Fools Boast About Your Own Strength

This passage is smack dab in the middle of what you guys should have read yesterday from the beginning of Chapter 11 where Paul is defending himself as credible witness of Jesus and not one of those false apostles. Tomorrow, you will see more of Paul’s argument of what he is boasting about. So let’s begin by reading the passage.

Read 2 Cor 11:16-21

Paul knows where his argument is leading. He is going to start boasting about his human distinctives. He doesn’t want to however because he realizes that only fools are the ones that do that. I mean the things that God allows us to do are from Him and we don’t have to show our godly resume and boast in that. However, Paul is facing a situation where his argumentation is not getting through to the people. He wants to make sure again that they understand that he doesn’t condone this type of boasting however he will do it to make sure they understand.

Paul continues to share in 11:17 that his boasting will be that of a fool. Since it will not be the kind of boasting that honors the Lord by exalting in his grace and gifts. Instead, it will be foolish boasting that takes pride in its own distinctive, spiritual endowments, and/or leaders, as if these were not all gifts from God. Such boasting is rooted in the world’s values, devoid of the Spirit.

Nevertheless, Paul feels compelled to conform to such boasting for the sake of winning back the Corinthians, since they are gladly bearing with Paul’s opponents, the real fools.

So what’s the application here. We have to see Paul’s heart in all this. The reason for him doing this is not for his selfish gain, but it was to make sure the Corinthians would come back to God. This is a really tricky line and we have to be careful in the ways we understand what we are doing. We can quickly say, I am not bragging to make myself look good but I am doing this all for “you” – but this could all really be said to mask the truth which is that we really are bragging about ourselves. So what can we do to make sure we don’t fall into the trap of selfish motives rather than motives that are for God and His Kingdom. Paul continues to try to show them what is God honoring, he doesn’t try to hide that this boasting is a good thing, he realizes it is bad. So he does it only to make his point. He actually puts himself down for doing this but says he does it for their sake.

I think God has given us some other very special things. He has given us the Holy Spirit and also community. If we rely and live by the Spirit, we know that we will reflect the fruit of the Spirit. So in “boasting” we know that it would be out of love and patience, not out of selfish gain. Also, we have brothers/sisters that we can turn to and ask for honest feedback to help us understand if we are doing something out of our own selfish reasons or out of love.

I have looked to many godly people in my life for this kind of counsel and I have to say they have been so great in helping me avoid disastrous things from the flesh. Please turn to God for wisdom, seek the Holy Spirit and also godly people around you to help you in your desires to build God’s Kingdom.