Catholic Apologetics Guidebook

Dialogue on the Meaning of John 3:3 – Page 2

Hi Paul,

Thanks so much for your thorough response.

[Information of a more personal nature omitted.]

Now, let's get to the crux of this email.  We are discussing John 3:3.  Your belief is that Jesus is talking about water baptism in this verse.  That is not my belief, as you have rightly assumed.  I don't suppose we'd be having this conversation if it were :)  I'd like to break my response into two thoughts:

1) I'll address your belief that water baptism is essential to our salvation. 2) I'll explain what I believe John 3:3 to mean.

Your belief in #1 is a pretty rigid statement.  The 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church certainly agrees with you:

"The Church does not know of any other means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude..." Pg. 320, #1257

If that's true, I would like to see the New Testament plainly state this, repeatedly.  If, as it appears, every single person in the world eternally lives or dies on this matter, God must leave no room for error.  This would have to be proclaimed constantly in Scripture.

Luke 23:39-43:

I'm sure you are quite familiar with the thief on the cross.  For the sake of brevity, I'll not quote most Scriptures, but I'll give you the references to read for yourself.  We've got two thieves on either side of Jesus.  The 3 of them are up on crosses.  Jesus says to the repentant thief: "Today you'll be with me in paradise".  All it took for the thief's salvation was repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ.  If water baptism was mandatory to be saved, Jesus would be a liar if He said anything but, "unless we get you off that cross and baptized, I'm afraid you'll be spending eternity in hell."

Likewise, what would desert dwelling people do to be saved?  Since the Greek baptizo means to submerge, they'd have to travel possibly a thousand miles to reach a suitable body of water.  They'd better hope they don't die before they get there.

1 Corinthians 1:14

"I thank God that I baptized none of you".  If baptism is the means of being saved, this seems a very odd statement by Paul.

Acts 10 & 11 - Peter and the house of Cornelius

Cornelius prays to God to be saved.  God gives Peter a vision and leads him to the house of Cornelius.  Peter starts preaching Jesus Christ to them.  As Peter preaches, they are all baptized with the Holy Ghost (and spoke with tongues v. 46).  By this time, Cornelius and company have been #1 saved by faith in Christ Jesus then #2 filled with the Holy Spirit.  After this, Peter tells them to be water baptized #3.  The fact that God baptized them in the Holy Spirit without the water should speak volumes.

Acts 1 & 2 - Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit

In Acts 1:5 Jesus says: "John truly baptized with water; *but* ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence".  Jesus is contrasting the natural water baptism with the spiritual Holy Spirit baptism.  Accordingly, in Acts 2, we do not see the disciples baptized with water, but with the Holy Spirit only, with evidence of speaking in unknown tongues.

Acts 8:15-16

This is worth quoting: "Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)  They were *only* water baptized at this point.  They were still waiting for the Holy Ghost baptism, as the text shows.  This is critical because you expressly tied the Holy Spirit to water baptism.

#2.  What does John 3:3 mean to me?

"Except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God"

That was nice that you quoted the amplified version of that verse.  Being born again does mean being born from above.  See does mean see, perceive, understand or know.  In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus says "the kingdom of God is within you".  Romans 14:17 says that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."  From these verses, clearly the kingdom of God is not visible to natural eyes.  It is spiritual!

1) Adam and Eve were created free from sin.
2) They chose to sin, thus separating themselves spiritually from God
3) They had sin in their conscience and could not remove it
4) God immediately institutes animal sacrifices as a means to *cover* (but not remove) their sins, so that some kind of God-man relationship could continue until the perfect offering of Christ (Genesis 3:15).
5) The natural nation of Israel does animal sacrifices to *cover* sins and maintain a relationship with God.  They had to kill a new animal each time they sinned.  Jesus Christ dies only once for all.
6) Hebrews 10:4 tells us the blood of bulls and goats could never remove sin from the conscience.
7) When Jesus Christ dies on the cross, the veil of the temple is torn in two, signifying that God is forever done with animal sacrifices, now that THE perfect sacrifice is accomplished.
8) John 3:3 and Titus 3:5 are describing the same thing: spiritual regeneration.  Please read Titus 3:5 carefully.  It says we are saved by #1 the washing of regeneration - meaning, step one is the conscience that is full of sin must be spiritually washed clean and then #2 renewed by the Holy Ghost.  That's a common way of fixing things even in the natural.  First we remove whatever is causing the problem.  Then we fix the damage caused by the problem.
9) AFTER the vessel (a human) is made clean through salvation, God is then able to baptize that person with the Holy Spirit.  It is a separate experience.  The Holy Spirit baptism is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside the spirit of a human.  The Holy Spirit, being both God and holy, will not dwell inside a sinner.  This explains why salvation must come first.  Many confuse the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation/regeneration with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 3:21 mentions baptism.  It calls it a figure.  Figurative language.  It compares NT baptism with the OT saving of Noah and his family by the flood waters.  The OT was a natural saving.  The NT is a spiritual saving.  How would naturally washing the outside of the body somehow cleanse the heart/inside of a man?  Right, it doesn't.  The Holy Spirit does that AFTER one renounces all sin and then asks Jesus Christ to save him.  That's being Born Again.  So what does the natural water represent?  This is as concisely as I can say it: Water baptism is something a new believer *should* (not must) do to show the world that they are dead to the old man and now spiritually alive in Christ.  Going under the water represents the death and the coming up represents the new spiritual life one has.  It's a physical representation of a spiritual truth.  It's an outward symbol that doesn't affect the condition of the heart in any way.

Romans 6:3-4

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?  Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Colossians 2:12

Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

We are buried with Christ, if we are saved/Born Again/born from above/washed by the Spirit and regenerated by the Spirit.  Just as He died physically and was raised physically, we die to the dead spiritual man and are raised up a new spiritual man, free from sin.  Colossians says we are raised by faith in Christ's resurrection, not by being lifted out of natural water.

One last thought:  John 4:10-15 shows Jesus using a natural situation and a natural well to illustrate a spiritual situation and a spiritual well, just after John 3:3-5.

I hope this letter finds you doing well.  I wrote all I did not in the interest in having some religious debate about dry doctrines.  I'm sincerely concerned for your spiritual well being and wish nothing but the best for both you and for God.  Paul, Jesus condemned the Pharisees of His day for following the spiritually dead but visually impressive forms handed down by the tradition of men.  Likewise, Jesus still condemns all spiritually dead forms that men choose to follow, no matter how long they've been handed down from man to man.  Even if the form originally was based on the very Word that Jesus spoke when He was on earth.  Just as the form Jesus condemned in the Pharisees was based off of tenets originally given to the nation of Israel by God Himself some 1500 years earlier.  God gives grave consequences for adding or subtracting from His Word in both the OT (Deuteronomy ch 4, Proverbs 30:5-6) and the NT (Revelation ch 22).

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, as you'd like to share them and have the time.  Thank you, Paul.