Peter states that this happens “according to his great mercy.” There is nothing within the person concerned that prompts God to cause an exit from the very narrow and life-choking restrictions of a this-worldly worldview. The cause is in God himself, his mercy, his compassion, his pity for the “child” trapped in the “womb” of “this-worldliness.” So he, in step with his election (1 Peter 1:1), in deep mercy “caused us to be born again,” and therein delivered from that narrow, restrictive womb.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,