JOHN 3:5 -- WHY IT DOES NOT

TEACH THE NEW BIRTH IS BY BAPTISM

John 3:5 has often been misused as if being born again is somehow related to the act of water baptism. It is assumed, without any proof whatsoever, that “water” signifies baptism.  If “water” is arbitrarily defined as baptism, then we could just as justifiably say, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living baptism” in John 7:38. If this sounds foolish, it is no more so than the idea that baptism is the source or the means of being born again.

Here is how I understand John 3:5:

(1)  The Greek reads: “born of water and [kai] Spirit.” It is not born of water  and of the Spirit, as if there are two sources.  But the fact is, there is only one source of the new birth in this passage: the Spirit: “born ek water kai Spirit,” which can read, “born out of water even the Spirit.”

(2)  The Greek word kai is often rendered even, and “born of water even the Spirit” is what W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testement Words calls “the epexagetic or explanatory use” (Vol. IV, page 252). Similar in use to “God even (kai) the Father” and “Jesus even (kai) our Saviour.”

(3)  The same writer, John, in a near context, makes “water” synonymous with the Spirit: “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit . . . “ (John 7:38, 39).  This shows that water is emblematical of the Spirit.

In every place where men are said to be “born” spiritually, the word EK [out of] is used, which indicates SOURCE. When “means” are in view, the word DIA [by or through] is used. And in no place in the Bible is any one said to born ek baptism or dia baptism.