2 Corinthians 1:12-14 – Boasting in the Lord
When Paul talks about boasting, he has in mind the idea of expressing where our confidence is. If you’re boasting in your wisdom, your intelligence, your strength, your beauty, your boasting is in something wrong. It’s prideful arrogance. But if your confidence is in the Lord, then your boasting is in that which is true. In Galatians, Paul says, God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of Jesus Christ. If my confidence is in myself, God forbid that I should boast. But if it’s in Christ, then I may boast all the day long.
There are six ways that Paul describes his confidence and his boasting. First of all, he says that he has a clear conscience. He gloried in the Lord for the grace that God gave so that he could serve the church with a clear conscience. He could look back without any pangs that he had done wrong to the Corinthian church. That leads to the second demonstration of his boasting. He says that he had integrity in all his dealings with them. Paul uses the words simplicity and godly sincerity to describe his conduct. He did not have ulterior motives, he was genuine. He was there because of his love for Christ, for his confidence that the Lord was doing His work among the Corinthians. He wasn’t boasting in himself. He was glorying in what God was doing. Because of that, he longed to be part of it. That leads to the third demonstration, the grace of God. Paul contrasts his service to the Corinthians with worldly wisdom. He would have faced temptations to be pragmatic to be “successful” in the world’s eyes. But instead he is resting on the Spirit and the power, confident that the Lord is the one who does this work. Fourthly, Paul says I have nothing to hide in my conduct towards you. My trust in Christ is evident to all, says Paul, and the way I was with you is the way I am with the entire world. The fifth demonstration is consistency. He says he was the same way in what he wrote as he was in person. That too rests on the confidence that he has in Jesus Christ. If he were to boast in his own worldly wisdom and boast in his own ability to persuade, you could see how that would change and shift the message that he might present in order to persuade some. Instead, Paul rests on Jesus Christ and His power to save. The final demonstration of his confidence, of his boasting, is being God-pleasing rather than man-pleasing. He places all of his work in the context of that great judge of all, the one who knows the thoughts of our hearts.
Question
- What is good boasting?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would boast in what the Lord is doing.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.