False. 1 Peter 1:23 - having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.
Mark 16:16 - He who believes and is baptized will be saved
(general cases without making a qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes but is not baptized) but he who
does not believe will be condemned. The omission of baptized with "does not believe" shows that Jesus does not make baptism absolutely necessary for salvation. Condemnation rests on unbelief and not on a lack of baptism. *NOWHERE does the Bible say, "baptized or condemned."
If water baptism was absolutely required for salvation, then we would expect Jesus to mention it in the following verses. (3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26) Yet what is the
ONE requirement that Jesus mentions
NINE different times in each of these complete statements *
BELIEVES. *What happened to baptism *Hermeneutics. If he who believes shall be saved, then he who believes and is baptized shall be saved as well.
John 3:18 - He who
believes in Him is not condemned; but he who (is not water baptized? - NO)
does not believe is condemned already, because he has not (been water baptized? - NO)
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
In regard to the word "water" in
John 3:5, there are those who would argue that the natural sense of the passage parallels water with being born out of a mother’s womb and with flesh based on the answer of Nicodemus to Jesus. Simply stated in that case, two births are necessary. The first is a physical, literal, "flesh" birth accompanied by amniotic "water" and the second is Spirit.
We also see in scripture that 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 Holy Spirit is the
source of living water and spiritual cleansing.
Now if "water" is defined as baptism, then we could just as justifiably say, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living baptism" in
John 7:38. If this sounds ridiculous, it is no more so than the idea that water baptism is the source or the means of becoming born again.
So, to automatically read "baptism" into John 3:5 simply because it mentions "water" is unwarranted.
Furthermore, we also see in scripture that "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, and 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 washing of regeneration. (
Titus 3:5)
In regard to
Titus 3:5, the washing of regeneration is not accomplished by water baptism. The word "washing" in the Strong's Greek Concordance with Vine's Number 3067 - (Loutron) "a bath, a laver" is used
*metaphorically of the Word of God, as the instrument of spiritual cleansing* (
Ephesians 5:26; and
Titus 3:5), of the "washing of regeneration." So, washing refers to spiritual washing or purification of the soul, accomplished by the word of God through the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.