Being Born of Water and the Spirit & Infant Baptism (Proper Teaching)

Being Born of Water and the Spirit

Regeneration is being “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3.5).

This needs a little explanation.

When John the Baptist came to preach and to baptize he proclaimed: “I baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1.8).

Just as in Mark 1 John the Baptist joined the water and the Holy Spirit together, so in John 3 our Lord Jesus also joined the water and the Holy Spirit. Now since the water which John referred to was the water of baptism, then the water which the Lord Jesus spoke of must also be the water of baptism. The word the Lord answered Nicodemus with must be something which the latter could quickly grasp.

At that time many people knew of John baptizing with water. It was but natural for Nicodemus to take the water which the Lord Jesus mentioned as being the baptism of John. Had the Lord had another thought in mind concerning water, it would not have been easily comprehended by Nicodemus. We may therefore conclude that “water” here points to the water of baptism.

The baptism of John was “the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus” (Acts 19.4). The baptism of repentance in which John baptized with water could not regenerate people.

Except one be born “of water and the Spirit” he is not born again. The baptism of repentance announces that not only man’s behavior—being deadly wicked—needs to be repented of, but also man himself—being corrupted and dead—must be buried in baptism.

When one enters the water to be baptized he is confessing before God how wicked is his behavior and how corrupted and dead in transgressions he is, that he deserves nothing but death and burial.

When Paul wrote to the saints in Rome he inquired, “Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

Paul then continued with these words: “We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6.3-5).

Both the Lord Jesus and Paul speak of the reality of baptism. But only one mentions water.

Some people look at this matter of baptism from the physical point of view. Their eyes see only the water.

Hence they insist on baptismal regeneration. They have not touched the spiritual reality. Other people try to approach this question mentally. They maintain that water cannot regenerate people. Accordingly, they explain that with some people baptism is real and inward while with others it is false and outward. The first group can enter into the kingdom of God but those in the second category are excluded they say. They too have not touched spiritual reality in this matter.

The baptism of which the Lord told Nicodemus is a reality. Paul also sees reality in baptism: burial with the Lord for newness of life. He told the saints in Colossae, “Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him” (Col. 2.12). To him baptism and burial are one and the same thing; so too are baptism and resurrection. No mention of water.

He knows what is meant by being buried with the Lord and also what is meant by being raised with the Lord.

He does not see the water of baptism only, nor does he view some as being truly baptized while some others are not. He communicates to others the reality of that baptism which he has touched.

If you have seen baptism as a reality you naturally know what it is. The question of its being true or false, inward or outward, simply does not exist, because you see that to be baptized is to be buried and raised up together with Christ. Having seen this reality, can you refrain from proclaiming that baptism is indeed so big, so real, and so inclusive to be just water?

As soon as a person is shown the reality, then that which is false can no longer exist-all legalisms are let go of. For example, suppose someone should say: “Now that I have been baptized, I hope I may be buried and then raised together with the Lord.” The one who could utter such a statement has not touched reality, since to him baptism is one thing and burial and resurrection are quite another. But that person who perceives spiritual reality knows what burial and resurrection are. Baptism is burial, baptism is also resurrection. They are one and the same thing.

Do you realize that no one can ever perceive spiritual things with his eyes fixed on the material, that no one can ever think through to the spiritual with his brain? All spiritual matters have their realities. He who has touched reality questions no more about water or no water, nor does he hold it over others like a guillotine to puff up self which method is his idol.

Infant Baptism

Martin Luther appears to stand as the representative of a period of some importance. By that time truth had become tradition and apostolic ministry had turned into papal authority. Moreover, the unity of the Church had degenerated into a Church federation, while spiritual authority had transformed itself into political power. In short, the Church had been taken into Babylonian captivity.

The human concept during that age had come to be understood as the Church controlling the world. Indeed, the Church declared that the entire world belonged to God. As a consequence, the Roman Catholic Church now brought the unsaved into the Church. All Roman citizens automatically became members of the Church.

Naturally, therefore, the rite of infant baptism was created. But there was yet another development which resulted from the marriage between the Church and the world. Formerly, Christians had been a company of saints that practiced voluntary poverty. The poor and the Christians were one. After the Church brought in the world, however, voluntary poverty vanished: the Church had become rich. In the Church there should be only two classes of people—both of them poor: the naturally poor, and the voluntarily poor. Nonetheless, by the time of Luther and even earlier, the Church had only the first class of the poor, the second class having well-nigh disappeared from the scene: apart from the naturally poor the Church was now well populated with the rich. Yet, though these latter folk were rich in wealth, they were poor in faith.

The sad consequence of all this was that there were fewer and fewer spiritual riches in the Church.

In a passage from the book of Acts, it records how Ananias was sent by the Holy Spirit with a clear vision and with the word of God to Saul: “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.” So then, why be baptized? The purpose is clearly to wash away one’s sins.

The Bible not only denies that baptism is merely a ritual, it also reveals to us that baptism is a testimony. Why do people go into the water? That they may testify before God and men and angels and Satan that they have believed in Jesus and that what Christ has accomplished is true, perfect and trustworthy. This is what baptism expresses and testifies.

Ananias called Saul to rise up and be baptized. Why? For the sake of washing away his sins. Yet Ananias did not suggest that baptism could get rid of sins, for it is not water baptism itself that washes away sins but it is the reality which baptism expresses and testifies to that washes away sins. The water of the whole earth cannot wash away one single sin, yet what the water of baptism represents and testifies to—even the blood of the Lord Jesus—is able to wash away all sins. Have you believed? If you have, arise and be baptized to wash away your sins with or without water.

It ought to be clearly realized that none who in God’s eyes is unclean and whose sins are unforgiven may be baptized. No one who is ignorant of his sins being forgiven and of his having eternal life can be baptized. It is not right for such a one to be baptized. Every one who goes into the baptismal waters is to testify to what he knows. What is testimony? To testify is to bear witness to what is seen and known. First seeing, then testifying.

He who has not seen cannot testify. For this reason, one must know his sins forgiven through the washing by the blood of the Lord before he can testify of this reality before men.

Such being the case, infant baptism is improper. If the baptized one is not able to testify, his baptism is void. The baptism of a person who is baptized in unbelief or before believing in the Lord Jesus does not count.

Only the one who can testify to the fact that his sins are forgiven is qualified to be baptized. For what he does in the water or other mode bears witness to what Christ has accomplished.

What should one do after he knows he is saved and his sins are forgiven? He should testify. How? Where? The first testimony is given in the water of baptism. For this testimony is made before God and men and angels and Satan to the effect that his sins are forgiven, they are washed away. This is therefore the first meaning of baptism as well as its condition.

Roughly from the early sixteenth century to the eighteenth century-In the year 1524 there emerged a group of believers in Germany known as the Anabaptists (meaning “baptize again”) who believed in believer’s baptism and that by immersion. They succeeded the (Czechoslovakian) Lhotka brethren of an earlier time who had advocated believer’s baptism. It needs to be mentioned that, prior to their time, both the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church practiced infant baptism by sprinkling. This new group called Anabaptists now not only preached “justification by faith”; they also took a further step of recovery in advocating the baptism of all those believers who have been justified by faith. Later on, when the Anglican Church was formed in England, these Anabaptists—both foreign-born and native-born—took a further position by telling people there that the Church should not be mixed with politics. Because of this, they were persecuted and exiled from England.