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NASB | John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:5 Jesus answered, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God. [Ezek 36:25-27] |
Subject: Verses where water alone means baptism? |
Bible Note: Hi there, Quite a few of the quotes are variants of John 3:5, although I admit they were rather a lot to trawl through. One interesting point is that the quotations usually have BORN AGAIN of water and the Spirit. Which I think would be harder to dispute. This is a matter of textual criticism. My old Douay Rheims renders John 3:5 born-again, as it is translated from the Latin. Also these writers of antiquity all seem to follow that rendering. Think how early Irenaeus is. Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate from NT texts that are much older than we possess now so perhaps this rendering is right. The Codex Sinaiticus is from the end of the fourth century. Jerome may have been using texts hundreds of years old. Certainly we consider the Vulgate an important resource for that reason. Furthermore I still can't see why Act 10:47 doesn’t answer your question. Then Peter answered: Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we? (If the verse only had ‘water’ and not later confirmation this was baptism why would you have to accept it was referring to baptism? It would be another John 3:5) Can any man forbid water... Can any man forbid baptism... ...that these should not be baptized He is using water as a synonym for baptism. Your brother in Christ Dalcent These 7 quotes definitely understand John 3:5 as water baptism: 190 AD Irenaeus of Lyons "‘And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan' [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven'" (Fragment 34). 140-230 AD TERTULLIAN "The prescript is laid down that 'without baptism, salvation is attainable by none' chiefly on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, 'Unless one be born of water, he hath not life.'" (On Baptism, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, pg. 674-675) 150-200 AD CLEMENT For thus hath the true prophet testified to us with an oath: 'Verily I say to you, That unless a man is born again of water, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' (Clement, "Recognitions of Clement," Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, pg. 155 200-258 AD CARTHAGE Nemesianus of Thubunae 'Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.' This is the Spirit which from the beginning was borne over the waters; for neither can the Spirit operate without the water, nor the water without the Spirit." ("The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian," Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pg. 566.) 200-258 AD CYPRIAN ...baptism of the holy Church, by divine regeneration, for the kingdom of God, may be born of both sacraments, because it is written, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'" (Cyprian, "The Epistles of Cyprian," Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pg. 384) 203 AD Tertullian "[N]o one can attain salvation without baptism, especially in view of the declaration of the Lord, who says, ‘Unless a man shall be born of water, he shall not have life'" (Baptism 12:1). (surely he is quoting from John 3:5). 240 AD Testimonies Concerning the Jews "That unless a man have been baptized and born again, he cannot attain unto the kingdom of God. In the Gospel according to John: 'Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God [John 3:5] |