In chapter 3 of John’s gospel, Jesus describes the beginning of a person’s relationship with God through Christ as being “born again.” In John 3:5, Jesus Christ says two births are necessary to see the kingdom of God. The first is according to the flesh. We are told later in the New Testament that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That is why Jesus explained that a second birth by the Holy Spirit is necessary. A person must be born of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. This spiritual birth enables one to believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and live in communion with him.
 
God's Word recounts that our first parents disobeyed God and forfeited the holiness and righteousness in which they were created and spiritually died. As a consequence of their sin, we are spiritually dead and separated from God. That is why Jesus and the gospel seem foolish to us and why we are not able to believe he is the Son of God. Thus, we live in our sin and corruption and will perish if nothing changes. However, things change if we are born again by the Holy Spirit. Several things occur. We rise from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is a regeneration in which a new nature replaces an old and corrupt nature. We no longer regard Jesus as a myth or as only a man. We then know him to be the Son of God, who has redeemed us by his shed blood, and the Father forgives us of our sins. The new faith in Christ that wells up within us is counted for righteousness. The Bible describes this as our deliverance from darkness and an escape from the corruption in the world; we become citizens of Christ’s eternal kingdom and members of the household of God. This transformation turns a sinner into a saint by divine power and grace that only God supplies and which can never be undone or taken away.


To non-believers, the record of creation and Adam’s disobedience sounds like a fairy tale. But suppose non-believers consider the state of the world, and even their own lives, as a consequence of Adam’s disobedience, that Adam desired to live independently of God, reject God’s goodness, and do what he thought was right in his own eyes. In that case, they may discover that the Biblical account of creation and the consequence of man’s fall is being played out in the world and their own lives.

In Christian theology, being "born again" signifies a profound change in an individual. By God's grace a person turns away from a life for self and this world, a life authored by the serpent, that made God their enemy. The gospel truths are believed  in their hearts, not just in their heads, or what their reasoning minds choose to believe. The outward evidence of this inward change is taking communion and confessing with their mouths their reborn faith that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior.  This change is often associated with repentance, faith, and a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

So, the phrase "born again" can also be translated as "born from above" or "born anew." This radical change comes through the Holy Spirit and is called "the washing of regeneration". He causes the person to enter into eternal life, receive a new heart and nature, and an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. 
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"For through the living and eternal word of God (Christ)
you have been born again as the children of a
parent who is immortal, not mortal. 
As the scripture says,
“All human beings are like grass,
    and all their glory is like wild flowers.
The grass withers, and the flowers fall,
 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
This (eternal seed) word is the Good News that was proclaimed to you."

​2 Peter 1:23-25.