The previous chapter gives us a brief glimpse at the connection between water and ceremonial purification in first-century Judaism (John 2:6, 7). Taken in tandem with the Spirit, the reference is to cleansing performed by God. Therefore Nicodemus can enter into the kingdom of God only if God cleanses him of what he cannot cleanse himself: the guilt of his sin. This is the very thing that Christian baptism will depict when it is instituted a few years after this conversation. So these two interpretations