Being born again puts a new life in all who experience the new birth.  It is eternal life, unending life, perpetual life.  It is the life of God himself; spiritual, holy, perfect life.  Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish . . ." (John 10:27-28.) There has been a tendency by some to think that the new birth frees them from sinfulness, but this is an erroneous opinion.  The old body is still in possession of all its qualities; its faults and errors.  It is still sinful, but has been set free by the new birth from being a bond slave to sin.  The new birth makes one aware that he is a sinner, if he is mature enough and rational enough to have understanding; but in no way makes him immune to sin or the temptations of Satan.

     It is true that with the new birth, the principle of God's moral laws are written in the heart of all those who experience it; teaching them to live soberly, righteously and godly (Titus 2:11), as God pledged in the promise made in Jeremiah 31:31-34, which was restated in Hebrews 8:8, etc.  This new birth causes men to have a feeling of being a stranger to much of this world, perhaps vague, yet there is a longing for a better country.  Usually, there is a feeling of condemnation within--often accompanied by--a resolution to start living right; to try to do enough good to become good enough to lose the condemnation.  Isaiah said that such a bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than a man can wrap himself in it (Isa. 28:20); yet it is the way that seems right unto men and just about all try it for awhile.  Until this feeling occurs in a man, there is no need to preach the gospel to him.  Jesus said, ". . . they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." (Matt. 9:13.) It is obvious that not all men will believe; but since the preacher does not know who will hear, it should be preached indiscriminately to all men. 

     In the Roman epistle, Paul said that he was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died.  What he was really saying was that he was not aware of his sinful condition until the Lord came before him on the Damascus road; he thought that by doing what the Pharisees had taught him that he was at peace with God.  It would have been foolish for Ananias to try to teach him until he met the Lord, but then he realized that he was undone and needed help; therefore, called on the name of the Lord saying, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" (See Rom. 7:9-10; Acts 9:6.) A similar experience occurs with many of God's children when they are born again and they stand in need of the gospel in order that they may understand what has transpired.

     The new birth produces a conflict in rational creatures.  It instills a different influence within, but the old fleshly nature wants to go on in the same way to which it has been accustomed.   The Apostle Paul experienced this and recorded it for us in the latter part of the 7th chapter of Romans.  He went far to resolve the apparent contradiction (to some) between 1st John 1:8 and 3:9 when he left for us Romans 7:20: "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." He was making the distinction between the old nature, which is sinful, and the new nature acquired in the new birth; both housed in the same tabernacle (body) and each trying to go its own way.  This internal warfare will continue with every child of God until they are delivered from the body of this death. (See Rom. 7:24.)            

     Actually, there is some necessary, effective work accomplished in the new birth.  It is called, "the washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5); being "born of water" (John 3:5); "washed" (1 Cor.6:11); "baptized into Christ" (Rom. 6:3); "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . ." (1 Cor. 12:13) all of which is the actual cleansing from sin; the removal of guilt from before God's eyes. (This is not water baptism, which will be considered later.) When one has been born again, he has become as spotless in God's sight as though he had never sinned.  This is the beginning of the process which will finally take one to glory--the beginning of the transformation from a creature made for and suited to an earthly environment into a being fitted for the heavenly environment where there is no end of any life.  Adoption made men heirs--God put them into His legal family--the new birth makes them like the only begotten Son, sinless, in possession of eternal life with all the ability to enjoy the entire blessings of that blissful estate.

     The new birth is not limited by men's actions nor acquired by attitudes or effort.  Jesus told Nicodemus, "The wind bloweth where it listeth (pleases); . . so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8.) Therefore, we must look to God for the cause of men being born again.  As stated in the outset of this chapter, it is because men are adopted sons; but it needs to be understood that there are sons in every family on earth because God had promised Abraham that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. (See Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4.) Then, Paul tells us that he said seed, as of one, and not seeds as of many and that seed was Christ. (Gal. 3:16.) Then, when we look at the experience of Peter when in the house of Cornelius and hear him say, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him . . ." (Acts 10:34-35), we understand its vast scope.  Also, when we look at the commission given to the apostles:  "Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), and the Lord's instructions to Paul at Corinth: . . I have much people in this city," we know they had been born again or else the gospel would have been of no benefit to them.  Jesus had told the Pharisees that God was not their Father; that they were not born again then, "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (John 8:47); also, in 1 John 4:6: We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us . . .; also to the church at Corinth: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (I Cor. 1:18); and, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block; and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor. 1:23-24.) So, we see that men do not become sons by hearing and obeying the gospel or meeting any other requirement in order to be born of the Spirit.  Paul summed it up in 1st Corinthians 1:30: 

          "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

      When the Holy Spirit inspired men to write the scriptures, meticulous care was exercised to put limiting, qualifying clauses on every text that pertains to the new birth or to the gospel call. In Acts 2:38 & 39, when the call was given by Peter for men to repent and be baptized, the limiting clause was put in the next statement: "For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." In John 1:12 & 13, the limiting clause is the last verse:

         "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but    of God."

      The limiting clause for John 3:16 is in John 3:14  & 15:

          "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That  whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave  his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

      Let us notice John 3:14: Fiery serpents had bitten the Israelites and everyone bitten knew that he was going to die.  Moses put up a brazen serpent at the instructions of God and every living Israelite that looked on it did not die.  Not one Israelite that was dead looked upon it--it was of no benefit to those who did not have life.  We are told that as it was then, so it is today with Jesus being lifted up for men to believe.  Does this not fit the case of those who have been born of God; who, because of the law written in their hearts, know that unless a remedy is found for their sins that they will hear Him say in that great day: "Depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you." One has to be born again to feel the need of a Saviour--to know that he is sick.

(More on this in the section on the gospel.)