John 3:5 (B)

One interpretation is that by "water," Jesus refers to physical birth. Accordingly, the meaning of the expression is that, to enter God's kingdom, one must undergo both a physical birth and a spiritual birth. In other words, physical birth is not enough, but one must add to physical birth a spiritual birth in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The theology in this interpretation is correct, but the question is whether it is what our passage teaches. In verse 4, Nicodemus misunderstands that by "born again," Jesus is referring to a repetition of physical birth. Or again, it might be that he assumes Jesus is not asserting this, but given his lack of spiritual understanding, this is the only way he can interpret the statement, that is, as referring to a repetition of physical birth.

This first interpretation of verse 5 would have Jesus acknowledge a person's physical birth, but then proceed to explain that he is referring to something other than and in addition to physical birth, that is, a spiritual birth. Verse 6 does not seem to contradict this understanding: "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

There are reasons to reject this view. As we have noted, verse 5 corresponds to and elaborates on verse 3, but this interpretation of "born of water and the Spirit," does not parallel "born again." If "born of…the Spirit" in verse 5 corresponds to "born again" in verse 3, then for verse 5 to truly parallel verse 3, verse 3 should say, "born and born again," instead of just "born again."

Also, there is only one "of" for both "water" and "the Spirit," suggesting that Jesus is referring to only one birth in verse 5, and not two births. This is recognized by many modern translations but is obscured by the KJV, which reads, "born of water and of the Spirit." In fact, there should be no article before "spirit," so a more literal translation is, "born of water and spirit." Lattimore's translation reads, "born from water and spirit." One commentator who perceives the unity between "water" and "spirit" in this expression suggests, "born of water-spirit."

As for verse 6, there Jesus does not say, "You must be born of the flesh, and you must be born of the Spirit," as if he is positively encouraging both. Rather, throughout the entire passage he is only encouraging a spiritual birth – of course, the physical birth has already happened. Verse 6 merely contrasts the two to emphasize what Jesus is really talking about. He is saying that flesh is flesh, spirit is spirit, so that we need the latter to produce spiritual life. It is a case of flesh versus spirit, or the inferiority of the flesh and superiority of the spirit, and not a case of flesh and spirit working together to bring a man to God's kingdom.

This brings us back to verse 5. Like verse 3, here Jesus refers to a person who is already born in the physical, fleshly sense. If this person were not already born in the flesh, then he would not even need to enter God's kingdom, because he would not exist at all! But he is telling Nicodemus what must happen to a person (already born in the physical sense) in order for him to enter the kingdom of God. It is necessary for a person to undergo spiritual birth in order to see or enter the kingdom, but spiritual birth would not even apply to a person who has not been born in the flesh, since such a person would not exist to need such a spiritual birth in the first place.

Then, another argument against this view is that John does not use the term "water" in John 1:13 when he refers to physical birth.

(to be continued)

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