¹⁷ Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. ¹⁸ For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, ¹⁹ in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Paul was a straight shooter, telling the Romans like it is – settle the disputes over the gray areas by having an attitude of serving one another. Now in using himself as an example, Paul is subtly striking at the root of the problem: spiritual pride. By that I mean the arrogance of feeling superior to other Christians because of what one thinks of as superior behavior or ministry. Of course, the outward manifestation of this is boasting. So Paul undermines this by modeling the only acceptable boasting, namely boasting in what Christ has done, not in what he himself has done.

Paul is no stranger to boasting, but never about his own character or deed:

For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. (2 Cor 10:12)

To be sure, he uses faux boasting to shame the Corinthians’ arrogance (2 Cor 11:16-23), but he makes sure his readers don’t miss his point:

And [God] has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Co 12:9)

Consistently, Paul says the same thing in our passage today: he will boast only in “what Christ has accomplished through me.” God certainly did great things through Paul, as he briefly outlines. But the glory is not his, but Christ’s. Paul could not be any clearer about this. His role was simply to preach the Gospel. He did not attribute the results to eloquence, powerful pulpit skills or homiletical delivery but to “the demonstration of the Spirit and power” (1 Cor 2:3-4). The power of preaching is in the message of the Gospel (Rom 1:16).

Following Paul’s insight, our role in anything we accomplish in Christ is simply faithfully doing what God has called us to do, and boasting in His power through us as weak vessels. We are the tool in the Master’s hand.

Lord, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14a).