7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:7-8 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Nicodemus making an exception against our Saviour’s notion of regeneration, from the absurdity and impossibility of it, (as he thought,) our Saviour therefore proceeds to clear the matter by a similtude taken from the wind, which at once declares the author and describes the manner of spiritual regeneration. The author of it is the Holy Spirit of God, compared to the wind; First, for the quality of its motion, Its blows when and where it listeth.
Secondly, From the sensibleness of its effect, Thou hearest the sound thereof.
Thirdly, From the intricacy or mysteriousness of its proceeding, Thou knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. As the natural wind is not under the power of man, either to send it out or restrain it; it bloweth where it listeth for all us, though not where it listeth in regard to God.
In like manner, the Holy Spirit is as wind in the freeness of its motion, and in the variableness of its motion also.
Learn hence, That the way and work of the Holy Spirit of God, in the soul’s regeneration, is oft-times very secret, and usually exceedingly various.
Various as to the time: some are wrought upon in youth, others in old age.
Various in his methods of working; some are wrought upon by the corrosives of the law, others by the lenitives of the gospel.
Various in the manner of his working, and in the means by which he works: upon some by a powerful ordinance, upon others by an awakening providence.
But though there be such variety in the method of the Spirit’s working, yet is the work in all still the same. There is no variety in the work wrought. The effect produced by the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration is alike, and the same in all; namely, likeness to God; a conformity in our natures to the holy nature of God; and a conformity in our lives to the will of God.
Again, It is a very secret work and therefore compared to the wind. We hear the wind blow, we feel it blow, we observe its mighty force, and admire its strange effects, but we cannot describe its nature, nor declare its original.
Thus the Holy Spirit, in a secret hidden manner quickens and influences our souls. The effects of its operations we sensibly discern; but how and after what manner he doth it, we know no more than how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child. Therefore it is called an hidden life, 1Co 2:7
It is not only totally hidden from carnal men, but in part hidden and unknown to spiritual men, though they themselves are the subject of it.