In order to be regenerated, we need to realize that our natural being needs to be buried in the water of baptism. In John 3:5 the Lord Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." When the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that He needed to be born again, Nicodemus asked, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Then the Lord explained to him that to be born again is to be born of water and of the Spirit.
John 3:5 has been altogether misinterpreted through the centuries by many teachers. One of the strangest teachings is that the water in this verse refers to the water of the mother's womb. But this is not the way to interpret the Bible. We need to interpret the Bible with and by the Bible. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Before he came to the Lord, the Pharisees heard John the Baptist tell them, "I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He..will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.." (Matt. 3:11). John told them that he came to baptize in water and that one after him would come to baptize in the Spirit. When the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus he used the words "of water and the Spirit." These words should have been familiar and plain to Nicodemus, without any need of explanation, since John the Baptist had spoken the same words to the Pharisees.
"Water" and "Spirit" actually refer to two ministries. "Water" refers to the water of baptism, the central concept of the ministry of John the Baptist, the ministry of repentance. John's ministry of repentance was to put people into the water, to bury people, to terminate people of the old creation. John baptized in water whoever came to him with repentance to terminate them for the purpose of their receiving Christ as the coming One who would put them into the Spirit of life. Thus, "water" refers to John's ministry, and "Spirit" refers to the Lord Jesus' ministry. Through these two ministries man is regenerated.
We not only need to realize that we need the life of God, but we also need to realize that our natural being should be terminated. In the New Testament usage, the word repentance means to realize that you are good only for being buried. You have been away from God, and now you have to have a turn to come back to Him. When you come back, when you have a turn, you have to be terminated, to be buried, to be put under the water. Following this burial comes resurrection, and this is of the Spirit. Water is for burial, for termination, and the Spirit is for being raised up from death, for germination. These two main concepts together constitute the concept of regeneration.
Regeneration is the termination of people of the old creation with their deeds and the germination of people in the new creation with the divine life. To be born of water is to be buried, to be terminated, and to be born of the Spirit is to be raised up from death to be resurrected, to be germinated. This is what it means to be born of God. Real regeneration is to be born of the water and of the Spirit, that is, to be terminated and buried in the water and to be germinated and resurrected with the Spirit to have another life.