The New Birth is the Work of the Holy Spirit

          A Christian publication tells its readers how to be "born again."
     Do A, B, C,  and D, and you can receive the new birth.

          However, Jesus' words to Nicodemus in John 3, show that
     regeneration (being born again) is totally the work of the Holy
     Spirit, and man contributes nothing to it.

                           
                                   "Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to
                                    you, unless one is born again, he cannot
                                    see the kingdom of God.'

                                   " ... unless one is born of water and the
                                     Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
                                     That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
                                     that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

                                   "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must
                                    be born again.'  The wind blows where it
                                    wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do
                                    not know where it comes from or where it
                                    goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of
                                    the Spirit."
                                                                     John 3:3, 5-8


          Notice that Jesus said nothing to Nicodemus about what he needed to do
     to be born again, but clearly told him that the new birth was the work of the
     Holy Spirit exclusively.  It is a mystery (verse 8).

          Men have no control over the wind or over the Holy Spirit.  The Holy
     Spirit does as He pleases.

          
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                                   "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed
                                     in his name, he gave the right to become children of
                                     God --- children born not of natural descent, nor of
                                     human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
                                                                                  John 1:12-13

          Here, John tells us that our new birth is not traced to anything we do, but
     to the grace of God.  Yes, we receive and believe in Jesus for salvation, but
     only because God regenerates us ("born of God") before we embrace Christ.

           
                                   "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ
                                     has been born of God, and everyone who loves
                                     the Father loves whoever has been born of him."
                                                                                1 John 5:1

          This scripture reveals that saving faith is a result of regeneration and not
     the cause of it.  In other words, the new birth precedes saving faith.  Every-
     one who in the present believes, has in the past been regenerated by God.
     Faith  does not produce regeneration, but regeneration produces faith.


                                                               **********

                                   "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
                                    Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy,
                                    he has caused us to be born again to a living
                                    hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
                                    from the dead, to an inheritance that is im-
                                    perishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in
                                    heaven for you, who by God's power are
                                    being guarded through faith for a salvation
                                    ready to be revealed in the last time."
                                                                          1 Peter 1:3-5

          Peter wrote that God's great mercy, "has caused us to be born again ..."
     The new birth is an act of God, not of  man.  A man does not "born again"
     himself; only God can regenerate him. 
          Just as we contribute nothing to our physical birth, we have nothing to
     do with our spiritual birth.  It depends on the grace and mercy God shows
     for his people.


                                                      **********

                                  "... then the LORD God formed the man of dust from
                                   the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
                                   of life, and the man became a living creature."
                                                                         Genesis 2:7

          God made Adam alive when he breathed life into him.  We are made
     spiritually alive when the Holy Spirit changes our heart of stone (un-
     believing) into a heart of flesh, enabling us to trust in him for our salva-
     tion.  We become his people.

                                  "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
                                   shall be clean from all your uncleannesses,
                                   and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
                                   And I will give you a new heart, and a new
                                   spirit I will put within you.
                                  "And I will remove the heart of stone from
                                   your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
                                   And I will put my Spirit within you, and
                                   cause you to walk in my statutes and be
                                   careful to obey my rules.
                                  "You shall dwell in the land that I gave to
                                    your fathers, and you shall be my people,
                                    and I will be your God."
                                                                            Ezekiel 36:25-28

                                                    **********

         We can't do anything to be born again.  That is a miracle of the
     Holy Spirit, bestowed on people who are hostile to God and unable
     to do anything to please him.

                                   "... the sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does
                                    not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
                                    Those controlled by the sinful nature can-
                                    not please God."
                                                                          Romans 8:7-8


          When the Holy Spirit regenerates us, we believe in Jesus for our
      salvation, and there is no condemnation for those who are in him.

                                   "Therefore, there is now no condemnation
                                     for those who are in Christ Jesus, because
                                     through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
                                     of life set me free from the law of sin and
                                     death."
                                                                           Romans 8:1




            Sources: Dan Phillips and John MacArthur