ECT Born of water vs. born of the spirit

[Interplanner]

You need to be born again. Do that. :juggle:

"Jn 3:3 born again. The phrase lit. means “born from above.” Jesus answered a question that Nicodemus does not even ask. He read Nicodemus’ heart and came to the very core of his problem, i.e., the need for spiritual transformation or regeneration produced by the Holy Spirit. New birth is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the believer (2 Cor. 5:17; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:3; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). Chapter 1:12, 13 indicates that “born again” also carries the idea “to become children of God” through trust in the name of the incarnate Word. cannot see the kingdom of God. In context, this is primarily a reference to participation in the millennial kingdom at the end of the age, fervently anticipated by the Pharisees and other Jews. Since the Pharisees were supernaturalists, they naturally and eagerly expected the coming of the prophesied resurrection of the saints and institution of the messianic kingdom (Is. 11:1–16; Dan. 12:2). Their problem was that they thought that mere physical lineage and keeping of religious externals qualified them for entrance into the kingdom rather than the needed spiritual transformation which Jesus emphasized (cf. 8:33–39; Gal. 6:15). The coming of the kingdom at the end of the age can be described as the “regeneration” of the world (Matt. 19:28) but regeneration of the individual is required before the end of the world in order to enter the kingdom." MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., pp. 1580–1581). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.

As a reminder oatmeal is number 16 on Satan, Inc. (TOL Heretics list) in "The 'Jesus is not God' people (Non-trinitarians) category. :burnlib:

Nic is a follower of 1st century Judaism, to which the NT was written, mostly. What Jesus is saying in 3 is not much different from, and is an unpacking of, 1:13. 1:13 shows us that it was written to a group of people who idolatrized ancestry and descent. That is to be born of flesh.

Nic is actually asking why the descendancy doesn't matter to Jesus. It is because birth from above and the Spirit is what matters. So Jesus is dealing with one of the most ingrained and difficult misconceptions of Judaism.

Also notice the amount of literalism in Nic the Judaism follower's way of talking. He constantly refers to things on the most literal level, until the Holy Spirit shows him otherwise. Even if it means asking really stupid questions like reentering a mother's womb...

Some people think John is too simple in the way it is written, but he is actually just more artistic, more visual, and deals with all the hard issue as much as Paul.