Thank you for the question about boasting, “Is it a sin to be proud of yourself and others about being “Born Again”?
As I thought about this question, here are some thoughts of relating to being proud of being “born again”?
A. If the person being redeemed takes the credit that one saved himself that would be a false pride. Jesus declared that no one can come me unless the Father who sent me draws him/her (John 6:44). The Scriptures declare that there is no one righteous, not even one and that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:9–24).
No person can take credit for his/her salvation. The credit goes to God who has chosen that person and draws that person to himself through Jesus Christ. Pride has the idea of boasting in one’s achievements. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:8–9 declares this, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast”(A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages). Since the Scriptures that no one can boast, then believers have no ground for boasting or being proud that they earned their salvation. Salvation is a gift from God, apart from works.
B. If the person having been redeemed can boast of his/her salvation in Jesus Christ that would be a true pride with humility. The boasting by the believer is about what God has done in his/her life to redeem him/her from sin and the new life that one has in Christ Jesus. It is not a sin to be proud of who I am in Christ Jesus. Self-depreciation or false humility does not glorify God for the one redeemed is a child of God. It is in that standing that a believer can boast of what God has done to make him/her a child of God.
The Apostle Paul says this in I Corinthians 1, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (NIV).
The believer’s pride/boasting is in the Lord. It is what God has done in and through the believer’s life. Again the believer can’t take credit for any achievements for the work that was accomplished was by the power of God, not by that person’s strength. If a person achieves it, the credit goes to that person. Since believers believed that it is God who at work in and through him, the boasting is about the work of God in that person’s life (Phil. 1:6). Failure to acknowledge the work of God in one’s life is to fail to glorify God.
SUMMARY: Every believer gives the credit to God for what he has done in and through his life including salvation. Believers can be proud of what God has done for him/her.
For more perspectives:
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-a-sin-to-be-proud-of-yourself-and-others-about-being-Born-Again