John 3:5/Ez. 36:25-27

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In your message of Wed, 17 Apr 1996 10:43:28 -0600 you said:


>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?

In addition to the excellent observations already put forth (Richard M is 
absolutely correct in that 1st cent. Jews did not speak about natural birth 
as "water" anymore than we do today. This is conceded by evangelical 
theologian D.A. Carson in his excellent "Exegetical Fallacies" book), I 
would add that the final nail in "interpretation 1's" coffin is 
grammatical. Even if one does not know a lick of greek, you can still see 
that water and Spirit are ruled by only ONE preposition [only one "of"], 
thus this can only refer to one birth. The NIV and other modern 
translations omit the 2nd "of" altogether so that that the text more 
accurately reads; "born of water and the Spirit". The KJV italicizes the 
second preposition so you know that it is not in the original text. Brandon 
correctly () it.

John 3:5 literally reads: gennaythay [born] ex [of] hudatos [water] kai 
[and] pneumatos [spirit].  

The point of all this is that verse 5 is referring to only ONE birth - the 
NEW BIRTH! Unlike verse 6, it is NOT contrasting two births (natural and 
supernatural) but referring to TWO ASPECTS of the ONE new birth (water and 
spirit). Verse 6 contrasts the natural birth in v.4 with the new birth in 
v.5.

So how can I say that in v.5 Jesus is referring to TWO aspects of the ONE 
new birth? Get ready folks, this blew me away when I first read of the 
connection! Enter, Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NIV): 

v.25 "I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean; I will 
cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

v.26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will 
remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

v.27 "I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be 
careful to keep My laws."

Note that this is God speaking here (there are similar passages in Isaiah, 
although they presently escape me) so the "clean water" referred to in v.25 
is obviously not literal H-2-O, but a beautiful word-picture of the 
spiritual purification that God would one day impart to His people. I'm 
completely convinced that this is what Jesus is referring to in John 3:5 - 
God's purification (water) and impartation of the Spirit in the heart of 
the believer! I submit that the water in v.5 is not so much the literal 
water of baptism but the spiritual cleansing (remission of sins) that God 
works during christian initiation/baptism.

These OT references also make Jesus' rebuke of Nicodemus much more 
understandable. In v.10 Jesus upbraids him, telling him that as a teacher 
of Israel he really should know these things (i.e. the prophesies of 
Ezekiel and Isaiah). It obviously doesn't make sense to blame poor Nic. for 
not knowing Acts 2:38! ;-)  (Although Acts 2:38 is basically the 
fulfillment of Ez. 36:25-27)

Ezekiel 36 was becoming more and more literalized from before the 1st 
century unto Jesus' time as can be seen in the development of Jewish  
purification rites (John 2:6, 3:25) but there were some Jewish sects that 
were looking forward to the fulfillment of Ez. 36. According to historian 
O. Betz the Qumran community, writing somewhere around the 1st century, 
"anticipated that their ritual washings would be superceded with a 
purification by the Holy Spirit at the end of time; then God Himself will 
pour his spirit like water from heaven and remove the spirit of perversion 
from the hearts of His chosen people.." -_Understanding the Dead Sea 
Scrolls_ pg. 210.

This is one of those subjects where I could go on and on and on, but I'll 
stop here.
Praise the LORD!!!

Charles Ormsbee