John 3:5 (Was Re: QUest. about Nicadeamous)
Tyler Nally (tnally@csci.csc.com)
Wed, 17 Apr 96 11:20:09 CDT
Bro. Brandon Parker, stated and questioned:
* John 3:5 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.
* [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born
* of the Spirit is spirit.
*
* Quest 1 or interpreptation 1. Does the water mean natural birth (a
* woman breaks water during a birth or so my home ec. teacher said) and
* the spirit mean salvation birth?
That is *exactly* how I'd expect a trinitarian non-baptized in Jesus Name,
non-baptized with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues
type generic christian would respond. By dividing the water and the
spirit. By saying that all one has to do is accept Jesus in your heart
and that baptism is sometimes optional.
* Quest 2 or interpreptation 2. Does the water mean baptism and the
* spirit mean holy ghost baptism? (THis is mine).
John stated in 3:5 that the *born again* is the result of *both* being born
of WATER and SPIRIT.
* quest 3 or Interp. 3. How does verse 6 fit in?
Jesus (in John 3:6) says that there are two different kinds of births.
One that is natural fleshly birth (which everybody in the whole world has
gone thru that draws air into their lungs) and a different spiritual birth
(as talked about in vs. 5 that is both by water and spirit).
To keep it simple, the *new birth* experience is parallel to the birth
in the flesh:
Birth of Flesh Birth of Spirit
============================ ==============================
1) conception begins life 1) conception of belief in God
2) Growth in womb 2) growth in faith
3) water is broken 3) water baptism in Jesus Name
4) baby cries with a 4) christian cries in tongues as
natural breath of "air" the spirit gives utterence
by being given the breath
(Holy Ghost) of God
Bro. Tyler