Born of Water and Spirit. St. John Chrysostom.
“If anyone asks, how is someone born of water, I ask in return, how is someone born from the earth? How was the clay separated into different parts? How were all different kinds of things, like bones, sinews, arteries, veins, and so on made from one kind of material (which itself was only earth?)…For as in the beginning earth was the subject matter, but the whole fabric of the human body was the work of Him who molded it; so now too, through the element of water is the subject matter, the whole work is done by the Spirit of grace…Then, humanity was formed last, when the creation had been accomplished. Now, on the contrary, the new person is formed before the new creation. He is born first, and then the world is fashioned anew. (1 Cor. 15:45.).…Then, he gave him a garden as his place to live. Now He has opened heaven to us.…The first creation then, that is, of Adam, was from earth; the next, that of the woman, from his rib; the next, that of Abel, from seed; yet we cannot arrive at the comprehension of any one of these.…How then shall we be able to give account of the unseen generation by Baptism, which is far greater than these, or how can we require arguments for that strange and marvelous Birth?… The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, do everything. Let us then believe the declaration of God. That is more trustworthy than actual seeing. Sight often is in error; it is impossible that God’s Word should fail. Let us then believe it.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 25.1-2).
Why is Water Included in Baptism. St. John Chrysostom.
“That the need of water [in baptism]is absolute and indispensable, you may learn in this way. On one occasion, when the Spirit had flown down before the water was applied, the Apostle did not stand idle at this point, but, as though the water were necessary and not superfluous, observe what he says; ‘Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? Why then is water needed?…In baptism the pledges of our covenant with God are fulfilled: burial and death, resurrection and life. And these take place all at once. For by the immersion of our heads in the water, the old person disappears and is buried as it were in a tomb below, and wholly sunk forever. Then as we raise them again, the new person rises in his place. As easy as it is for us to dip and to lift our heads again, that is how easy for God to bury the old person, and to show forth the new. And this is done three times so that you may learn that the power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit fulfills all this.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 25.2).
A Womb is to an Embryo as Water is to a Believer. St. John Chrysostom.
“There is no longer a mother, or birth pangs, or sleep, or coming together, and embracing of bodies. From here on out, all the fabric of our nature is framed above, of the Holy Spirit and water. The water brings about the birth of the one who is born. What the womb is to the embryo, the water is to the believer because the water is where the person is fashioned and formed. At first it was said, ‘Let the waters bring forth the creeping things that have life.’ But from the time that the Lord entered the streams of Jordan, the water no longer gives the “creeping thing that hath life’ but souls that are rational and endued with the Spirit.…But that which is fashioned in the womb needs time, whereas that fashioned in the water is all done in an instant.…For the nature of the body is such as to require time for its completion, but the spiritual creations are perfect from the beginning.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 26.1).
Baptism and Regeneration. St. Justin Martyr.
“As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and what we say is true,…[these] are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spiri, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again.” Now, that is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mother’s wombs is clear to everyone. And those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins is declared by Isaiah the prophet: ‘Wash, make yourselves clean. Put away evil from your souls; learn to do good. Judge the fatherless and plead for the widow and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they are as crimson, I will make them white as snow.” (First Apology 61).
Rebirth Ties Faith to the Necessity of Baptism. Tertullian
“For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: “Go,” he says, ‘teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ he comparison with this law of that definition, ‘Unless one has been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens,’ has tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers used to be baptized.” (On Baptism 13).
New Birth Manifests a Radical Break with the Past. Basil the Great.
First of all, it is necessary that the continuity of the old life be cut. And this is impossible unless a man is born again, according to the Lord’s word. For the regeneration, as indeed the name shows, is as its very name shows, is a beginning of a second life. So before beginning the second, it is necessary to put an end to the first. For just as it is in the case of runners who turn and take a second course a kind of break and
Pause intervenes between the movements in the opposite direction so also in making a change in lives it seems necessary for death to come as mediator between the two, ending all that goes before, and beginning all that comes after.” (On the Spirit 15:35).
Rebirth Is the Rebirth of the Spirit in One’s Mind. St Ambrose.
“Who is he who is born of the Spirit, and is made Spirit, but he who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind? This certainly is he who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, since we receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And elsewhere the Apostle Peter says: You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. For who is he that is baptized with the Holy Spirit but he who is born again through water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit: ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter into the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit,’ And therefore he declared that we are born of him in the latter case, through Whom He said that we were born in the former. This is the sentence of the Lord; I rest on what is written, not on argument. (on the Holy Spirit 3.10.64).
Decaying Flesh Born Again. Leo the Great.
“Whoever of you, therefore, takes pride (with devotion and faith) in the name of Christian, ponder, by an accurate judgment, the grace of this reconciliation. To you once ‘cast aside,’ to you driven from the thrones of ‘paradise,’ to you dying from long exiles, to you scattered into ‘dust’ and ashes, who had no longer any hope of living — to you has ‘power’ been given through the Incarnation of the Word. With it, you can ‘return from far away’ to your Maker, can recognize your Father, can become free from slavery, and can be made again a child rather than an outsider. With this power, you who were born of flesh that is subject to decay can be ‘born again from the Spirit of God and can obtain through grace what you had not by nature.” (Sermon 22.5.1).
Shepherd of Hermas [AD 85-177] “‘They had need,’ [the shepherd] said, ‘to come through the water, so that they might be made alive; for they could not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God…The seal, therefore is the water. They go down into the water dead, and come out of it alive. (Par. 9, 1, 1)
St. Justin Martyr (AD 140)Then they are led by us to a place where there is water; and there they are reborn in the same kind of rebirth in which we ourselves were reborn…For Christ said “unless you be reborn, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven”. This washing is called illumination, because it enlightens the intelligence of those who learn these things. Furthermore, the one being illuminated is washed also in the name of Jesus Christ” (First Apology 61).
Theophilus of Antioch [AD 182] “Moreover…this might also be a sign that men would at a future time receive repentance and remission of sins through water and the bath of regeneration – all who proceed to the truth are born again and receive a blessing from God” (To Autolycus 2, 16).
The following Discourse with Nicodemus, written by St. Augustine around the year 416, is also representative of the era: “The Lord says to Nicodemus, and explains to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You, says he, understand a carnal generation, when you say, can a man return into his mother’s womb? The birth for the kingdom of God must be of water and of the Spirit. If one is born to the temporal inheritance of a human father, let him be born of the womb of a carnal mother; if one is born to the everlasting inheritance of God as his Father, let him be born of the womb of the Church.
A father, as one that will die, begets a son by his wife to succeed him; but God begets sons of the Church, not to succeed him, but to abide with himself. And He goes on: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We are born spiritually then, and in spirit we are born by the word and sacrament. The Spirit is present that we may be born; the Spirit is invisibly present whereof you are born, for you too must be invisibly born” (§5).
It must be obvious that Augustine understood that Jesus was speaking of baptismal regeneration, rather than a verbal declaration to His sovereignty.
It is through Baptism that regeneration takes place; hence Paul calls this Sacrament “the bath of regeneration” (Tit. 3:5). It is the love of God for us that has made this rebirth possible (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3-4), but on the part of man faith plays an important role (John 1:12.13; 1 John 5:1). Those reborn must lead new lives, the life of Christ (Rom. 6-7; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9).
Catholic belief has strong support from both Holy Scripture and early Church history.
Jn. 1:12-13 – But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jn. 1:33 – I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit”.
Mk. 1:8 – I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Lk. 3:16 – John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Jn. 3 – Brings these 2 themes together to describe Jesus as the Spirit-baptizer who grants the new birth necessary for entrance and membership in the kingdom.
Jn. 3:22 – After this Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized.
Jn. 3:23 – John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were baptized.
Jn. 4:1 – Now when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.
John 3:3 – Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
Jn. 3:5 – Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.
It should also be noted that “water and the Spirit” in Jn 3:5 are both genitives connected by a single preposition (and).
Is. 44:3 – For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.
Ezek. 36: 25-27 – I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Tit. 3:5 – he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit… Saved by washing of regeneration. This is a confirming testimony to Jn. 3:5.
Commentaries of the Fathers of the Church on John 3:5
Born of Water and Spirit. St. John Chrysostom.
“If anyone asks, how is someone born of water, I ask in return, how is someone born from the earth? How was the clay separated into different parts? How were all different kinds of things, like bones, sinews, arteries, veins, and so on made from one kind of material (which itself was only earth?)…For as in the beginning earth was the subject matter, but the whole fabric of the human body was the work of Him who molded it; so now too, through the element of water is the subject matter, the whole work is done by the Spirit of grace…Then, humanity was formed last, when the creation had been accomplished. Now, on the contrary, the new person is formed before the new creation. He is born first, and then the world is fashioned anew. (1 Cor. 15:45.).…Then, he gave him a garden as his place to live. Now He has opened heaven to us.…The first creation then, that is, of Adam, was from earth; the next, that of the woman, from his rib; the next, that of Abel, from seed; yet we cannot arrive at the comprehension of any one of these.…How then shall we be able to give account of the unseen generation by Baptism, which is far greater than these, or how can we require arguments for that strange and marvelous Birth?… The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, do everything. Let us then believe the declaration of God. That is more trustworthy than actual seeing. Sight often is in error; it is impossible that God’s Word should fail. Let us then believe it.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 25.1-2).
Why is Water Included in Baptism. St. John Chrysostom.
“That the need of water [in baptism]is absolute and indispensable, you may learn in this way. On one occasion, when the Spirit had flown down before the water was applied, the Apostle did not stand idle at this point, but, as though the water were necessary and not superfluous, observe what he says; ‘Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? Why then is water needed?…In baptism the pledges of our covenant with God are fulfilled: burial and death, resurrection and life. And these take place all at once. For by the immersion of our heads in the water, the old person disappears and is buried as it were in a tomb below, and wholly sunk forever. Then as we raise them again, the new person rises in his place. As easy as it is for us to dip and to lift our heads again, that is how easy for God to bury the old person, and to show forth the new. And this is done three times so that you may learn that the power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit fulfills all this.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 25.2).
A Womb is to an Embryo as Water is to a Believer. St. John Chrysostom.
“There is no longer a mother, or birth pangs, or sleep, or coming together, and embracing of bodies. From here on out, all the fabric of our nature is framed above, of the Holy Spirit and water. The water brings about the birth of the one who is born. What the womb is to the embryo, the water is to the believer because the water is where the person is fashioned and formed. At first it was said, ‘Let the waters bring forth the creeping things that have life.’ But from the time that the Lord entered the streams of Jordan, the water no longer gives the “creeping thing that hath life’ but souls that are rational and endued with the Spirit.…But that which is fashioned in the womb needs time, whereas that fashioned in the water is all done in an instant.…For the nature of the body is such as to require time for its completion, but the spiritual creations are perfect from the beginning.” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 26.1).
Baptism and Regeneration. St. Justin Martyr.
“As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and what we say is true,…[these] are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spiri, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again.” Now, that is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mother’s wombs is clear to everyone. And those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins is declared by Isaiah the prophet: ‘Wash, make yourselves clean. Put away evil from your souls; learn to do good. Judge the fatherless and plead for the widow and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they are as crimson, I will make them white as snow.” (First Apology 61).
Rebirth Ties Faith to the Necessity of Baptism. Tertullian
“For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: “Go,” he says, ‘teach the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ he comparison with this law of that definition, ‘Unless one has been reborn of water and Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens,’ has tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers used to be baptized.” (On Baptism 13).
New Birth Manifests a Radical Break with the Past. Basil the Great.
First of all, it is necessary that the continuity of the old life be cut. And this is impossible unless a man is born again, according to the Lord’s word. For the regeneration, as indeed the name shows, is as its very name shows, is a beginning of a second life. So before beginning the second, it is necessary to put an end to the first. For just as it is in the case of runners who turn and take a second course a kind of break and
Pause intervenes between the movements in the opposite direction so also in making a change in lives it seems necessary for death to come as mediator between the two, ending all that goes before, and beginning all that comes after.” (On the Spirit 15:35).
Rebirth Is the Rebirth of the Spirit in One’s Mind. St Ambrose.
“Who is he who is born of the Spirit, and is made Spirit, but he who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind? This certainly is he who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, since we receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And elsewhere the Apostle Peter says: You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. For who is he that is baptized with the Holy Spirit but he who is born again through water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit: ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter into the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit,’ And therefore he declared that we are born of him in the latter case, through Whom He said that we were born in the former. This is the sentence of the Lord; I rest on what is written, not on argument. (on the Holy Spirit 3.10.64).
Decaying Flesh Born Again. Leo the Great.
“Whoever of you, therefore, takes pride (with devotion and faith) in the name of Christian, ponder, by an accurate judgment, the grace of this reconciliation. To you once ‘cast aside,’ to you driven from the thrones of ‘paradise,’ to you dying from long exiles, to you scattered into ‘dust’ and ashes, who had no longer any hope of living — to you has ‘power’ been given through the Incarnation of the Word. With it, you can ‘return from far away’ to your Maker, can recognize your Father, can become free from slavery, and can be made again a child rather than an outsider. With this power, you who were born of flesh that is subject to decay can be ‘born again from the Spirit of God and can obtain through grace what you had not by nature.” (Sermon 22.5.1).
Shepherd of Hermas [AD 85-177] “‘They had need,’ [the shepherd] said, ‘to come through the water, so that they might be made alive; for they could not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God…The seal, therefore is the water. They go down into the water dead, and come out of it alive. (Par. 9, 1, 1)
St. Justin Martyr (AD 140)Then they are led by us to a place where there is water; and there they are reborn in the same kind of rebirth in which we ourselves were reborn…For Christ said “unless you be reborn, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven”. This washing is called illumination, because it enlightens the intelligence of those who learn these things. Furthermore, the one being illuminated is washed also in the name of Jesus Christ” (First Apology 61).
Theophilus of Antioch [AD 182] “Moreover…this might also be a sign that men would at a future time receive repentance and remission of sins through water and the bath of regeneration – all who proceed to the truth are born again and receive a blessing from God” (To Autolycus 2, 16).
The following Discourse with Nicodemus, written by St. Augustine around the year 416, is also representative of the era: “The Lord says to Nicodemus, and explains to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You, says he, understand a carnal generation, when you say, can a man return into his mother’s womb? The birth for the kingdom of God must be of water and of the Spirit. If one is born to the temporal inheritance of a human father, let him be born of the womb of a carnal mother; if one is born to the everlasting inheritance of God as his Father, let him be born of the womb of the Church.
A father, as one that will die, begets a son by his wife to succeed him; but God begets sons of the Church, not to succeed him, but to abide with himself. And He goes on: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We are born spiritually then, and in spirit we are born by the word and sacrament. The Spirit is present that we may be born; the Spirit is invisibly present whereof you are born, for you too must be invisibly born” (§5).
It must be obvious that Augustine understood that Jesus was speaking of baptismal regeneration, rather than a verbal declaration to His sovereignty.
It is through Baptism that regeneration takes place; hence Paul calls this Sacrament “the bath of regeneration” (Tit. 3:5). It is the love of God for us that has made this rebirth possible (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3-4), but on the part of man faith plays an important role (John 1:12.13; 1 John 5:1). Those reborn must lead new lives, the life of Christ (Rom. 6-7; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9).
Catholic belief has strong support from both Holy Scripture and early Church history.
Jn. 1:12-13 – But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jn. 1:33 – I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit”.
Mk. 1:8 – I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Lk. 3:16 – John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Jn. 3 – Brings these 2 themes together to describe Jesus as the Spirit-baptizer who grants the new birth necessary for entrance and membership in the kingdom.
Jn. 3:22 – After this Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized.
Jn. 3:23 – John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were baptized.
Jn. 4:1 – Now when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.
John 3:3 – Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
Jn. 3:5 – Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.
It should also be noted that “water and the Spirit” in Jn 3:5 are both genitives connected by a single preposition (and).
Is. 44:3 – For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.
Ezek. 36: 25-27 – I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Tit. 3:5 – he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit… Saved by washing of regeneration. This is a confirming testimony to Jn. 3:5.
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