|
Boast
April 19
Boast
kauchaomai
Taking one last look at Eph_2:8-9, Paul says that salvation is
of grace, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” He wants
to make it very clear that no man can boast: “I earned my
salvation,” or “I bought my forgiveness.”
Boast is kauchaomai (G2744), “to boast, vaunt oneself, be
proud.” Paul uses it some thirty-five times in his letters. He
rebuked the Corinthians, for example, “For who maketh thee to
differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not
receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory
[kauchaomai], as if thou hadst not received it?” (1Co_4:7).
In other words, what do we have that we didn’t in one way or
another receive? Why do we boast as if we did it ourselves?
So, Paul is telling us here that we in no way can boast that
our salvation is in any way whatsoever a result of any works we
can do. People boast about confirmation, baptism (see June
24f), church membership, Holy Communion (see October 28),
keeping the Ten Commandments, living the Sermon on the Mount,
giving to charity, and living a moral life.
Some people even boast about their faith (regardless of what
that faith is in). But all boasting is rooted in good works,
not grace.
Paul knew all too well about boasting. As expositor Martyn
Lloyd-Jones observes, “There was never a more self-satisfied
person or a more self-assured person than Saul of Tarsus.”
Indeed, he was proud that he was a Jew, proud that he was of
the tribe of Benjamin, proud that he was a Pharisee, proud of
his religion, proud of his morality, proud of his knowledge,
and proud of his works.
But now he says, none of us have anything to boast about. As he
again wrote the Corinthians, “He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord” (1Co_1:31). And to the Galatians he declared, “But
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world” (Gal_6:14).
To say that we must add our works to God’s grace is the most
contradictory statement we could ever formulate. Any theology
that mixes grace with works or faith with merit, no matter how
sincere the motive, is heresy, plain and simple, and is to be
cursed (Gal_1:8-9).
Scriptures for Study: If we can boast in anything, in what can
we boast (1Co_1:31; “glory” is kauchaomai)?
What must we never glory in (1Co_3:21)?
 Top of page
| 
