3:5 What is the water referred to here?
3:5 What is the water referred to here?
Many Christians believe that the water Jesus refers to here alludes to water baptism, but if it did Jesus would be teaching baptismal regeneration - that we can only be saved by being baptized, and if that were so the thief on the cross could never have been saved because He was not baptized.
Furthermore scriptures throughout teach that we are saved by God's word, not water (CP Psa 119:9; Jn 15:3; Ro 1:16; 1Cor 1:17-18, 21; 4:15; 15:1-2; Jas 1:18, 21; 1Pe 1:23-25).
Jesus uses the word water in Jn 3:5 figuratively in the context of salvation by the word of God. God's word is the water of life (CP Jn 4:5-14; Rev 21:5-6, 22:17).
Jesus promises in Rev 21:5-6 that whoever thirsts for knowledge of Him, He will give them to drink of the water of life, and in Jn 4:5-14 He promises that whoever drinks of that water will never thirst again. The water that Christ gives means spiritual life - all who hunger and thirst for Christ will be saved (CP Isa 12:3; 55:1-7).
But to partake of the spiritual life in Christ we need to be continually drinking of the living water. The word drinketh in Jn 4:14 is a present tense continuous action verb, (it is called a present imperative in the Greek), which means that drinking of the water is not a momentary single act, but a progressive or repeated action (CP Eph 5:25-26).
Here we get a clearer understanding of what being born of water means. This teaches that Christ is setting the church apart and cleansing it by His word. The washing of water by the word is a symbol of the cleansing of the soul by the word even as water is used for the cleansing of our bodies.
It is not being immersed in water that saves, but being immersed in the word. Being born of water and of the Spirit means being born again by the word of God - the water of life - and spiritually renewed from above by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit (CP Tit 3:5).
See also comments on Jn 1:12-13, 3:3, Tit 3:5, He 10:22, and author's studies What Being Born Again Means in his book Foundational Truths of the Christian Faith, and Regeneration and Sanctification Defined in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2).