God's Firstborn Sons by Arlen L Chitwood and published by Classics.
The birth “of God [lit., ‘out of God’]” (John 1:13) or “again [lit., ‘from above’]” (John 3:3, 7) is almost universally taught in Christendom as having to do with a birth experienced by unsaved individuals, occurring at the moment they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pass “from death to life.” That is, the Spirit breathing life into an unsaved individual, based on Christ’s past, finished work at Calvary, is looked upon as the birth “out of God,” “from above,” seen in these verses. The problem is that this is not the manner in which the matter is introduced in John 1:13; nor is this the manner in which the matter is continued in John 3:3, 7; nor is this the manner in which the matter is seen in James, I
Peter, and I
John.
The work surrounding an unsaved individual, “dead in trespasses and sins,” passing “from death to life,” can only be a divine bringing forth “out of God,” “from above.” However, Scripture never uses the type terminology seen in the referenced verses from John’s gospel, his first epistle, James, and I Peter relative to this divine work, unless possibly a verse such as Isaiah 66:8 would be referring to this facet of Israel’s future acceptance of Christ.
