The Boasting of Apostle Paul: Lessons for You and I

10 min readAug 29, 2020

If you believe in Jesus Christ, the command from God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of boasting is unambiguous, namely, you are not to transform anything that He, God has done for or through you into a boast. Further, you are not to boast that God’s power is evident in the fact that He can defeat any other entity who is put forward as deity by any other religion or system of beliefs.

How do we know this? Well, let us consider three texts from Christian Scripture, namely Jeremiah 9:23–24; Luke 10:19–20; and 1 Corinthians 8:5–6 (words in brackets mine in spirit of an amplified reading of Christian Scriptures). Note that the closest interpretation of the word translated ‘glory’ in the rendition of Jeremiah 9:23–24 in the NKJV is ‘boast’. The translators of the NKJV felt that the word glory is more spiritual than the word boast.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories (boasts) glory (boast) in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.”
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you (do not let your spirit dwell on what I do for or through you, else like Peter who initially is walking on the waves, subsequently you begin to sink (Matthew 14:29–30), for it is only via focusing on me, your Lord and Savior that you are able to keep walking on water (Hebrews 12:1–2)), but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
For even if there are those called gods, whether in heaven, whether upon earth — as there are gods many and lords many — yet to us is one God (yet we only will believe in existence of one God), The Father, of whom are the all things, and we to Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are the all things, and we through Him.