… so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
Summary: Paul’s use of the word “boast” allows us to take another look at our dual nature in Christ.
“Boasting” is an interesting word. The Greek word Paul used is “kaúchēma,” which can mean “boasting,” “glorying,” or “rejoicing” (Strongs G2745*). The Strong’s Concordance adds an interesting note about this word. It says it can be used in a “good or bad sense.”
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross…
Experimenting is an age-old way of testing something to see if it is true. For example, when somebody says, “Try this, you’ll like it!” you might believe them or you might not. When I was twelve, my uncle handed me an oyster and gave me that line. It tasted terrible! “Try it again,” he said. I did. It didn’t taste any better the second time. So he took the oyster, tried it, and spit it out. “No wonder,” he said, “it’s rotten!” So I still don’t know if I like oysters or not, but I do know that I don’t like rotten ones.
There is another kind of experiment that can be helpful. It is called a thought experiment. In this kind of experiment, we imagine a situation and then ask ourselves questions about what we see. I think it might be helpful to do an experiment like this to help understand today’s passage.