"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God

"Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

The
common interpretation of John 3:5 which connects it with Christian baptism not
only alters the meaning of the passage, but involves a very glaring anachronism
in that Christian baptism had not yet been instituted. It appears from the 12th
verse that the doctrine pertaining to "earthly things" applies to the
Kingdom as known to Israel. And from verse 10 we learn that the Lord’s word
ought to have been understood by a Jewish rabbi; i.e., that it was truth
contained in the Old Testament Scriptures. The well-taught scribe would at once
have turned to Ezekiel’s prophecy, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and ye shall be clean:… and I will put My spirit within you." If
Nicodemus missed the reference at first, the words that follow, "The wind
bloweth where it listeth,…" might well afford the clue to the passage on
which they are so plainly based:"Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live" (Ezek. 36:25-27; 37:9). The
"clean water" alludes, of course, to the rite of the red heifer
established in Numbers 19. Nicodemus claimed his place within the Kingdom by
virtue of his nationality, as Israel might have done had it been faithful. But
because of the carnal and apostate condition of the nation, this claim showed
thorough ignorance not only of the things of God but also of the plain teaching
of the Scriptures. No one could have any part in the Kingdom without the
cleansing typified by the water of purification and the regeneration promised
in Ezekiel’s prophecy. The reference in the Nicodemus sermon is to that rite
and to that promise and not, I need scarcely add, to a dogma (baptism) which
the Church in its apostasy based upon a false interpretation of this very
passage. And if, without this new birth from God, the Jew, even on his high
platform of privilege and covenant, could not receive his promised blessings,
how doubly true must be the word to us, "Ye must be born again.