What does that simple question reveal?
- Thread starter Wansvic
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
I did read and am very familiar with the verses. Yes, born by the word of God but that doesn't equate to water. The word is the gospel. The gospel doesn't equate to water. The Ethiopian eunuch was preached the word of God, the gospel, the good news of Christ. He wasn't preached water. He heard the word, believed and confessed his belief in the Lord, and was baptized. Read the account in Acts 8
-
1
- Show all
I have heard that explanation, and it could possibly mean exactly that.... except when a baby is born, it is not normally said that the baby was "born of water"..... they were simply "born".
Jesus could have been hinting at the water breaking during a human birth, but he also could have been using that hint to say "not only do you get baptized in water, you also will be baptized in the Spirit...... because remember, again, anytime anyone during that time said "baptism", it always meant immersion in water. (unless they were discussing making pickles...
)
It would be similar to the comparing of water immersion baptism to the "saving" of Noah and his family..... "baptism, which corresponds to this (Noah being saved from destruction by water) now saves us.... " Noah's family was saved from degenerate earth by the cleansing power of the water....
Jesus could have been hinting at the water breaking during a human birth, but he also could have been using that hint to say "not only do you get baptized in water, you also will be baptized in the Spirit...... because remember, again, anytime anyone during that time said "baptism", it always meant immersion in water. (unless they were discussing making pickles...
)It would be similar to the comparing of water immersion baptism to the "saving" of Noah and his family..... "baptism, which corresponds to this (Noah being saved from destruction by water) now saves us.... " Noah's family was saved from degenerate earth by the cleansing power of the water....
Yes, but there are Jewish traditions of the Pharisees about water and birth. Jesus was speaking to one. Living water was the purest form of water for one to wash themselves. Born of water, Jesus said, and of the Spirit.
Born of water can be referred to as purification= sanctification, But one must be born of the Spirit also.
If Jesus was telling Nicodemus you must be baptized in water why did he not say that? I'm sure a Pharisee would know about baptism.
-
1
- Show all
I acknowledge the importance of baptism, just not its necessity to salvation. In the story you shared, the eunuch believed and then was baptized. But notice when he asked Philip if he could be baptized. Philip confirmed with him that he believed. Having believed made him a candidate for baptism. The same was true of those in Acts 2. .they heard...and were pricked in the heart...and asked what to do. That's the evidence of their faith and so they became candidates for baptism.
True salvation always begins with faith. Once faith is present, works that evidence faith always follow.
True salvation always begins with faith. Once faith is present, works that evidence faith always follow.
-
1
-
1
- Show all
In John 3:5, Jesus said, "born of water and the Spirit" and NOT born of baptism and the Spirit. Jesus mentions "living water" in John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39 and in John 7:38-39, we read - "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit. The experience here parallels Jesus' words to Nicodemus. The Holy Spirit is the source of living water and spiritual cleansing.
Also "water" is used in the Bible as an emblem of the word of God, and in such uses it is associated with cleansing or washing. (John 15:3; Ephesians 5:26) When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begets new life, so that we are said to become "partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4) The new birth is brought to pass through "incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever" (I Peter 1:23) and the Holy Spirit accomplishes the miracle of regeneration.
Also "water" is used in the Bible as an emblem of the word of God, and in such uses it is associated with cleansing or washing. (John 15:3; Ephesians 5:26) When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begets new life, so that we are said to become "partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4) The new birth is brought to pass through "incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever" (I Peter 1:23) and the Holy Spirit accomplishes the miracle of regeneration.
-
1
- Show all
I received the Holy Spirit the moment I was born again. He indwells the born again spirit of every believer. I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit about 3 years later. There are reasons for the delay, including a lack of understanding on my part and some unfortunate experiences with a few pentecostals. Some receive the Holy Spirit indwelling and the baptism in the Holy Spirit at the same time. That is God's business, not mine.
-
1
- Show all
There is a difference between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. The instruction "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18) is more precisely rendered "be being filled". In other words, the Christian should be continually filled - but may not be. It is possible to grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. When that happens, the believer loses the fullness of the Holy Spirit active in his life. That does not mean the loss of salvation; it does mean the believer ceases to express the fruit of the Spirit and becomes ineffective in God's kingdom.