John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again. The wind blow where it listed, and thou hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it come, and whither it go: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
‘Born of water and of the Spirit’ does not refer to the natural birth, for Nicodemus already had this birth and he was told he had to be born again of both water and Spirit. Not water baptism; all Old Testament saints were saved and born again without water baptism (Heb. 11:1-40; Rom. 3:23-25).
Water is used in a figurative sense of salvation (John 4:14; Isa. 12:3), of the Spirit baptism (John 7:37-39), and of cleansing by the Word of God (John 15:3; Eph. 5:26). Since men are cleansed and born again by the Word (Jas. 1:18; 1Pet. 1:23), it is clear that being born of water means being born again by the Word of God.
‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ This is a fundamental law in both natural and spiritual realms; that is, we live after the flesh or after the Spirit (Rom. 8:1-13; Gal. 5:16-26).
‘So is every one that is born of the Spirit’ as the natural man hears the wind, so the man who is born again hears the voice of the Spirit.
Living the Word 