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Again we can head this list with quotations from the passages in Corinthians that are
before us:
"That no flesh should glory in His presence" (I Cor. 1: 29).
"Therefore let no man glory in men" (I Cor. 3: 21).
In his two fundamental epistles, namely Romans and Ephesians, while the
dispensations differ and the sphere of blessing differs, they are in accord regarding the
question of boasting in self. Having brought the great question of justification by faith
without the deeds of the law to its triumphant conclusion in Rom. 3: 19-26, he puts the
question and supplies the answer.
"Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the
law of faith" (Rom. 3: 27).
In like manner, in Ephesians, he speaks of salvation and boasting:
"By grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2: 8, 9).
The classic example of Abraham occupies a large portion of the opening section of
Rom. 1: 1 - v.11, and there we read:
"What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found?" (Rom. 4: 1).
All that Paul has said is summed up in the words of I Cor. 1: 29 "That no flesh should
glory in His presence".
It might be well if we remember that enopion "In His Presence" is translated "in His
sight" in Rom. 3: 20:
"There shall be no flesh justified in His sight" (Rom. 3: 20).
The intensive form katenopion and its usage makes any boasting in the presence of
God, excepting boasting in the Lord, impossible. The word occurs but five times. Two
references deal with witness (II Cor. 2: 17; 12: 19), the remaining three with complete
and unconditional acceptance.
"According as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame BEFORE Him" (Eph. 1: 4).
"In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in His SIGHT" (Col. 1: 22).
What more fitting conclusion to an article like this can there be than the doxology of
the epistle of Jude:
"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
BEFORE THE PRESENCE of His glory, with exceeding joy, TO the only wise God
our Saviour, be glory, and majesty, dominion and power both now and ever. Amen."
(Jude 24, 25).