2. Jesus taught Nicodemus that regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit and that He accomplishes it according to what He wants (John 3:8). Peter also wrote that God Himself caused us to be born again (1 Peter 1:3).
3. Previously, John recorded that this work of the Spirit is apart from any human choice. (John 1:12-13). In fact, the order in this passage affirms that someone who is born from above then receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That same order is affirmed by John in 1 John 5:1, i.e, belief follows the "new birth".
4. In John 3, Jesus rebuked Nicodemus because he should have known about regeneration seeing that he was an Old Testament scholar (see John 3:10). In fact the Old Testament refers to this miracle of grace many times.
5. In Deuteronomy 29:4, Moses told Israel that they couldn't obey God's commands because He hadn't given them a heart that was able to do that.
6. In Deuteronomy 30:6, Moses told Israel that God would "circumcise" their hearts so that they would love and serve him.
7. That promise is again repeated in Ezekiel 36:26-27 and we see that this new heart is a heart that wants to serve and obey God.
8. Jeremiah picks up the same theme in Jeremiah 24:7 and wonderfully in Jeremiah 32:40. Notice in the last passage that this new heart is a heart that is so disposed that it will "never turn away from God."
(Some might object saying that these promises are only for Israel. But not only does Galatians 3:7-9 show us that we as Gentiles that have faith in Christ are of the same faith as Abraham, but 2 Corinthians 1:20 concludes that to be "in Christ" is to receive the promises of God to Israel (confirm Ephesians 2:12-13).
9. This heart changing new birth that is brought about by God's Spirit is incredibly radical. 2 Corinthians 5:17 calls this event as nothing short of a new creation.
10. John affirms that no one "born of God" continues to live in the habitual practice of sin (1 John 3:9; 5:18). This person born of God also loves God and loves other Christians (1 John 4:7; 5:1).
11. In 1 John 5:4 we also see that this person born of God will also overcome the world and remain in the faith.
12. In fact Peter shows us that the results of the New Birth are: confession of sin, obedience and love for one another. (see 1 Peter 1:22).
So when I track this subject through the entire Bible I learn that the new birth is a initiated by God and accomplished by His Spirit. It is totally transformational. It precedes and is the cause of faith. The faith that is brought forth in the individual who himself or herself believes, is a permanent faith that will never totally abandon Christ. Stated otherwise: the instrumental cause of faith is the New Birth; and the instrumental cause of salvation is faith – personal, willing faith that is the result of a miraculous work of God's Spirit that we call regeneration.
