John 3:6

"Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom."

Key Reflection

In first-century Judaism, physical purification through ritual washing was a common practice signifying cleansing and consecration, often linked to religious ceremonies like baptism in John's time. For Jesus to state that one must be "born of water and Spirit" to enter the Kingdom of God would have been profoundly transformative for his audience, blending traditional concepts of cleansing with a new spiritual birth emphasized through the Holy Spirit.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 6. That which is born of the flesh. To show the necessity of this change, the Saviour directs the attention of Nicodemus to the natural condition of man. By that which is born of the flesh he evidently intends man as he is by nature, in the circumstances of his natural birth. Perhaps, also, he alludes to the question asked by Nicodemus, whether a man could be born when he was old? Jesus tells him that if this could be, it would not answer any valuable purpose; he would still have the same propensities and passions. Another change was therefore indispensable. Is flesh. Partakes of the nature of the parent. Comp. Ge 5:3.

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