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Daniel, I agree with your line of thought but since John the Baptist was beheaded before the cross shouldn't this be stated differently?

before the cross by John baptized again

before the cross by the apostles not baptized again

"What distinguished the baptism administered by John and the baptism administered by the apostles was the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). This is why those baptized with John’s baptism after the Cross were rebaptized and those baptized by John before the Cross were not."

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Thanks bother! I think my only question would be where the evidence is that anyone baptized by John was baptized again? Even those in Ephesus weren't baptized by John himself. You see where my problem is? Some of the apostles, for instance, were John's disciples, and since Jesus didn't baptize anyone, were they baptized again?

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Trying but not following clearly, for me please read again what you stated in quotes above to make sure what you stated was what you meant to say.

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I said "this baptized by John before the Cross were not [baptized in water again]." As far as I know, we have no evidence of this to the contrary.

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Thanks, Sorry to keep you up, I will reread all of this tomorrow, They were not rebaptized with water (acts 1:6 ) but were with the Spirit, again I feel like I am missing something.

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Thanks, Daniel! I love this!

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You’re welcome! I’m glad you liked it. Realizing that “kai” in John 3 was epexegetical was the last piece of the puzzle for me in John 3.

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Daniel,

This is one my favorite dialogs of Jesus in the Book of John. Reading Jesus's response to the initial statement of Nicodemus, I used to wonder as well, "Why is Jesus answering, when Nicodemus didnt even ask any question. Also I felt like, the answer seems a bit irrelevent to Nic's initial statement.

But, recently I realized that this could be one of the issues, introduced by chapter divisions. Because last three verses of chapter 2, gives a key introduction to Nic's encounter with Jesus. But I usuually didnt connect this with the dialog.

John 2: 23 - 25

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.

24: But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,

25: and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

After this realization, I understood, Nic is one of those, who believed in Jesus's Name, seeing His miracles in Jerusalem at the Passover. But Jesus knew what was in Nic's mind.

Here is my speculation of what could have been the intent of Nic.

Since Jews were expecting the Messiah to set up the physical kingdom, Nic came to ask Jesus, when He will establish His physical Kingdom. Considering his position in the Sanhedrin, He may have thought, He could help Jesus in this endeavor as well. But Jesus answered even before He asked.

Hope you may agree with this reasoning.

Thanks.

Moses

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Please do continue

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