BOASTING:
When we boast right, we live right,
and we bear much fruit to God’s honour
By Josh Moody
Mentor. 247 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 527 102 392
I have to admit that buying and reading a fairly substantial book on the subject of boasting was not on my priority list!
However, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to read this new book by Josh Moody. Romans 5.2 states: ‘And we boast in the hope of the glory of God’ (NIV).
Yet as Christians we are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of boasting about anything because it is a term in popular usage to describe an attitude that is problematic for anyone seeking to lead a God-honouring life.
Careful exegesis
The author takes us through the Old and New Testaments as he considers the passages where the word boasting is used, together with others where it is understood in both a positive and negative sense. His exegesis of the texts is thorough and biblical, and he carefully brings out the theological implications of this subject.
He reveals to us both the ugliness of arrogant self-confident boasting that the Bible describes clearly as sinful, and also draws our attention to that humble confidence in God that causes us to boast in Him. In fact, he goes further and sets out in his conclusions a framework of what Christian, Christ-honouring boasting might look like. This is a book to come back to and read again with profit.
