BORN THROUGH WATER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Author: Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me the following regarding one of my writings, from the Word, which I had sent out:
“Following on from what you wrote in the abovementioned document namely: "In what I am about to tell you, I am not saying that people when they were small, or as babies were baptised, are on their way to hell. You are not going to hell because you have not been baptised, or have been wrongly baptised."
My question is: What did Jesus mean when He said:
"John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
I eagerly want to share my response to that person, with you personally.
In my approximate 40 years’ service for our Lord, I have experienced, that we sometimes, to put it that way, when we preach the Gospel it is in a friendly spiritual environment and that we forget that the Gospel we are preaching, is to people that are not in an ideal/same spiritual place as we are, but fortunately the Gospel from Jesus which we preach does make provision for those people who are spiritually not in the same situation in their lives as we are.
In my answer to your question, I firstly want to show, if the statement that I have made can be proven as truthful according to the Word – Because if my statement cannot be proven truthful according to the Word, then I cannot be identified as a true Evangelist of the Gospel of Jesus.
The following is what I wrote:
“You will not go to hell if you were not baptized or incorrectly baptized. You will go to hell if you arrive at Heaven’s gate without Jesus; In other words, if you have not accepted Jesus as your Redeemer or Saviour, when you depart this world.”
I want to share with you the following example from the Word where, according to my opinion, both of these groups of people are represented.
We read:
LUKE 23:33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left
Then we read:
LUKE 23:39-43
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Before the evening had come, one of the men who was crucified opened his eyes in hell and before the evening of that day the other man who was also crucified opened his eyes in Heaven and both of them only had one thing in common according to the writer.
Neither of them had been baptized but the difference which made the outcome in the future was, that the one accepted Jesus Christ as his Redeemer and Saviour and the other one rejected Jesus.
There can be many reasons for someone not to be baptized after his/her conversion – As an example, like that man who hung next to Jesus on the cross.
There can also be many reasons for someone that has been incorrectly baptized, as in the following example:
ACTS 19:2-5
2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when[a] you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When I wrote what I had written, I remembered, that I had received grace to write to many people from different racial groups, countries, and that there are many people who live in various countries who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and Saviour, who cannot even dare to mention it to their households, let alone find someone who can baptize them.
Then also, even in this country where 78% of the population profess to be Christians, many people are baptized incorrectly.
Am I saying that baptism has little or no value?
No! Certainly not and although there are differing opinions about this section, namely (JOHN 3:5), my understanding of this section is the same as that of the person who wrote to me.
So, to begin with, the following is written and it is Jesus, God, who became human, who is saying:
JOHN 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
We must also now remember to whom Jesus was saying these Words:
JOHN 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
Jesus was not saying this to someone who did not know what it would entail following Him.
Jesus also does not say this to someone who is prevented, for some or other reason, from following Him the way He expects to be followed
Jesus is saying this to someone who knows precisely what following Him entails.
This man knows precisely what the effects would be for someone to be a follower of Jesus, so to make it easier for himself so that he can have a relationship with Jesus, he slyly does this under cover of darkness, so that his fellow Pharacies will not become suspicious, so that they do not catch him out.
JOHN 3:2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Now Jesus says to him and here I am improvising with the words so that I can show you how I understand it:
Nicodemus, someone who truly follows Me, Him-/herself may never be ashamed of Me and I think very little of that person’s conversion that I say:
MARK 8:36-38
36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?
37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
So, even if there are people who will go to Heaven, even if they have not been baptized, or incorrectly baptized, it will be a major problem if I – who have the knowledge and have had the “opportunity”, to follow Jesus, like Nicodemus, who as a follower who ‘sneaked around at night’, while I according to my knowledge of the Word know what is expected of me and my situation is of such a nature, that I can do what is expected of me.
If it pleased our Lord to reveal to me, as He did with Nicodemus, that we must follow Him shamelessly, I must realize that I must not ‘sneak around at night’ in my following of Him.
Our Lord expects of me, to do it in public with the first step being openly done for the whole world to see, that I am a disciple of Jesus, which is accomplished by my baptism.
If I like Nicodemus have had all the knowledge and opportunity, then I have no reason not to make sure, that on my side I have done what our Lord expects of me to do.
JOHN 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Everyone who was called by Jesus during His journey here on earth, were called by Him publicly and they had to publicly take the step to follow Him, or not to follow Him.
Later Jesus says the following about His followers.
ACTS 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Do you see that?
Jesus does not say that I might, or may possibly be His witness. He says that all His children will be His witnesses.
For me, the greatest evidence, outside the Bible, that the Gospel of Jesus is totally public and is “in the daylight”, is the fact, that satan has accomplished, that so many ‘Christians’ are kind of shy to witness for Him in public, that they are Christians.
They have, to put it that way, a sort of ‘Nicodemus creeping around in the night’ belief.
Some of us will more easily tell those who want to listen which rugby team we support, before we tell those same people that we are disciples of Jesus.
For me, my baptism was the first step in obedience and the beginning of my witnessing for Him.
With my baptism, in the Biblical way, on Wednesday evening, 25 April 1973, by immersion, I publically testified to all people, spirits and powers:
In this example (affirmation, declaration) of burying of the old me and the raising of the new me, I witnessed:
*I believe, that Jesus died on the cross for my sins.
*I believe, that he was buried.
*I believe, that He was raised from the dead.
*I accepted this Jesus, God who became man, as my Redeemer and Saviour. The old Sakkie is now dead.
*I am a new blood washed child of God, a disciple of Jesus.”
I have mentioned, that I have not just testified to the people but also to the “spirits and powers” –
that I have accepted Jesus as my Redeemer and Saviour and that I am now His disciple.
LUKE 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
When I attend a baptism service and hear the person being submerged and I hear the water running off the person as they rise from the water, at that time, one of the strongest thoughts I have in my heart is the rejoicing that reverberates throughout the spiritual universe, when the person, or the so to say the new being, climbs out the baptism bath.
2 COR 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
I must also not assume, and this is extremely important, that just because I have been baptized and this actually in public, through submersion in water, that it gives me a free pass into Heaven.
In my life, I have experienced a “dry” unconverted person going into the baptism bath and come out the other side still unconverted.
As we have seen, if I have truly bury the old person in the baptism bath, the people around me will also now get to know the new person, because more and more I will bear the fruit of my conversion.
MAT 7:16-21
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
What fruits are being spoken of?
GAL 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law
In conclusion:
Many people, who have accepted Jesus Christ, arrive on the other side of the grave. If by one or another reason they have not reached the baptistery, they are or will be in Heaven in future because of the fact that they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. No person will enter Heaven if they have not accepted Jesus as their Saviour.
If you know what it means to follow Jesus and have the opportunity to do so and refuse to do it, you need to take clear note of JOHN 3:5, but is you because of one or other reason which you cannot control, as I said before, not have been baptized – we know that it is a loving God who knows our circumstances who await us on the other side of the grave.
Greetings,
Sakkie