I believe that the following words by J.M. Pendleton are appropriate to cite at this juncture. He writes under the heading, "Regeneration, With Its Attendants, Repentance And Faith," saying:
"It is evident that the Scriptures refer to a great change in all who become Christians--a change denoted by such forms of expression as the following: "Born again," (John 3:3); "Born of the Spirit" (John 3:5); "Born of God" (John 1:13); "Created in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:10); "Quickened together with Christ" (Eph. 2:5); "A new creature" (2 Cor. 5:17); "Renewed after the image of him that created him" (Col. 3:10); "Dead unto sin,...alive unto God." Rom. 6:11. This change is, in theological writings, usually called Regeneration, and it is inseparable from "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:21. For this reason the heading of this chapter has been selected, and I purposely present in closest connection Regeneration, Repentance, and Faith. Nor is it my intention to dwell on what has been termed "the order of time." Indeed, if the view of Calvin and Jonathan Edwards is correct, regeneration and repentance are in substance the same so that the question as to order of time is ruled out. Calvin says:
"In one word, I apprehend repentance to be regeneration, the end of which is the restoration of the divine image within us; which was defaced, and almost obliterated by the transgression of Adam."
The words of Edwards are these:
"If we compare one scripture with another, it will be sufficiently manifest that by regeneration, or being BEGOTTEN or BORN AGAIN, the same change in the state of the mind is signified with that which the Scripture speaks of as efffected by true REPENTANCE, and CONVERSION. I put repentance and conversion together, because the Scripture puts them together (Acts 3:19), and because they plainly signify much the same thing."
Regeneration occurs when one is converted to Christ by the gospel, when the sinner turns to God and Christ in faith and repentance.
Further, as I have shown in numerous writings (as have others before me), the first and oldest "Calvinists" or "Reformed" apologists saw conversion and regeneration (rebirth) as denoting the same phenomenon. The separating of evangelical conversion (repentance and faith) from "regeneration" makes regeneration a kind of prevenient grace. The words of Pendleton and Edwards are spot on in defining regeneration as conversion.
What say ye?
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