“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”
Ephesians 1:13 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/eph.1.13.ESV
We are sealed in him when we believe. And in him we are cleansed by his blood.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”
Ephesians 1:7 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/eph.1.7.ESV
What 1 John 5:1 says and the way it says it makes it difficult if not impossible to work around. If what it says isn‘t true then what does that say for other verses. Are some of those untrue as well?
We know they aren’t:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.3.16.ESV
What do I do with John 3:5? It’s simple really, the water doesn’t refer to water baptism. One common way to look at it is to understand that Jesus repeats what he meant in verse 6.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
John 3:6 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.3.6.ESV
Sometimes people look at this and ask “why would he say you have to be born in the flesh, everyone has been born in the flesh”? I don’t think it is strange to think Jesus was answering the question Nicodemus asked in verse 4.
“Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?””
John 3:4 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.3.4.ESV
So, in John 3:5 Jesus is answering the question Nicodemus asked. In verse 6 he repeats his answer in a slightly different way to help him understand what he means.