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Summary
- In the Bible, water stands for the life God gives, for washing from sin, and for the Holy Spirit, while deep waters stand for danger and death.
- God calls himself “the fountain of living waters” in Jeremiah 2:13, and the Hebrew phrase means running water from a spring.
- At Jacob’s well Jesus offered a Samaritan woman living water that would become “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).
- John says plainly that the rivers of living water Jesus promised were the Holy Spirit (John 7:39).
- The law’s washings, David’s prayer in Psalm 51 and Ezekiel’s promise of clean water all point to a cleansing of the heart, which Christians see in baptism.
- Catholics, Lutherans and Baptists all baptize with water and explain differently what baptism does, each in their own teaching.
- The Bible ends with an open invitation: “whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version (public domain), via BibleGateway: Genesis 1:2, 1:6–7, 2:10, 7:19, 26:19; Exodus 14:28–29, 17:3–6, 30:18–21; Numbers 19:17–19; 2 Kings 5:14; Psalm 51:2, 51:7, 69:1–2; Isaiah 43:2, 44:3; Jeremiah 2:13; Ezekiel 36:25–26, 47:1, 47:9; Matthew 10:42; Mark 4:39–41; John 3:5, 4:6–14, 4:28–29, 7:2, 7:37–39, 19:34; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 3:20–21; Revelation 21:1, 22:1, 22:17. Word count of “water” and “waters” made on the eBible.org King James text and checked against Project Gutenberg’s King James Bible.
- Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, entry 2416, chay (“of water, flowing, fresh”), Bible Hub; Hebrew text checked in the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible.
- Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 3, translated by S. Thelwall, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3 (1885), New Advent.
- The Didache, chapter 7, translated by M. B. Riddle, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 7 (1886), New Advent.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1213 and paragraphs 1217–1222, Holy See.
- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism: The Sacrament of Holy Baptism (1529), Triglot Concordia translation, BookOfConcord.org.
- Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article VII, “Baptism and the Lord’s Supper”.
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