Still on this same old argument without actually staying in the Scripture; can't believe this has lasted this long.
John 3:3-8
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The Greek for "again" is anothen (no.509), which one of its definitions is 'from above'. From above where? In Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 we are told at death of our flesh, our flesh goes back to the earth where it came from, and our spirit goes back to God Who gave it. When we are born into the flesh, God places our spirit-soul into it while in the water of woman's womb. (Luke 1 shows the infant John the Baptist lept in his mother's womb at Mary's presence with being pregnant with our Lord Jesus.) This is actually covering two ideas, birth in the flesh through water of the womb, and rebirth of one's spirit by The Spirit.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
This is how Nicodemus understood what Lord Jesus was saying about being born again. It involves flesh birth, but also something rebirth of one's spirit by Spirit.
5 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.
There are New Testament examples of those who were baptized but did not yet receive The Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-16). And then there are examples of some receiving The Holy Spirit without being baptized of water yet (Acts 10:44-47). So water baptism as the key to being 'born again' of The Spirit, that is not always the case per God's Word. And being born of The Spirit is a requirement per Paul (Romans 8:9).
Our spirit is NOT born of simple water. The water is not what makes our spirit regenerated by The Spirit. It is The Holy Spirit that must regenerate our spirit. Water baptism is only to represent that, but it's not some mystical property of water that does it; it is Spirit that makes our spirit born again.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
KJV
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Simple. Our Lord Jesus is talking about our flesh body born in woman's womb. But that which is born of The Spirit is spirit, which that is about our spirit inside our flesh being regenerated by The Holy Spirit through Faith on Christ Jesus. For most I'd say, it happens with water baptism, but not always.
Verse 8 about the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thous hearest the sound, but you can't see where it comes from or where it goes, is about our spirit-soul being born in the flesh through woman's womb. Our spirit-soul does NOT originate from our flesh. It originates from GOD, just as it goes back to GOD at flesh death per Eccl.12. Same with our spirit being born again of The Spirit. We cannot see The Spirit doing the regeneration, but there will be signs of that regeneration through the servant in Christ revealing it.
(In the Apocrypha of 2 Esdras 7, there is a description of where the dead go and what happens at death. The Apocrypha, though a part of the original 1st edition 1611 King James Bible, are not canon books, but there still is some important info in some of them.)
