“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” (1 John 5:1)
“The combination of present tense (believes) and perfect tense [has been born] is important. It shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth. Our present, continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore, the evidence, of our past experience of the new birth by which we became and remain God’s children.”
- John Stott, The Letters of John