Question:
Dr. Lindstrom In John: it states unless you are baptise with water and the spirit you can not enter the kingdom of heaven. Can you explain this please. Thanks
Answer:
John 3:5 is speaking of a BIRTH AND NOT BAPTISM! The new birth is as real as the first birth. The Lord Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6).” When a child is born into the world, a new life comes into existence. This life has a human nature, which is sinful. It is therefore subject to death. This is the birth that Jesus called “the flesh” and the result of that birth is flesh. This life cannot change its nature. It is as the grass that withers, and as a flower that falls away (I Peter 1:24). To be saved does not mean that this life which is born of the flesh is changed or made over. This cannot happen, for its nature cannot be changed. That is the condition that makes the new birth imperative. The only thing God can do with the flesh is to judge it, and judgment results in condemnation and execution (Romans 8:3, Galatians 2:19: Romans 6:6). The new birth is a birth of the Spirit. It is to be “…born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13).” Peter says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever (I Peter 1:23).” This seed not only lives forever, but it has also been revealed that it remains in the one who is born of God (I John 3:9). Such a life must be eternal and that is what Jesus said it is (John 3:16). That life which is eternal cannot die. All who are born of incorruptible seed have an incorruptible nature and have eternal life. It is impossible for such to be lost, for that would mean the corruption of the divine nature and the death of that which cannot die. By the new birth, one who has already been born into the human race is born into the Spiritual realm, that is, the Kingdom of God. This is the only way to see or enter that realm (John 3:3,5).