REGENERATION: When does a person become a child of God? C.H. Cayce In answer to the above question will say, most positively and emphatically, without fear of successful contradiction from any quarter, that the Adam sinner becomes a child of God by birth or by being born again, or from above. If one is a child of God before being born of God, then when he is born of God he is no more a child of God than without regeneration.
It is true the Scriptures teach that the heirs of immortal glory are God’s children in purpose before the ages of time began, but to be a child in purpose and to be divinely related to the heavenly Father are two different things. When one is born from above, or born of God, it is but the manifestation of the purpose which God had before time; hence one is made a child of God by being born of the heavenly parentage. We are “saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.” This is what the apostle says about this matter, and we have been of the opinion, and our opinion yet is, that he knew what he was talking about, if the sinner is saved by the washing of regeneration, then he is not saved before regeneration. It is true that the sinner is saved by the washing of regeneration, “according to God’s purpose and grace”—so says the apostle. If the sinner is saved before regeneration, then he is not saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost according to God’s purpose and grace.
If the elect are saved eternally without being born of God, then we see no reason why one should be made to partake of the divine nature by the new birth in order that he be prepared to live in and enjoy the spiritual realm. If any person could be saved eternally without being born of God, we see no reason why the infant could not be saved that way; but our people have always said that the infant is saved the same way that the adult is saved, and have always contended that infants that die in infancy are regenerated by the operation of God’s Holy Spirit, and that, therefore, they are saved in heaven. If it is necessary that the infant be regenerated, it is just as necessary that the adult be regenerated. (Cayce’s Editorials vol. 3, ppg 330-331)