KH believes the Light Doctrine??

[SDG]

Originally Posted by pelathais

I thought that's what I said. Clumsily perhaps.

Never. You articulated it quite well ... most Protestants either believe the water in John 3 is either a metaphor for the Spirit ... or Jesus making a parallel with his previous statement of being born of a woman w/ being born of God.

The result is the same ... Both interpretations agree that Jesus was not referring to water baptism but in placing our trust in the Son of God ... this is the context OF HIS WORDS.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.[e] 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

John the Baptist ... reinforces this w/ his disciples later in the chapter when they brought to him the question of ceremonial washing/baptism .. that this birth is from above ... not a result of a religious rite.

31"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[k] gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."[l]

The Water and Spirit PAJC view requires too many assumptions not present in this chapter.

or as I like to say the W&S Soteriological secret decoder ring.