God loves it when man boasts in God, and God hates it when man
boasts in man.

"Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord" (2 Corinthians
10:17). "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

"The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty
pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted
in that day. For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is
proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up" (Isaiah
2:11-12).

There are two reasons (at least) why God hates for man to boast
in man.

1) Boasting in man deflects man's attention from the Fountain of
his joy and so ruins his life. It tricks man into replacing
Magnificence with a mirror. Man was not made to admire man. He was
made to admire God. The joy of admiration is prostituted and ruined
when man tries to find galaxy-size Glory in the glow of his own
reflection. God does not like the damage done by boasting in
man.

2) The other reason God hates for man to boast in man is this:
It conveys the conviction that man is more admirable than God. Now
that is, of course, untrue. But we would miss the point if we said:
"God hates lying and therefore God hates boasting in man because it
conveys a lie." No. That's not quite right. What God hates is the
dishonoring of God. Lying happens to be one way that he is
dishonored as the God of truth. So the real problem with man's
boasting in man is that it belittles God.

Boasting in God, on the other hand, does the double opposite: it
honors God and gives man the joy for which he was made: admiring
the infinitely admirable.

Mercifully, therefore, God has doubly excluded boasting by the
way he saves sinners.

First, boasting is excluded by faith. Romans 3:27, "Then what
becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a
law of works? No, but by the law of faith." Why does faith exclude
boasting? The reason is not merely because faith is a gift of God,
which it is. But so are all the fruits of the Spirit. Yet they do
not all exclude boasting in the same way. Faith is unique among all the acts of the soul. It is the
weakest and most helpless and most empty-handed act of the soul. It
is all dependence on Another. In a sense, it is an acted
non-act.

Let me explain. I mean it is an inclination of the soul to seek
help with no expectation that any inclination of the soul is good
enough to obtain help, not even the inclination of faith. It is
unique among all the acts of the soul. Since it is empty-handed, it
is not like a virtue. It looks to the virtue of another. It looks
to the strength of another. It looks to the wisdom of another. It
is entirely other-directed and other-dependent. Therefore, it can't
boast in itself, for it can't even look at itself. It is the kind
of thing that in a sense has no "self." As soon as the unique act
of the soul exists it is attached to another from whom it gets all
its reality.

Second, boasting is excluded by election. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29,
"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God
chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what
is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to
bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might
boast in the presence of God."

God's election is designed to remove boasting. The point is that
God does not choose people with a view to any feature in us that
would allow us to boast. In fact, Romans 9:11 makes clear that
God's election is designed to make God's saving purpose rest
finally on God alone, not any act of the human soul. "Though [Jacob
and Esau] were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad
- in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not
because of works but because of him who calls [God chose Jacob not
Esau]". The contrast with works here is not faith, but "him who
calls." The choice of God rests finally on God alone. He decides
who will believe and undeservingly be saved.

Therefore, let us look away from ourselves and all human help.
Let all boasting in man and man's accomplishments cease. And let us
boast in the Lord.