John 3:5

Of water and of the Spirit] Our Lord again insists that a new birth is necessary, and explains that it must be an inward and spiritual one. It must not be only of 'water,' i.e. the reception of the outward rite of baptism without proper appreciation of what membership of Christ's Kingdom involves, but also of 'the Spirit,' i.e. Nicodemus must approach Christ's baptism with such sincerity of repentance and faith, and such earnest resolution to live up to the ideals of the new Kingdom, that in his case the outward rite will be accompanied by an effusion of the Spirit, that will make his baptism a real 'new birth of water and of the Spirit.' Baptism is again spoken of as a 'new birth' by St. Paul—'according to his mercy he saved us by (RV 'through') the washing (RM 'laver,' i.e. bath) of regeneration (or 'new birth') and renewing of the Holy Ghost' (Titus 3:5). Christ's baptism is often distinguished from John's, as a baptism of the Spirit (Matthew 3:11; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; Acts 19:4, etc.). It confers (on those who receive it rightly) spiritual graces which could not be fully given until Jesus had been glorified (John 7:39). We learn from John 3:26 that already Jesus was admitting disciples into His Kingdom by the rite of baptism, and this explains the allusion to 'water' here.

Jewish and Christian Baptism

(1) The phrase 'new birth' or 'regeneration' here applied by our Lord to Christian baptism was not a new one. The rabbis were accustomed to admit proselytes to Judaism by three rites, all of which they regarded as essential—(a) baptism (always by complete immersion) in the presence of witnesses who answered to the Christian 'sponsors' or 'godparents'; (b) in the case of males, circumcision; (c) sacrifice. The rabbis frequently spoke of this proselyte baptism as a 'regeneration,' i.e. a new birth from heathenism, in which the proselytes had been under the dominion of Satan, into the family of God, in which they enjoyed the privileges of the covenant of Abraham. Our Lord, therefore, might fairly expect Nicodemus, a rabbi and a sanhedrist, to understand Him when He spoke of His own baptism as a new birth from the ceremonies and shadows of the Law to the spiritual reality and power of the New Dispensation.

(2) The context of this v., in which much more is said about 'spirit' than about 'water,' warns us not to rely unduly upon the saving efficacy of baptism regarded as a merely external ordinance. Baptism is not a charm like the purifications of the heathen, nor a mere symbol of purity like those of the Jewish Law, but a sacrament, i.e. a moral means of grace, the full efficacy and effect of which depend upon the response in the soul of the baptised person to the covenanted grace proffered in the ordinance.

(3) No argument against infant baptism can be drawn from the words 'Except a man,' etc. The Greek is quite indefinite, 'Except any one.' In the case of infants the conscious response of the soul to the proffered grace of the ordinance takes place when the age of reason is reached. On infant baptism, see on Matthew 19:13.

(4) On this passage, together with Matthew 28:19; (cp. Mark 16:16), is founded the prevailing opinion that baptism ('where it may be had') is indispensably necessary for admission into the Christian covenant.