Boasting
Every instance of kauchēma (n. boast)
Ro 4:2; 1Co 5:6; 9:15–16; 2Co 1:14; 5:12; 9:3; Gal 6:4; Php 1:26; 2:16; Heb 3:6
Every instance of kauchaomai (v. to boast)
Ro 2:17, 23; 5:2–3, 11; 1Co 1:29, 31; 3:21; 4:7; 2Co 5:12; 7:14; 9:2; 10:8, 13, 15–17; 11:12, 16, 18, 30; 12:1, 5–6, 9; Gal 6:13–14; Eph 2:9; Php 3:3; Jas 1:9; 4:16
Every instance of kauchēsis (n. boasting)
Ro 3:27; 15:17; 1Co 15:31; 2Co 1:12; 7:4, 14; 8:24; 11:10, 17; 1Th 2:19; Jas 4:16
Paul boasted that he wasn’t paid to minister the gospel
1 Corinthians 9:15–18 and 2 Corinthians 11:7–10 are interesting passages. Paul says he can’t boast that he preaches the gospel, since he’s duty-bound to do that, so if he’s to have any boast at all it must be in sharing the gospel without receiving any wages for doing it (though he doesn’t judge other ministers who get paid and in fact insists that ministers of the gospel should be paid). Does this go under the “boasting in oneself” heading?
Old Testament
The topic is fairly top-heavy with only New Testament passages. Need to study the relevant Hebrew words and pull OT passages as well. What other Greek and Hebrew words should I also mine for content, besides the literal words for “boasting”?
All proper boasting is God-centered
On a compatibilist view of free will, there is a real sense in which I am the one choosing to do good and I can and should take a sense of pride in my own hard work (and recognize the same in others), but I am convinced that even when the Scriptures speak of faithful believers glorying and boasting in one another or their own works, behind that boast is always the recognition that Christians are what they are because of the gospel, because of grace, because of Christ, and ultimately because of God sovereignly and providently working all things for his glory. This is brought out most clearly in passages like 1Co 15:31, where Paul says his pride in the Corinthian believers is only something he has “in Christ Jesus our Lord”; Php 1:26, where Paul tells the Philippian believers that in him, because of his coming to them again, they have “ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus”; and in Ro 15:17–18, where Paul says he has reason to be proud of his own work “in Christ Jesus”. If we do boast in ourselves or others, we must never boast that we or they have somehow done anything good apart from or in spite of God.
Practicing Affirmation
The basic thesis of Sam Crabtree’s book, Practicing Affirmation, is how even when we build others up we should never fuel their pride but always honor God.