5 Jesus answered: "Most assuredly I say to you, unless someone is begotten by water*Why ‘water’? Some have understood this to refer to water baptism, but it seems more likely to me that it refers to the Word (see Ephesians 5:26, John 15:3, John 17:17). As it says in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." and Spirit he is not able to enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which has been begotten by the flesh is flesh, and that which has been begotten by the Spirit is spirit.*In 1:13 it is "begotten by God", here "begotten by the Spirit", in 3:3 and 7 "begotten from Above"—I take it that the expressions are synonymous. Without God’s direct participation no one is saved. 7 Do not be perplexed that I said to you, ‘You (pl) need to be begotten from Above.’