"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Jesus explained to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, that the Kingdom of God does not come visibly but comes as an invisible Kingdom into which one must make a spiritual entrance. New birth is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a supernatural birth appropriated by the Holy Spirit and enabling entrance into and participation in the eternal Kingdom of God. New birth--spiritual birth--is conceived through Divine Action on the part of God through His Spirit in the life of each person becoming a citizen of God's Kingdom. Because citizenship is generally a function of where you are born, persons born of the Spirit are citizens of the Kingdom of God. When God’s Holy Spirit enters into us and we enter into the Kingdom of God, we begin to participate in eternal life. The Holy Spirit enables us to live our lives according to God’s will in God’s Kingdom in the present and in preparation for life in God’s Kingdom in the future.
