Some writers have tried to refute a literal interpretation of John 3:5 by appealing to the words of Our Lord in John 6:54: “Amen, amen I say to you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.” They argue that the language in this verse is the same as in John 3:5, and yet the Church doesn’t take Jn. 6:54 literally – for infants don’t need to receive the Eucharist to be saved. But the argument falters because the proponents of this argument have missed a crucial difference in the wording of these two verses.
John 6:54- “Amen, amen I say to you: EXCEPT YOU eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.”
John 3:5- “Amen, amen I say to thee, UNLESS A MAN be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ, when speaking on the necessity of receiving the Eucharist in John 6:54, does not say: “unless a man eat the flesh of the Son of man…” He says: “Except you…” His words, therefore, are clearly intended for the people to whom He was speaking, not every man. Since the people to whom He was speaking could eventually receive the Eucharist, they had to in order to be saved. This applies to all who can receive the Eucharist, that is, all who hear that command and can fulfill it, which is what the Church teaches. But in John 3:5, Our Lord unequivocally speaks of every man. This is why the Catholic Church’s magisterial teaching, in every single instance it has dealt with John 3:5, has taken it as it is written, literally.
The difference in the wording of these two verses actually shows the supernatural inspiration of the Bible and the absolute necessity of water baptism for every man.
