16 I say again, let no one think that I am a fool. But if you do, then at least accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17 What I am saying with this boastful confidence I do not say the way the Lord would. Instead it is, as it were, foolishness. 18 Since many are boasting according to human standards, I too will boast. 19 For since you are so wise, you put up with fools gladly. 20 For you put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly toward you, if someone strikes you in the face. 21 (To my disgrace I must say that we were too weak for that!) But whatever anyone else dares to boast about (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Keith Hengpoonthana

Sometimes you can’t help but roll your eyes at people who boast openly about themselves. Many would regard high self-confidence and a strong self-belief in action or words as a positive character trait. But we also recognise that there’s something very wrong when someone openly boasts about their own superiority. Often they may be seeking to elevate themselves to cover their own inadequacies.

Paul main message here is that boasting for self-gain is foolishness. As Christians we should seek to love God and love others. How we speak and act should reflect the humility, love and grace that Christ has shown us. Paul himself went through many trials and great suffering in the name of Christ, but he doesn’t use that as a means to elevate himself above others.

But that gives Paul a dilemma. How should he address the self-centred teachers in Corinth who were boasting about themselves and raising their own profile in order to mislead the church? In his frustration, Paul states that if anyone should be able to boast about suffering for being a servant of Christ, he should. He also has all the credentials of what one might openly boast about in being a leader. However, as we will see in the following sections, he only boasts of his own weaknesses, because his goal is to encourage others and point them to Christ. The gospel calls us to live selflessly.

Is boasting ever a good thing then? Back in 2 Corinthians 10:17 Paul said: “But the one who boasts must boast in the Lord“ – which is a quote from Jeremiah 9:24. We should be openly boasting in the same manner as Paul – not in self-promotion, but in celebrating and raising up the love that God has for all of us and the grace that we have received through Christ for our salvation.

Perhaps instead of boasting about how much wealth we have, how good we look or how much we have achieved, we should be boasting about God’s great love and mercy – that we once we were dead in our sins, but now by grace we have been saved and made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). Now that’s something worth boasting about!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith is a member of our Bossley Park Morning congregation.