My last blog concluded that the Bible universally condemns self-centered boasting. This blog considers religious boasting and God-centered boasting.
Religious boasting is as hazardous as walking through a minefield. It is usually a symptom of spiritual self-elevation. Motivation is significant.
Spiritual pride blossoms in the garden of spiritual comparison. That is perilous because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
Those who boast about their religious achievements, prowess, and fastidiousness often dishonor God by not following His words and ways (Romans 2:23). For example, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3 NLT).
Those who imagine they are acceptable to God based on their good works and boast about them are deluded. No one comes up to God’s “good” standard except Jesus. Good enough to go to heaven is a fictional category (Romans 4:2).
People come into right standing with God only through trust in the grace that sent His Son to take our place on the cross. That excludes boasting about what we have done to earn God’s favor (Romans 3:27).
Salvation is not based on good works. If it were, those performing them would get the glory (Ephesians 2:9), and that won’t happen.
God didn’t choose the powerful or wealthy. He chose the things the world considers foolish, powerless, and despised to nullify what the world thinks is important. Since that describes us, we have nothing to boast about in God’s presence (1 Corinthians 1:29).
The Corinthians boasted about freedom from moral restraints because of God’s grace. They allowed a man in their midst to sin flagrantly (1 Corinthians 5:6). Such boasting misses the point that believers must live for the One who died for them and not for themselves (2 Corinthians 5:15).
Bragging about acts of religious devotion reflects self-centeredness. Good deeds are worthless unless love motivates them. If love motivates them, why brag about them? Love is others-centered. That eliminates self-centered pride and boasting (1 Corinthians 13:3–4).
Conversely, pride and boasting about what God has accomplished through us in the lives of others is legitimate. So is what God has done for us through His grace flowing through others (2 Corinthians 1:14). The Apostle Paul frequently engages in such boasting.
Paul is proud of what the Lord has done in the lives of believers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:31). He boasted of their spiritual transformation to Titus (2 Corinthians 7:14).
Paul was proud of the willingness of the Corinthians to give to meet the needs of the believers in Jerusalem and boasted about it to the Macedonians (2 Corinthians 9:2). Paul told the Corinthians that his boasting about them would be hollow if they didn’t follow through by giving to the believers in Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 9:3).
Paul boasted about the authority the Lord gave him to establish and build up the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 10:8, 13). He did so to defend his apostolic authority in the face of false teachers there who questioned it. He wasn’t glorifying himself but protecting the ministry God had given Him.
Paul’s effective service empowered others to boast in Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:26). He wanted to boast on the day of Christ what God has done through him in the lives of the Philippian believers (Philippians 2:16).
The opposite of boasting in Christ Jesus was trusting what he could do apart from Him (Philippians 3:3). Paul didn’t do that. Ultimately, God got the glory.
Paul boasted to other churches about the perseverance and faith of the Thessalonians amid much opposition (2 Thessalonians 1:4). The principle is that boasting is legitimate when it is about what God has done in and through us, and He gets the glory. We must be careful how we share with others what God has done through and for us so that He gets the glory He deserves. #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources
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