In John 3:5, the Lord says to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Does the water mentioned in this verse refer to water baptism?

No. Water baptism has nothing whatsoever to do with the new birth or even the preaching of the gospel (see 1 Corinthians 1:17). Water, as mentioned here and in other passages of Scripture, is used figuratively for the Word of God. One such Scripture is Ephesians 5:26 where we read, "That He [Christ] might sanctify and cleanse it [the Church] with the washing of water by the Word." The apostle Peter writes of the new birth, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter 1:23). The apostle James adds to this, "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth" (James 1:18). These Scriptures, then, teach us that the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to bring about new birth. This new birth takes place when one believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Him as Lord and Saviour (see John 1:12,13 and John 3:16). It is then that the individual is born again by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. It is then that the new nature and eternal life are received (John 5:24; 2 Peter 1:4).

Two other things are helpful in the understanding of John 3:5:

• The study of the use of the word "water" in the gospel of John (see John 4:10; 7:38,39; 13:5-10). In each of these Scriptures water will be seen to be used as a figure of the Word combined with the Spirit.
• Also notice that Christian baptism was not instituted until after the Lord's resurrection from the dead (see Matthew 28:19,20 and Mark 16:16). When the Lord tells Nicodemus, "born of water," He could not be referring to baptism because it had not yet been instituted. In fact, He was referring Nicodemus to the prophecies in Ezekiel 36:24-32 and in Isaiah 44:3 which foretell God's work with Israel in a coming day.