There is no question that the bible teaches that sinners are spiritually born TO faith and TO repentance. But, believing this gives no credance to saying that men are born again BEFORE faith. To say men are born again BEFORE faith is also the same as saying birth is COMPLETED BEFORE faith, and if BEFORE faith, then it is also WITHOUT faith. To say that one is born TO faith, however, does not imply that the birth is a completed act BEFORE faith has been created.
It would be scriptural and proper to say that sinners are born TO LIFE, but this does not imply that the birth exists without the life, or that a birth can exists where there is no immediate LIFE. So too is there no birth where there is no faith and no repentance.
Faith and repentance are essential properties of the spiritual "life" and therefore one cannot be said to be born when he has no faith or repentance, no more than he can be said to be born when he has no life.
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