Birth used to illustrate salvation
| Physical Birth | Spiritual Birth |
| Initiated by parents | Initiated by God |
| You did not will yourself born | Not of the will of man (John 1:12,13) |
| 9-month gestation | Indeterminate gestation |
| Life precedes birth | Life precedes birth‡ |
| Does not come into the world against his will | Does not enter the Kingdom of God against his will. |
| Infant struggles to enter the world (labor) | Infant struggles to enter the Kingdom of God (Matt. 11:12)† |
‡ Observable in a sinner under conviction and in his seeking after God. Not to be construed as “viable” life.
† The sinner is not passive in the new birth. His strivings are not the cause of the new birth but means to getting there.
To be continued….
