Regenerations, according to T.C. Hammond, is ‘a spiritual resurrection into a new sphere of life, in which he is alive to God and united to him in Christ.  God has implanted in the new-born soul a totally new principle of life.’ (In Understanding Be Men).

We look, accordingly, for signs of life in the new-born Christian.

J.I. Packer writes that ‘the signs whereby a regenerate person may be known correspond to the natural actions of the newborn child.’

‘First, the baby cries, instinctively; and the born-again person instinctively prays, crying to God in dependence, hope and trust as a child to his father. The gospel which he received and to which he responded by embracing Christ as his Saviour and Lord promised him adoption into God’s family (Gal. 4:4f.), and now it is his nature to treat God as his Father, bringing to Him all his own felt needs and desires…

‘Second, the baby sucks, instinctively; and the born-again person also feels a hunger for spiritual food – first the milk and then the meat of God’s revealed Word (1 Pet. 2:2; Heb. 5:12-14; 1 Cor. 3:2). He listens to the Word preached and taught and discussed; he reads it in his Bible, and in books that throw light on the Bible; he asks questions about it; he meditates on it, memorizes it, chews the cud on it, labors to squeeze all the goodness out of it…

‘Third, the baby moves, turning its head, flexing its limbs, later on rolling, crawling, tottering, toddling, exploring; and similarly the born-again person moves in the spiritual realm into which he has now come, sorting out priorities, reshaping his life in the light of his new allegiance, exploring Christian relationships and ways of worship, using enterprise for the Lord in many kinds of work and witness…

‘Fourth, the baby rests, relaxing completely and sleeping soundly in adult arms and wherever else feels firm; and in the same way the born-again person rests in the knowledge that God’s everlasting arms are underneath him, and is able to spend his days, whatever pressures they bring, without panic and in peace…’

God’s Words, p153f.