Boasting in the Lord

5 MAY

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 15:6

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

That this discourse might profit us today, we must perceive that we are superior to the whole world through God’s gratuitous pity, even though by nature we having to boast of in ourselves. We cannot carry ourselves with pride in our reliance on God’s gifts, for this would be sacrilege. We would in arrogance be snatching away from God His own praise and clothing ourselves, as it were, in His spoils.

Paul, in speaking of the Jews, shortly but clearly defines both sides of or condition: “Do we excel?” he asks (thereby making himself one with the Jews). “Are we better than the Gentiles?” (Rom. 3:1). He answers, “By no means, for Scripture denounces all of us as sinners who are cursed. Since we are all children of wrath, we can claim no superiority over the profane Gentiles.”

After prostrating the pride of his own nation, the Jews, Paul asks again: “What? Are we not superior to others?” He then answers, “Yes, in every way, for the adoption, worship, law of God, and covenant confer such remarkable superiority on us that cannot be found anywhere else in the whole world.”

How can the Jews excel and be preferred to others, yet excel in nothing? The answer is that they have nothing in themselves to allow them to despise the Gentiles of boast of themselves as superior because their excellence is not in themselves but in God.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: God chooses men and women who are not worthy of His favor and pours His grace and mercy on them, making them new creatures. They may be preferred above all other people, but they can boast only in the Lord. If you have been chosen by God, do not boast in yourself; boast in the Lord for what He has done for you.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke