The metaphor of rebirth, being born of the Spirit, is an image of radical transformation. An old life has been left behind, and a new life has begun. It has a number of metaphorical equivalents in the New Testament. In Paul, dying and rising with Christ, being crucified with Christ, and becoming a new creation. In the synoptic Gospels, bearing the cross and following Jesus to Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection.

To be born again, to be born of the Spirit, is to die to an old identity and way of being and to be born into a new identity and way of being centered in the Spirit of God–which for Christians is known normatively in Jesus.

from Speaking Christian