John the apostle writes in the first chapter of his gospel that those who receive Jesus, defined as those who believe in Him, are given the right to become children of God, John 1:12. He does not tell us here at what point believers actually become children of God, perhaps because he is saving that for Jesus Himself to introduce in chapter three.

In chapter three, a man by the name of Nicodemus comes to Jesus and immediately expresses faith in Him confessing that no one could do the things that Jesus has been doing unless God is with Him, John 3:1-2. Remember from John 1:12, that those who believe in Jesus are given the right to become children of God. Immediately after Nicodemus expresses his faith, Jesus tells him that he needs to be “born again” by water and the Spirit of God, John 3:3 & 5. I believe He is speaking about baptism here, for at least five obvious reasons.

Reason number one… The way for Jesus was prepared by one who baptized. Jesus was preceded by John, His cousin, whose specific purpose it was to introduce Jesus as the Messiah/Christ of God. John did this by preaching the kingdom of God and baptizing people unto remission of sins, Matthew 3:1-12, Mark 1:2-8, Luke 3:1-9 & John 1:6-34. As you can see from the listed passages from each of the gospels, John’s work of baptizing those who came to him was a key element in presenting Jesus and His work of salvation to the world. John said of his work:

Reason number two… Jesus Himself was baptized by John when He began His ministry as the Messiah, Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-13 & Luke 3:21-22. Jesus specifically said that He needed to be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness”, Matthew 3:15. Since even Jesus needed to submit to baptism in order to fulfill all righteousness, how much more you and me? Our Lord leads the way. How could anyone claiming to be a follower of His, minimize or marginalize the importance of baptism?

Reason number three… In the immediate context of John 3:3-5 where Jesus introduces to Nicodemus the idea of being born again by water and the Spirit of God, we also see Jesus and His disciples baptizing even more people than John! See John 3:22 and John 4:12 on this. John baptized people to prepare them for Jesus. Jesus and His disciples baptized more people than John. We learn this in the same context where we are told that one must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom. Seems like God is trying to get us to see the connection between the new birth and baptism.

Reason number four… Jesus commissioned His apostles to baptize those who believed the gospel Matthew 28:18-20 & Mark 16:15-16. Matthew specifically records Jesus saying to baptize “in the name of” meaning by the authority of , the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What other command did Jesus give that He gave specifically by the power and authority of each member of the Godhead? None.