What the Early Church Believed: Born Again in Baptism

Born of water and Spirit

Jesus said unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). "Born again" Christians say the water is the preached word, but the early Christians uniformly identified the verse with baptism, by which we are born again, as Scripture confirms elsewhere (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12-13; Titus 3:5). No Father understood John 3:5 otherwise.

The witness of the early Church

• Justin Martyr (151): converts are brought to water and regenerated in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit (Matthew 28:19), for Christ said unless you are born again you will not enter the kingdom (John 3:3).
• Irenaeus (190): as Naaman was cleansed by washing in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:14), we lepers in sin are cleansed and spiritually regenerated by the sacred water.
• Tertullian (203): no one attains salvation without baptism.
• Hippolytus (217): man is made new by water and the Spirit in the laver of regeneration.
• The Recognitions of Clement (221): when you are born again of water and God, you can attain salvation; otherwise it is impossible.
• Cyprian (253) and the Seventh Council of Carthage (256) cite John 3:5 for the necessity of baptism.
• Cyril of Jerusalem (350): the water cleanses the body and the Spirit seals the soul; without both one cannot be perfected.
• Athanasius (360): regenerated of water and Spirit, we are made alive in Christ.
• Basil the Great (375): we die in the water (Romans 6:3; Colossians 2:12-13) and live by the Spirit; the water's grace is from the Spirit's presence.
• Ambrose (381, 387): in the water is the image of death, in the Spirit the pledge of life; one must be circumcised from sins in baptism (Colossians 2:11-12), for no one enters heaven except through it.
• Gregory of Nyssa (382): Christ led the way in the birth by water and Spirit.
• Gregory of Nazianz (388): baptism cleanses twofold, visibly by water and invisibly by the Spirit.
• The Apostolic Constitutions (400): one who refuses baptism out of contempt is condemned, citing John 3:5 and Mark 16:16.
• Augustine (412, 419): the Spirit regenerates the infant brought to baptism, not the parents' will. Martyrs who die confessing Christ before baptism are forgiven as if baptized, for Christ also said he will confess those who confess him (Matthew 10:32).