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You have got to be kidding.  That was not Isaac being born again.  That was Isaac being born the first time -- PHYSICALLY.

I seriously doubt that you were conceived in a woman by a man, both beyond their years of fertility through the direct intercession of God.

I seriously doubt that you were conceived in a woman by a man, both beyond their years of fertility through the direct intercession of God.

Euphemisms?  Do you mean symbols?

The Bible associates water with birth and creation in multiple places.

But the energy of the flesh had everything to do with Issac being born naturally.

Hebrews 6:13-18~"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:"

Galatians 4:22-31~"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

4WD, the question which Nicodemus asked had never been asked before, at least not in the scripture. If Nicodemus had not ask the question which he did, then it is so plain our Lord Jesus would have never mention water in any sense whatsoever, and we know this by following the context of this brief discourse where water is never mention again.

John 3:6-8~"That which is born of the flesh is flesh ( Water~RB) ; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (a new creation within a man unseen by human eyes, known only by the fruits of the Spirit~RB)

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (Nicodemus trying to understand how this is possible without reentering his mother's womb and being born AGAIN....even if that was possible, it still would come out FLESH/SINFUL at enmity against God!~RB)

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.

Water is not mentioned again in verse 8? because the Lord told us why: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh". Water is the first birth we all experience when we came from our mother's womb, when the water breaks the baby IS BORN, or will be very soon. But, it comes forth as FLESH, which is sinful and at enmity against the God of heaven, regardless of how cute and innocent they may look, TIME will prove just how sinful they are, and without any biblical training they all will turn out to be devils in human flesh, when left to themselves, and even with good training they still may turn out to be very wicked, without the new birth, and even that does not rid them of their sinful flesh~yet, the new man has power to mortify the flesh and have victory over it, but never can eradicate the flesh~impossible.

The new birth is a birth performed by the Spirit of God alone upon whomsoever He will.[/size]

Well, the chapter we're looking at, for starters.  John 3. 

It isn't just birth, but creation and adoption, both of which are also births of a type.

1 John 5:4-8, the water bears witness in the earth of those who have been re-born.
Genesis 1, everything that exists is formed from waters.
Genesis 6-8, the flood story has the whole earth buried and re-born from waters.  The New Testament explicitly tells us this is a picture of water baptism.
Exodus 2, Moses is adopted by being drawn out of water.
...

Perhaps it would be helpful to look at the cosmology of the ancient world.  In virtually every culture, the cycle of birth-death-resurrection(re-birth) is pictured in terms of passing through waters to the afterlife or underworld and coming out of the waters to be re-born/resurrected.

For that matter, it might be helpful just to look at the history of the world.  Water is virtually universal as a symbol of birth, creation, and resurrection.

Jarrod

They support what same thing, Rella?

No, it isn't baptism.  Got to read backwards for that one.

Why would Jesus make physical birth a requirement here?  Everyone meets that requirement; it precludes no one.

The meaning and message of verse 5 is that the spirit of man comes from God, not man.

Whatever you think Jesus' reasoning there in "mentioning" water is moot.  The simple truth is that Jesus didn't simply mention water; Jesus made water an integral part of being born AGAIN right there with Spirit.  .

John 3:4~"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?"

The simple truth is that Jesus didn't simply mention water

Jesus made water an integral part of being born AGAIN right there with Spirit

Seriously, RB, that was really bad.  You implied that what you inserted into Jesus' words to Nicodemus was Jesus' teaching.  It was not. That might have been Calvin's teaching but it most definitely was not Jesus' teaching.

Water is not mentioned again in verse 8? because the Lord told us why: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh". Water is the first birth we all experience when we came from our mother's womb, when the water breaks the baby IS BORN, or will be very soon. But, it comes forth as FLESH, which is sinful and at enmity against the God of heaven, regardless of how cute and innocent they may look, TIME will prove just how sinful they are, and without any biblical training they all will turn out to be devils in human flesh, when left to themselves, and even with good training they still may turn out to be very wicked, without the new birth, and even that does not rid them of their sinful flesh~yet, the new man has power to mortify the flesh and have victory over it, but never can eradicate the flesh~impossible.

That is such garbage.

When a baby is born it comes forth as flesh and spirit.  The flesh of the baby is from the flesh of the parents; but the spirit [or soul] of the baby is from Spirit, from God himself. That spirit is not dead in trespasses and sins.   God did not form a dead spirit in that baby. It is alive and well just as God formed it. But later as the child grows and learns and understands and disobeys, the spirit becomes dead in HIS trespasses and sins. If and when he is born again (of water and Spirit) his spirit is once again made alive and well as it was originally at the first birth.  That is why it is call REgeneration.  That is why Jesus called it being born AGAIN.  The flesh is not born again; the spirit is born again.  God does it again.  God generated that spirit originally in the child; God regenerates that spirit. That man is no longer dead but is made alive again.

RB, just because Jesus did not repeat the word water in verse 8 as He did in verse 5, you cannot ignore or dismiss the fact that He did say "water and Spirit" in verse 5.  Verse 8 does not negate verse 5, no matter how much you wish it did.

5. Unless a man be born of water. This passage has been explained in various ways. Some have thought that the two parts of regeneration are distinctly pointed out, and that by the word Water is denoted the renunciation of the old man, while by the Spirit they have understood the new life. Others think that there is an implied contrast, as if Christ intended to contrast Water and Spirit, which are pure and liquid elements, with the earthly and gross nature of man. Thus they view the language as allegorical, and suppose Christ to have taught that we ought to lay aside the heavy and ponderous mass of the flesh, and to become like water and air, that we may move upwards, or, at least, may not be so much weighed down to the earth. But both opinions appear to me to be at variance with the meaning of Christ.

Chrysostom, with whom the greater part of expounders agree, makes the word Water refer to baptism. The meaning would then be, that by baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, because in baptism we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. Hence arose the belief of the absolute necessity of baptism, in order to the hope of eternal life. But though we were to admit that Christ here speaks of baptism, yet we ought not to press his words so closely as to imagine that he confines salvation to the outward sign; but, on the contrary, he connects the Water with the Spirit, because under that visible symbol he attests and seals that newness of life which God alone produces in us by his Spirit. It is true that, by neglecting baptism, we are excluded from salvation; and in this sense I acknowledge that it is necessary; but it is absurd to speak of the hope of salvation as confined to the sign. So far as relates to this passage, I cannot bring myself to believe that Christ speaks of baptism; for it would have been inappropriate.

We must always keep in remembrance the design of Christ, which we have already explained; namely, that he intended to exhort Nicodemus to newness of life, because he was not capable of receiving the Gospel, until he began to be a new man. It is, therefore, a simple statement, that we must be born again, in order that we may be the children of God, and that the Holy Spirit is the Author of this second birth. For while Nicodemus was dreaming of the regeneration (palingenesia) or transmigration taught by Pythagoras, who imagined that souls, after the death of their bodies, passed into other bodies, [58] Christ, in order to cure him of this error, added, by way of explanation, that it is not in a natural way that men are born a second time, and that it is not necessary for them to be clothed with a new body, but that they are born when they are renewed in mind and heart by the grace of the Spirit.

Accordingly, he employed the words Spirit and water to mean the same thing, and this ought not to be regarded as a harsh or forced interpretation; for it is a frequent and common way of speaking in Scripture, when the Spirit is mentioned, to add the word Water or Fire, expressing his power. We sometimes meet with the statement, that it is Christ who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and with fire, (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16,) where fire means nothing different from the Spirit, but only shows what is his efficacy in us. As to the word water being placed first, it is of little consequence; or rather, this mode of speaking flows more naturally than the other, because the metaphor is followed by a plain and direct statement, as if Christ had said that no man is a son of God until he has been renewed by water, and that this water is the Spirit who cleanseth us anew and who, by spreading his energy over us, imparts to us the rigor of the heavenly life, though by nature we are utterly dry. And most properly does Christ, in order to reprove Nicodemus for his ignorance, employ a form of expression which is common in Scripture; for Nicodemus ought at length to have acknowledged, that what Christ had said was taken from the ordinary doctrine of the Prophets.

By water, therefore, is meant nothing more than the inward purification and invigoration which is produced by the Holy Spirit. Besides, it is not unusual to employ the word and instead of that is, when the latter clause is intended to explain the former. And the view which I have taken is supported by what follows; for when Christ immediately proceeds to assign the reason why we must be born again, without mentioning the water, he shows that the newness of life which he requires is produced by the Spirit alone; whence it follows, that water must not be separated from the Spirit

6. That which is born of the flesh. By reasoning from contraries, he argues that the kingdom of God is shut against us, unless an entrance be opened to us by a new birth, (palingenesia ) For he takes for granted, that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless we are spiritual. But we bring nothing from the womb but a carnal nature. Therefore it follows, that we are naturally banished from the kingdom of God, and, having been deprived of the heavenly life, remain under the yoke of death. Besides, when Christ argues here, that men must be born again, because they are only flesh, he undoubtedly comprehends all mankind under the term flesh. By the flesh, therefore, is meant in this place not the body, but the soul also, and consequently every part of it. When the Popish divines restrict the word to that part which they call sensual, they do so in utter ignorance of its meaning; [59] for Christ must in that case have used an inconclusive argument, that we need a second birth, because part of us is corrupt. But if the flesh is contrasted with the Spirit, as a corrupt thing is contrasted with what is uncorrupted, a crooked thing with what is straight, a polluted thing with what is holy, a contaminated thing with what is pure, we may readily conclude that the whole nature of man is condemned by a single word. Christ therefore declares that our understanding and reason is corrupted, because it is carnal, and that all the affections of the heart are wicked and reprobate, because they too are carnal.

But here it may be objected, that since the soul is not begotten by human generation, we are not born of the flesh, as to the chief part of our nature. This led many persons to imagine that not only our bodies, but our souls also, descend to us from our parents; for they thought it absurd that original sin, which has its peculiar habitation in the soul, should be conveyed from one man to all his posterity, unless all our souls proceeded from his soul as their source. And certainly, at first sight, the words of Christ appear to convey the idea, that we are flesh, because we are born of flesh. I answer, so far as relates to the words of Christ, they mean nothing else than that we are all carnal when we are born; and that as we come into this world mortal men, our nature relishes nothing but what is flesh. He simply distinguishes here between nature and the supernatural gift; for the corruption of all mankind in the person of Adam alone did not proceed from generation, but from the appointment of God, who in one man had adorned us all, and who has in him also deprived us of his gifts. Instead of saying, therefore, that each of us draws vice and corruption from his parents, it would be more correct to say that we are all alike corrupted in Adam alone, because immediately after his revolt God took away from human nature what He had bestowed upon it.

Here another question arises; for it is certain that in this degenerate and corrupted nature some remnant of the gifts of God still lingers; and hence it follows that we are not in every respect corrupted. The reply is easy. The gifts which God hath left to us since the fall, if they are judged by themselves, are indeed worthy of praise; but as the contagion of wickedness is spread through every part, there will be found in us nothing that is pure and free from every defilement. That we naturally possess some knowledge of God, that some distinction between good and evil is engraven on our conscience, that our faculties are sufficient for the maintenance of the present life, that -- in short -- we are in so many ways superior to the brute beasts, that is excellent in itself, so far as it proceeds from God; but in us all these things are completely polluted, in the same manner as the wine which has been wholly infected and corrupted by the offensive taste of the vessel loses the pleasantness of its good flavor, and acquires a bitter and pernicious taste. For such knowledge of God as now remains in men is nothing else than a frightful source of idolatry and of all superstitions; the judgment exercised in choosing and distinguishing things is partly blind and foolish, partly imperfect and confused; all the industry that we possess flows into vanity and trifles; and the will itself, with furious impetuosity, rushes headlong to what is evil. Thus in the whole of our nature there remains not a drop of uprightness. Hence it is evident that we must be formed by the second birth, that we may be fitted for the kingdom of God; and the meaning of Christ's words is, that as a man is born only carnal from the womb of his mother; he must be formed anew by the Spirit, that he may begin to be spiritual.

The word Spirit is used here in two senses, namely, for grace, and the effect of grace. For in the first place, Christ informs us that the Spirit of God is the only Author of a pure and upright nature, and afterwards he states, that we are spiritual, because we have been renewed by his power.

That having been born of the flesh ( a human mother) flesh is (a human being) and that having been born of the Spirit (Holy Spirit from above) spirt is ( the human spirit)

Just a question.

John 3:3 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.

In the new birth;
What is meant by being born of the spirit?
How is one born of the spirit?
Please provide scripture to back your answer.

Just a question.

John 3:3 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.

In the new birth;
What is meant by being born of the spirit?
How is one born of the spirit?
Please provide scripture to back your answer.

In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we see the teaching of John preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins for the kingdom  of heaven is at hand followed by "And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

This is the teaching of the coming kingdom and how God set in motion for one to enter.

Matthew 3:2-7~"And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

John 1:10-13~"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Luke 17:20,21~And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.