “He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned.”
While the importance of
baptism as the expected public acknowledgment
of Christ as Saviour is clear here, it is
obvious that the thing that is so essential to
salvation that its absence invariably damns a
man is faith. Those who trust Christ should
not fail to be baptized and those who are
baptized must ensure that they do indeed have
saving faith. Without it their baptism can do
nothing to save them.
Rom. 6:4–6: “Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of his
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection: knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should
not serve sin.”
There is no reference to
water baptism here. The reference is to real,
not professed or sacramental, incorporation
into Christ. The baptism is spiritual, as in 1
Cor. 12:13. It is the action of the Holy
Spirit actually putting us into saving union
with Christ.
Titus 3:5: “Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost.”
The washing of regeneration
is literally “the laver of regeneration” which
is explained by the following phrase, the
“renewing of the Holy Ghost.” There is no
mention of baptism. The laver is to be
spiritually understood. The OT tabernacle and
temple had their lavers. Here we learn that
their true import was that they pointed to the
renewing work of the Holy Spirit. That is the
laver of regeneration, not water baptism.
Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said
unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Campbellites are so confident
that this text teaches their baptismal
regeneration dogma that they at times style
their gospel The Acts 2:38 Gospel. The entire
argument hinges on the force of the
preposition for. The Greek word is eis
and it usually means “to, unto.” Therefore, we
are told, baptism is “unto the remission of
sins.” Remission follows baptism; it does not
precede it.
That is the claim. But is it
true? It is not The Greek preposition eis
has a much wider meaning than “unto” in the
sense of “with a view to.”
Matthew 3:11 is clearly a
parallel passage. John the Baptist said, “I
indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance.” Here again unto is eis.
On the Campbellite interpretation of Acts 2:38
the repentance would have to follow the
baptism. But did not those who came to be
baptized by John receive baptism because they
had already repented? The preposition eis
here does not indicate the order the
Campbellites infer in Acts 2:38, but the
opposite.
Take another example. In
Matt. 12:41 we read, “The men of Nineveh …
repented at [eis] the preaching of Jonas.” If
the Campbellite interpretation of Acts 2:38
here, Matt. 12:41 would be saying that the
Ninevites repented in order to obtain the
preaching of Jonah. Clearly that was not the
case. They repented because they had already
received it.
And that is the force of eis
in Acts 2:38. Baptism for (eis)
the remission of sins is baptism at, or in
connection with the remission received through
repentance and faith.
1 Peter 3:21: “The like
figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us
(not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.”
It is almost universally
asserted that this text plainly attributes
some saving action to baptism (even if it is
only symbolic or declarative). However there
are serious objections to this view.
First, the Greek text has
nothing corresponding to “the like figure
whereunto even baptism doth now save us.”
Second, as the text now
reads, baptism is the antitype of the waters
of the flood. But Noah was not saved by water
but from water. In what way then is his
salvation from the flood typical of our
salvation by Christ in baptism?
Let us consider these points.
The Greek of v. 21 reads, ho kai
hemas antitupon nun sozei. The first
question is, What is the antecedent of ho,
“which”? Our translation practically ignores
it, but really refers it to the hudatos,
“water,” of v. 20. On this basis the literal
rendering would be: “Which (water) even (or
also) us the antitype now saves.”
Robert Nevin in Misunderstood
Scriptures suggests that a better answer to
the question of an antecedent to which would
be “the Spirit,” v. 18, by which Christ
preached to the sinners of Noah's day (v. 19).
That would yield the translation, “Which (or
who, the Holy Spirit) now saves us, the
antitype (of Noah and his family) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ."
This is the natural force of
the word order of the Greek text and so far
makes perfect sense. If this is the correct
translation then we must start a new sentence
with, "Baptism is not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh (i.e., of sin's defilement)
but the seeking or appeal of a good conscience
toward God.”
It is clear, whether we
follow the common English version or this
suggested translation, that baptism cannot
cleanse away sin. It is a testimony or an
appeal of a purified conscience to God on the
merits of the work of Christ. In other words,
baptism declares that our trust for salvation
is not in baptism but in Christ who died and
rose again.
Another possible view of 1
Pet. 3:21 makes water the antecedent of the
relative which. In this view baptism is a
reference to the death and judgment-bearing of
Christ so that vv. 20–22 would then mean:
“The longsuffering of God
waited, the ark having been prepared, in which
few, that is eight souls were saved through
and out of water (the instrument of God's
judgment). Which (water shows us how) baptism
(another emblem of the judgment of God on sin)
now saves us the antitype (of those saved in
the ark): it is not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh (sin) but the appeal (or
demand) of a good conscience (one cleared from
guilt) through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, who is now at the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers having been
subjected unto Him.”
If we adopt this treatment,
the reference to baptism is a reminder of
Christ's bearing the wrath of God against our
sin just as the ark bore it in the days of the
flood.
1 Peter 3:21 cannot justly be
made a witness for the theory of baptismal
regeneration. As Nevin long ago remarked, “The
doctrine of baptismal regeneration is not of
Christian but of Pagan origin. It had a
prominent place in the ancient Babylonian
mysteries” (Nevin, p. 227). It has no place in
Christian theology. (4)
From the New Testament
Commentary by William Hendriksen on John
3:5-6:
5. Jesus answered, I most solemnly
assure you, unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God. The key to the interpretation of these
words is found in 1:22. (See also 1:26, 31;
cf. Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16) where
water and Spirit are also found side by side,
in connection with baptism. The evident
meaning, therefore, is this: being baptized
with water is not sufficient. The sign is
valuable, indeed. It is of great importance
both as a pictorial representation and as a
seal. But the sign should be accompanied by
the thing signified: the cleansing work of the
Holy Spirit. It is the latter that is
absolutely necessary if one is to be saved.
Note, in this connection, that in verses 6 and
8 we no longer read about the birth of water
but only about the birth of the Spirit, the
one great essential.
Now
it is true that the cleansing work of the Holy
Spirit is not finished until the believer
enters heaven. In a sense, becoming a child of
God is a life-long process (see 1:12), but in
the present passage the initial cleansing
implied in the implantation of new life in the
heart of the sinner is meant, as is evident
from the fact that we are taught here that
unless one is born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot even enter the kingdom of God. (For
the meaning of kingdom of God see on 3:3.)
6. Great stress, accordingly, is
placed on the fact that physical birth (see on
1:13) does not give one any priority in the
sphere of salvation. Hence, Jesus continues,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(For the various meanings of the term flesh in
the Fourth Gospel, see on 1:14.) One could
paraphrase as follows: sinful human nature
produces sinful human nature (cf. Job 14:4,
“Who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean? Not one.” Cf. also Ps. 51:5). The
Holy Spirit produces the sanctified human
nature. (5)
In closing:
The Reformed view is concisely
put by the Westminster Confession of Faith:
“Baptism is a sacrament of
the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ,
not only for the solemn admission of the parry
baptized into the visible Church, but also to
be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of
grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of
regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his
giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to
walk in newness of life: which sacrament is,
by Christ's own appointment, to be continued
in his Church until the end of the world.…
Although it be a great sin to condemn or
neglect this ordinance, yet grace and
salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto
it, as that no person can be regenerated or
saved without it, or that all that are
baptized are undoubtedly regenerated” (chap.
28, sec. 1, 4).
The goal of this study is to
help us magnify the Lord God for his marvelous
grace that made us children of God through no
merit of our own. It is my prayer that this
goal has been attained.
“But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2
Timothy 2:15)
Notes:
1.W. E. Vine, An
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,
(Iowa Falls, Iowa, Riverside Book and Bible
House), pp. 88-89.
2.H. D. M. Spence and
Joseph S. Exell, The
Pulpit Commentary, John, Vol.17 , (Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans Publishing Company
reprint 1978), pp. 114-116.
3.Orr, James, M.A., D.D.
General Editor. “Definition for 'Baptismal
Regeneration,'” International
Standard
Bible Encyclopedia, (ISBE), (Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans, 1915), p. 397.
4.Cairns, Alan, Dictionary
of Theological Terms (Greenville, SC:
Ambassador Emerald International, 2002), pp.
58–62.
5.William Hendriksen, New
Testament Commentary, John, (Grand
Rapids, Michigan, Baker Book House, 1984),
p.134.
“To God only wise, be glory through Jesus
Christ forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27) and
“heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians
3:28, 29)
Mr. Kettler has previously
published articles in the Chalcedon Report
and Contra Mundum. He and his wife
Marea attend the Westminster, CO, RPCNA
Church. Mr. Kettler is the author of the book
defending the Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The Religion That Started in a
Hat. Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com
For more study:
* For a great source of
theological definitions go to Rebecca writes
at Rebecca Writes:
http://www.rebecca-writes.com/theological-terms-in-ao/
** CARM theological
dictionary
https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ctd.html
BAPTISMAL REGENERATION
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING,
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols10-12/chs573.pdf
Baptism and John 3:5 by Matt Slick
https://carm.org/baptism-and-john-35
Baptism by A. A. Hodge
http://www.the-highway.com/Baptism_Hodge.html