The New Birth
Rev. Angus Stewart expounds John 1:13 and related passages to demonstrate that spiritual rebirth is entirely God's sovereign work through the Holy Spirit, explicitly excluding any role for human will, works, or cooperation. The article emphasizes that regeneration must precede faith and that God's absolutely sovereign grace in salvation is essential to preserving the gospel against self-salvation theology.
Rev. Angus Stewart It is true that a man does not become a Christian through his own works. John 1:13 is even more searching in that it specifically rules out the will of man in the new birth, also called regeneration (Titus 3:5). Three times John declares that the source or origin of the new birth does not lie with man and twice he explicitly excludes man’s will: the children of God “were born, not [1] of blood, nor [2] of the will of the flesh, nor [3] of the will of man.” One man is born...