WHAT DOES IT mean to be “born again”? It’s a term we sometimes take for granted, in a way Nicodemus the Pharisee would not have understood. After all, anyone can claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus. But how could we know for certain that they had been “born again”?

I’ve benefited professionally from the survey research of the Barna Group, an organization that studies religion and spirituality in the United States. Their polls examine the opinions and behaviors of believers of different stripes, comparing them to each other and to the population as a whole.

One of the categories they routinely study is what they call “born-again Christians.” Being good researchers, they define their terms: “Individuals qualify as born again if they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and believe that when they die, they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.” In other words: If you answer these questions “yes” by checking these boxes, we consider you “born again.” For the sake of clear empirical methodology, that’s great.

Note, though, how the definition categorizes people as born again because they’ve done this and believed that. The emphasis is on the individual, and to be fair, in survey research it could hardly be otherwise. When John speaks of being born again, however — for that matter, when Jesus speaks of it! — the emphasis is on the initiative of God. That’s why, as I’ve suggested, it might be better to say that we have been “born from above ” rather than “again.” It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue — “born from above Christians” — and I don’t expect to see it in a Barna report any time soon. But it might help us keep our theology straight.

Indeed, that translation also fits well with another way John speaks of our spiritual rebirth: we have been “born of God.” Because we are born of God, we are God’s children. And given John’s fondness for stark contrasts, we shouldn’t be surprised to hear him speak of the devil’s children as well:

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. (1 John 3:9-10, NIV)

When I read this, I imagine John thinking back to an episode he recounts in his own gospel, one which again begins with the contrast between light and darkness. Jesus is standing in the temple courts. He has just declared to the crowds that he is the light of the world, saying that those who follow him “will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

This bold statement sets off a back-and-forth argument with the Pharisees that gets increasingly tense. Instead of debating the content of Jesus’ claim, they try to dismiss it on technical grounds, declaring his testimony invalid. Jesus responds that his testimony is valid, because he came from the Father, and the Father also witnesses on his behalf.

“All right, then, where is your father?” they shoot back, seeming to willfully misunderstand what he’s saying. Jesus replies that they don’t know who he is because they don’t really know his Father.

“If you hold to my teaching,” Jesus says to those who were inclined to believe, “you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). But some people objected to his words: “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (vs. 33).

On the face of it, it’s a curious thing to say. Perhaps they meant that they had never personally and formally been enslaved as individuals. But in light of the story of the exodus from Egypt and the current Roman occupation of their ancestral homeland, their words sound like a petulant assertion of ethnic pride. We are the descendants of Abraham, they complain; the word “descendants” can be translated as “seed.” How dare you suggest that we need to be freed?

“Yes, I know that you’re Abraham’s seed,” Jesus answers. “But the question is, are you really his children? I’ve told you God’s truth, and you’re trying to kill me. Abraham would never have done such a thing. Instead, you’re acting like your father.”

“What are you saying?” they protest. “Our only Father is God himself.” Listen to Jesus’ answer:

If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God… Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! … Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. (John 8:42-47)

Jesus dares to suggest that because they have rejected him, rejected the truth, his listeners are children of the devil, the father of lies. He dares to tell these Jews, these proud descendants of Abraham, that they don’t in fact belong to God, that God is not truly their Father. They’re plotting murder, after all, something Abraham would never do. Thus, even if they are technically Abraham’s “seed,” they are neither his children nor God’s.

Can you hear the echoes of this story in John’s letter? A true child of God is not merely the seed of Abraham but has been born of God, has God’s seed. God’s children do what is right, but the children of the devil do not.

And what is the right thing to do? John merely mentions it here, but will go into much greater detail. The right thing to do…is love.