Peter had used the same term in 1 Peter 1:3. Delivery from the womb (birth) opens up a whole new world of opportunity for the baby; that is, the constrictions of the womb have ended so that now the baby can cry, stretch, drink, etc. In similar fashion, rebirth (delivery from the restrictions of a godless worldview without God) provides a whole new perspective on life, one that includes being heirs to an imperishable inheritance (1 Peter 1:4). Such rebirth (being born again) is God’s gracious work in Jesus Christ, the result of his boundless love.
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;