What it means
The word Paul uses here is rare. It appears nowhere else in the New Testament, and it pictures a braggart: someone who talks themselves up. The King James says “charity vaunteth not itself”, and to vaunt is to show off. Other Bibles say love does not brag, or does not parade itself.
Sharing good news is not boasting. Boasting uses the news to climb, to be seen as a little bigger than the person listening. That is why it sits so close to envy in Paul’s list. Envy cannot bear someone else’s good. Boasting wants others to envy yours.
The church at Corinth had caught the habit of comparing: whose teacher was greater, whose gifts were more impressive. Paul asks them: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Everything worth boasting about was a gift first.
How John Chrysostom read it
John Chrysostom read this line in a way that goes deeper than bragging, and he showed how it guards the lines before it.
“Vaunts not itself; i.e., is not rash. For it renders him who loves both considerate, and grave, and steadfast.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on First Corinthians
“The kind and long-suffering is often ostentatious; but she takes away this vice also.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on First Corinthians
“For it is not the nature of good deeds that uses to lift a man up, but their being witnessed to, and known of, by the many.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 26 on Second Corinthians
Chrysostom read Paul’s rare word as rash: the showy, reckless streak that acts before it thinks. Love, he said, makes a person steady instead. He also saw the trap in the lines just before it. The patient and the kind are exactly the people tempted to let everyone know how patient and kind they are.
And he noticed where the harm is done. Doing good does not puff us up. Being seen doing it does. That is why he admired Paul for keeping a vision of heaven quiet for fourteen years (2 Corinthians 12:2). In Chrysostom’s reading, Paul “would not now have spoken out, except the necessity for doing so had been great.”
What it looks like
- You got good news this week, and at dinner you ask about everyone else’s week first.
- A friend tells a story about their vacation, and you don’t top it with a better one.
- You fixed the problem at work, and you let the whole team share the credit in the meeting.
- You helped someone move last month, and it has never come up since.
What missing it looks like
- “I’m just sharing. If it makes them feel bad, that’s on them.”
- “If I don’t mention what I did, nobody will notice.”
- “It’s not one-upping. I just have a similar story.”
- “I’m only posting it to encourage people.”
Learn from John the Baptist
The prophet who sent his own followers away.
When the crowds began to leave him for Jesus, John said, “That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must increase; I must decrease.” John 3:29-30
Point away from yourself, and be glad when someone else has the room.
Read about John the BaptistOne step to try
Do one good thing this week and tell no one.
“Good done in secret puts an end to vanity, and giving God the credit for your successes puts an end to pride.” Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love
Questions and answers
What does it mean that love does not boast?
It means love does not talk itself up or need to be seen. A boaster uses their wins to stand a little taller than the people listening. Love is more interested in the other person than in its own image. It can let its own good news wait, or go unsaid. It still tells the truth. It just does not need the audience.
What does “vaunteth not itself” mean?
It is the King James wording of this line: “charity vaunteth not itself”. To vaunt is to show off or brag, and charity is the old English word for love. So the line means love does not show off or blow its own trumpet. The New King James says love does not parade itself.
Is it boasting to share good news?
No. Paul tells Christians to rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15), and nobody can do that unless good news gets shared. The difference is the aim. Sharing invites people into your joy. Boasting uses it to rise above them. Here is a simple test. Would you tell it the same way to someone who just lost what you won?
