We’ve probably all met a loud-mouth who boasts a lot about their own abilities – maybe as a cover for their insecurities. But that isn’t the kind of boasting Paul is talking about here (vs 2,11).

Have a look through the passage again, and count up the number of times Paul mentions something God has done, or uses a phrase like ‘through Jesus’ or ‘in Christ’. Like the boastful bore, Paul can’t shut up – except he’s talking about God, not himself!

Paul is boasting in the hope – not wishful thinking, but a certain confidence – that what God has done already guarantees that he will finish what he has not yet done. And notice how Paul talks about the way in which God uses our afflictions – the bad stuff that happens – to build that hope (vs 3–5).

How has God already shown his love? Look again at verses 5 to 8. Yet, the work of saving God’s people is not yet complete (vs 9,10). Believers already have so much, but we do not yet have it all. We are all a work in progress, but the end is not in doubt.

‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’¹

The opening verses bring together the great themes we have been considering and specify their relevance to us. There are great doctrines here, but there is life-transforming experience also. By the Spirit, God’s love has been poured into our hearts (v 5). This is truly heart-warming. Knowledge of divine love produces resilience in the face of suffering which, in turn, builds character and lifts our spirits (vs 3,4).

The theme of divine love has been little mentioned so far. Paul has been quite severe, but now that changes. Love has been behind everything that God has done. When we were powerless, ungodly, undeserving, unheeding sinners, God, in love, took the initiative. God’s grace was at work before we cast an upward glance. This is important for how we think of God. As a revelation of the Father’s love, Christ the Son has endured death (v 6) and, so to speak, drawn its sting and swallowed it up in the depth of the divine nature.² The four words, ‘Christ died for us’ (v 8) are so full of meaning that we have yet to fathom their depths. Notice too the simple formula in verse 10: ‘how much more’. If God has done all this for us while we were enemies, how much more will this same God do now that we have been reconciled as friends? We need not fear future judgement (God’s wrath – v 9), or death, or what lies beyond death, or the dissolution of the present order, because in Christ there is life that will endure (v 10).

Now, Paul’s preoccupation is to eliminate all pretexts for ‘boasting’ (v 11). Boasting is a form of self-congratulation or self-exaltation. In the light of God’s love, there is one alone in whom we should boast: ‘in God through our Lord Jesus Christ’.

‘I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation’.³

¹ Eph 2:13  ² 1 Cor 15:54–57  ³ John Wesley, 1703–91