The Lustral Waters continues to explore the symmetrical chiastic patterning in the fourth gospel. One of John's hidden themes is the passing of an ancient prophetic or governmental mantle from the keeping of Jesus on to various members of the family of faith.

In this third chapter, John brings up the legacy of Moses. He relies on his reader's knowledge of the extraordinary fame of Buni ben Gurion, nicknamed Nicodemus, the 'Man of the Breakthrough', to augment his previous revelation about the summoning of time and also to unveil a critical understanding of what it means to be born from above.