Born of water and the Spirit
To be born again.
The New Birth
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
You must be born again of water and the spirit. Catholics see this as the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. In the sacrament of baptism, we are immersed in the water where we die to our old lives of sin and rise to new life with Christ. We receive the Holy spirit at our baptisms but we aren’t sealed with the Holy Spirit until we accept our faith as our own in confirmation. This isn’t that different from the Twelve disciples. They received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit did not manifest himself until he came upon the Disciples as tongues of fire at Pentecost.
But if we take a closer look at what Jesus actually said we can see that he was speaking quite literally, when viewed from the eyes of God.
We believe that when we are immersed into the waters of baptism we are being immersed into Christ’s death. It is in death that we are joined to him. If we share in his death we will also share in his resurrection. It is only when we follow Jesus into his death can we also emerge with him from the tomb into eternal life.
The first thing a body does when it comes to life is take in it’s first breath. The Greek word used in the above passage of scripture for spirit is pneuma. Pneuma deals with the movement of air and we get words like pneumatic and pneumonia from it. It is commonly translated as wind, spirit, or ghost. A better translation of pneuma is breath. The Holy Spirit is known as the Pneuma, or as the Holy Breath of God. In our creed we say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He proceeds from the Father and the Son as their life-giving breath.
In the story of the creation of Adam, we see God fashioning his body from the dust of the earth. He then breaths life into his nostrils. Adam is filled with the Holy Breath of God. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and becomes a living, but mortal creature.
In the first part of baptism, we are plunged into the cleansing waters of death and joined to the crucified Christ. When we rise from the waters and take that first breath, we are filled with the Holy Breath of God giving us new life in Jesus. This is why Jesus says that it is necessary for us to be born again of water and the spirit. It is only with the life of God within us that we can pass from this world into the next and enter into God’s kingdom as one of his adopted children.
Like Adam, we can reject the gift of life that has been given to us. It is true that no one can steal our salvation from us, but because salvation is a gift given out of love, it can be rejected. Someone who has rejected their salvation is the sweetest for the devil to devour for they are an adopted child of God that once held his Holy Breath. It is better to have never been baptized and rely on the mercy of God for salvation that it is to be baptized and later reject the gift of salvation you have received.
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