John 3: 5-6 reads: "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." Now what does it mean to be born of water and of the Spirit? There are those who think that to be born of water is a reference to water baptism. But this would be a strange expression if it did refer to that. Then, there have been several very fine Christian doctors who interpret “born of water” as the physical birth which is a birth in water; that is, the child in the womb is in water. I don’t think that is what is meant here. He wasn’t talking about the difference between natural birth and spiritual birth, but He was talking about how a man could be born “from above” or “born again.” As we see in John 2, water is symbolic of the Word of God. There is a cleansing, sanctifying power in the Word. The Word of God is likened unto water again and again. We believe that “born of water and of the Spirit” means that a person must be born again by the Holy Spirit using the Scripture. We believe, very definitely, that no one could be born again without the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God. One today is born from above by the use of water, which is the Word of God, and the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, making it real to the heart. We need the written Word, the Bible and the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
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