I read recently about an interesting trend. More and more mainline and Catholic Christians are claiming to be “born again.” For a long time, this was language confined to protestant evangelicalism, so it caught my attention. To the degree that more people are living a genuinely new kind of life in Jesus Christ, that’s really great news. Of course, the skeptical side of me wonders if what this trend actually signifies is a further dilution of terms that are being widely adopted without much thought to their actual meaning. But I’m hoping for the best!

In any case, it’s worth turning back to the source to sort out the meaning and implications of being born again. It’s actually not a common phrase in the Bible, only coming to us in two chapters: John 3 and 1 Peter 1. These two chapters have another big idea in common that might come as something of a surprise…if you didn’t take note of the title of this blog.

John 3

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

Here’s the first and most famous “born again” passage. It’s a great one. In it, Jesus is breaking open old ways of thinking as he’s talking with an old religious teacher. Unless we are willing to be born again into an entirely new way of thinking and living that is led by the Holy Spirit, we won’t be fit for God’s kingdom. Pretty clear. A few verses later, Jesus breaks into another of John’s favorite ideas – an eternal kind life. That’s a whole other fantastic topic that we’ll save for another day.

But what notable is how this chapter wraps up:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).

So… born again, eternal life, and obedience. They go together. Seems like according to John, you can’t have one without the other. We’re born again to obey.

1 Peter 1

The other chapter that references “born again” is 1 Peter 1. It’s pretty incredible what we find there. I’ve highlighted phrases for you below, but certainly recommend reading the whole thing for yourself.

…for obedience to Jesus Christ (1:2)…he has caused us to be born again (1:3)…as obedient children (1:14)…having purified your souls by your obedience (1:22)…you have been born again (1:23)

So once again, born again and obedience are intricately related to each other. There is literally no reference to being born again in the Bible that isn’t in the context of obedience. This begs the question as to why that might be the case.

Born again into what?

What are we being “born again” into? A kingdom. And what constitutes a kingdom? A king. A reign. A place over which the king reigns. A people over whom the king reigns. A law/rule by which the king’s reign is manifest in the lives of the people.

So why is obedience inseparable from being born again? Because we’re born again into a kingdom and there are several implications of such a life. We’re not our own kings and queens. We’re not “free” in the individualistic American sense. We’re certainly free from the reign of sin and darkness. But we’re not cut loose into the oblivion to do what we want, when we want, how we want. Jesus isn’t just the door. He’s the Shepherd. He’s not a gatekeeper that we slip by before going about our own business and doing our own thing. He’s the king.

We’re born again into the a new life under the salvation and reign of Jesus the Christ the Lord. We’re not born again to be forgiven, guilt-free Americans. We’re born again as citizens and ambassadors of the kingdom of God. Our lives are not our own. We were born again to obey.