Nicodemus realized that Jesus dwelt beyond the normal ken.  He said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”  Jesus, of course, accepts no man’s praise, and so responds, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Here Jesus speaks about being born of the Spirit.  He says that unless one is begotten of God, of the Holy Spirit, he cannot even see the Kingdom of God.  He doesn’t even know it exists.  If you talk to him about it, he doesn’t care.  It’s irrelevant, meaningless to him.

Nicodemus, though, is utterly confused.  He thinks naturally, not according to the Spirit, because he has not yet received the Holy Spirit.  He has not yet been begotten of God or born again.  So, he asks Jesus a silly question.  But, according to the proverb, Jesus does not answer the silly question.  He answers the heart of the question a little more fully:

“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. “ John 3:5

He Jesus moves beyond being born of the Spirit to being “born of water.”  What does that mean?  Some say that it simply means that all natural men are born of water, i.e., when their mothers’ waters break at the end of their pregnancies, they are soon born into the world.  Others believe this speaks of baptism.  Scripture teaches us to be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins when we believe upon Jesus and repent of our sins.  Baptism occurs in or by water and some believe, according to Peter’s words, that baptism saves the sinner from Hell.  These equate being born again with baptism in water.  They believe that baptism brings spiritual regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

Both of these interpretations totally miss Jesus’ point here.  In his first response to Nicodemus Jesus tells him that unless one is born of the Spirit he cannot and will not ever even see the Kingdom of God.  He will not be able to discern its actual existence at all.  Men, unless utterly blind, must see a thing before they can enter that thing.  Jesus’ second response to the Pharisee tells him how he can enter the Kingdom once he can see it.  He must be born of water.  First, he means, be born of the Spirit so that you may see the Kingdom of God.  Then, in order to enter that Kingdom, you must be born of water.  He is not saying the same thing twice.  Being born of water is substantively different than being born of the Spirit.

Now we must look to other Scriptures to discern exactly what this water is.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27.

When we become born of the spirit we do not suddenly become “holy and without blemish.”  Most of us carry most of our sins into the church with us.  Hopefully we have been led to repent of at least some our gross sins by that point, like fornication and lying, but many have not.  Paul makes it clear here that God means for water and the Word of God to mean the same thing.  Ephesians 5:25-27 teaches us that the application of the Word to our lives (the washing of water) in an actual and historical reality cleanses us from sin and sanctifies us.  The Word sets us apart for God’s use because it ultimately makes us holy! Don’t ever forget that Jesus commands us to “be holy” as his Father in heaven is holy.  Do not take this instruction lightly.

Peter teaches this same concept in his first epistle.  He says,

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also 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… 1 Peter 3:18-21

Peter gives us a natural example of being born of water here.  Many mistakenly assume that this Scripture teaches that men must be baptized in order to be born again, that is, to be begotten of the Spirit.  No, this Scripture deals with what comes after that wonderful event.  Peter says that baptism is “the answer of a good conscience toward God” and that baptism is not the “putting away of the filth of the flesh.”  Christian baptism, like John’s before it, is a baptism of repentance from sins.  Christian baptism goes further in that it is also a baptism of confession of faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  But, Jesus’ death accomplished more than just the forgiveness of our sins.  It also reconciled believers to God.  Once Christians understand that they truly stand forgiven before God because of Christ’s great sacrifice, then they know that they have legal standing and reconciliation before God.

Once we know that we stand reconciled to God, then we answer him by taking part in this baptism of which Peter speaks.  We wash ourselves in God’s Word as Paul says.  It is this baptism that saves us.  The question now is, what does this baptism save?  It does not save our spirits because our spirits were already saved when we confessed Christ as Savior and received the Holy Spirit.  Remember, we answer our special event of spiritual salvation with this washing of the water of the Word, this baptism.  It comes after spiritual salvation.  It does not bring that salvation.  Peter and Paul teach that the application of the Word of God to the believer renews his mind and cleanses his soul.  Most of the Bible deals with this salvation which is the second salvation God planned for man.  The salvation Peter refers to here is the salvation of our soul, the salvation of our mind, our will, and our emotions.  Being “born of water” speaks of saving our souls, not our spirits.  This is the salvation that keeps us out of the Lake of Fire.