God-Centered Affirmation of Those Who Are Not God

Affirmation is the purpose of the universe — specifically, affirmation of God.

Commending the praise of men could meet with justifiable criticism. Landmines are everywhere. Take, for instance, this warning: "The love of our own glory is the greatest competitor with God in our hearts. And sometimes we can cloak this idol in a pious disguise." If this is true, and I think it is, then how can I possibly advocate the praise of people? Am I not fueling idolatrous pride?

The Bible Commends God and People

Even with the Bible's emphasis on humble self-denial and its warnings against pride, the Bible praises people — to the glory of God, ultimately. The chief end of God is not to glorify man, as humanistic thought would have it; the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Meanwhile, the praising of people does not necessarily preclude the praising of God, if the people are commended ultimately for his glory. God is glorified in us when we affirm the work he has done and is doing in others.

For example, the Bible commends the majesty of Solomon: "And the LORD made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel" (1 Chron. 29:25). Note that it is the Lord who made Solomon so great and majestic. Solomon's greatness and majesty are to be recognized and commended, but at the root lay the greatness and majesty of the God who made Solomon so.

The Bible also commends Jabez as being more honorable than his brothers: "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, 'Because I bore him in pain.' Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!' And God granted what he asked" (1 Chron. 4:9–10). Note that Jabez's honorableness is a result of the grace of the God who grants his requests and enlarges his borders. Jabez, clearly the lesser of the two, makes requests of God, the one who has the power Jabez lacks to fulfill such requests. Jabez's honorableness should be recognized and commended, but it stems from the blessing of God in his life, and the one who is the source of the blessing is the one who deserves the honor for Jabez's honorableness.

The Bible commends the excellent wife of Proverbs 31. It is proper to recognize and commend her excellence. In fact, verse 30 explicitly says, "a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Is what? Is to be praised! What I think the Bible is saying there is that a good, proper, healthy, important, and necessary way to praise people is to the glory of God. In the case of the excellent woman, what is one thing that makes her so excellent? She fears the Lord. God is honored by pointing to the woman's excellence in fearing him, the One who defines and exemplifies excellence.

Isn't Praise of Man Idolatrous?

Praise of man and praise of God can be at odds, but not necessarily. And let me join James in raising the stakes: those who know they should do something — like commend commendable people — but don't do it, are sinning: "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" (James 4:17). So we can sin in two ways: by idolatrous commendation, or by failing to commend the commendable. The challenge for us is to not sin in either direction.

When Jesus says, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Luke 20:25), he is not forbidding that people pay tribute to Caesar. We must be on guard against either/or thinking, when the giving of praise can be both/and. When it is both/and, that is, when we are honoring a person and we are honoring God, it should not look like this:

Honor humans and honor God
(with humans listed first and on an equal plane with God)

Rather, it should look like this:

Honor God
Honor humans
(with God listed first and listed above humans)

By acknowledging that it is God who put the governor in office and by thanking God for the governor when he governs well, we honor both the governor and God, and we honor God more than the governor because we give God the credit for establishing the governor. Also, there may come a day when in love we owe the governor an objection or criticism; we never owe God an objection.

Honoring humans is not necessarily idolatry. Consider the following.

Daniel is not dishonoring God when he praises Nebuchadnezzar, saying "You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all ..." (Dan. 2:37–38). The king is glorious, because he has been made so by the God who is more glorious than he. Daniel honors both the king and God by honoring the king in the way he does.

In a later episode, at the first light of dawn when king Darius hurries to the lion's den to see if God had rescued Daniel, Daniel is not diminishing God's honor by saying to king Darius, "Oh king, live forever!" (Dan. 6:21) — a very high blessing to seek on behalf of someone who gave him a death sentence less than twenty-four hours earlier. God is not dishonored, for if King Darius lives forever, it will be God who brings it to pass. God gets the credit for being the one able to do the work.

Gabriel is not stealing praise from God by singling out Mary for a commendation uttered to only one woman in all of human history, by saying, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). He affirms her by (1) greeting her (a simple practice overlooked in many homes to the detriment of many relationships); (2) describing her as favored — she has earned nothing, can boast in nothing, and has passively received this bestowal, yet it is an honor to be savored, to be sure; and (3) declaring that the Lord is with her, for her, proactive on her behalf. Again, Mary is distinguished from all other women as being "favored," and yet ultimately God gets the honor, for he is the one doing the favoring, the gracing, the bestowing.

The writer of Hebrews 11 violates nothing of God's honor by commending the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses' parents, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, and the martyrs. "For by it the people of old received their commendation" (Heb. 11:2). All of these were "commended through their faith ..." (v. 39)....