Boasting

For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God,
not of works,
lest any man should boast.

So the question in chapel, as we discussed this verse, was "Can we boast?" The children's answer was NO.

This seems a reasonable answer, especially for us who know that Pastor usually wants the answer to come straight out of the text. Oh, how often someone will give a correct answer and he'll say, "Yes, that's right, but give me another way to say it, using the language in the text itself."

But the answer this time was YES. In Galatians Paul writes, "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Isn't that an antiphon or versicle or something during Holy Week? I can't remember for sure, but I suspect that is why it came up in connection with this week's verse.) Oddly enough, the other place where Paul talks a great deal about boasting is in 2 Corinthians. There it is about boasting in his infirmities (which might also be called "the cross") that we might boast in God's mercy and grace.