Day 19

Water and Spirit — they track together as vital components in conversion and the new birth throughout the New Testament (Acts 2:38-41; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Titus 3:3-7). One is an act of submission and surrender. The other is a gift and reminder that only God can make us new by his power poured into our lives through the Holy Spirit. Neither is something we can accomplish on our own. So, Jesus and John connected these two moves of grace into one new birth event grammatically — “born of water and Spirit.” No wonder Jesus made them crucial to entering into his Kingdom life: we offer ourselves to faith to him, and the Spirit gives us new birth into God’s family. “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”John 3:5.