Confidence

Confidence in Scripture splits along its object. Confidence directed at God, his name, and his promised mercy is consistently honored — it draws near, it speaks, it stands unshaken. Confidence directed at one's own strength, at human allies, at riches, at religious performance, or at flesh of any kind is consistently broken — it is betrayed by the trusted party, exposed by adversity, or simply outrun by death. The same vocabulary is used of both, so the texts make their point not by changing words but by tracking whose ground is named.

Confidence Betrayed in Human Dealings

The sober side of the topic begins with confidence between persons that the Bible records as exploited. Joshua's covenant with the Gibeonites is the headline case: the men of Israel "took of their provision, and didn't ask counsel at the mouth of Yahweh," and on the strength of an unverified report Joshua "made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation swore to them" (Jos 9:14-15). David in flight uses the same currency in reverse — he tells Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me a business" (1Sa 21:2), gaining the priestly bread and Goliath's sword on a confidence the priest had no reason to doubt. Joab twice turns the gesture of fellowship into a weapon. He pulls Abner aside "into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died" (2Sa 3:27); and to Amasa he says, "Is it well with you, my brother?" and "took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him," then "struck him with it in the body, and shed out his insides to the ground" (2Sa 20:9-10). The pattern of these texts is uniform: peace-words, oath, kiss, brother — and the betrayal that turns them inside out.

Confidence in Self

The other half of misplaced confidence is internal — the trust a person places in his own strength, wisdom, or works. Proverbs gives it the bluntest verdict: "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool" (Pr 28:26). Sirach's sage repeats the warning in the same idiom, "Do not lean on your strength, And do not say, It is in the power of my hand" (Sir 5:1), and adds the consequence at the day of wrath, "Do not trust in possessions of falsehood, For they will not profit in the day of wrath" (Sir 5:8). Paul names the exact disposition God's discipline is designed to dismantle: "we ourselves have had the sentence of death inside ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (2Co 1:9). Christ's parable of the Pharisee and the publican shows the religious form of self-trust — the Pharisee "stood and prayed these things to himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as the rest of men… I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get" (Lu 18:11-12). The ledger is recited as a ground of confidence before God, and the parable's verdict rules it out.

Romans' diagnosis of Israel runs along the same fault. The pursuit was "not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling" (Rom 9:32); and again, "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" (Rom 10:3). Galatians names the verdict on the works-route: "as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse" (Gal 3:10). The Epistle to the Greeks states the same conviction at a more sweeping register — humanity stands "convicted in the former time as unworthy of life by our own works" and has "made it plain that by ourselves it was impossible to enter the kingdom of God" (Gr 9:1). And Sirach's audit of the unrighteous offerer's worship makes a parallel point — "The sacrifice of an unrighteous man is a mocking sacrifice, And the oblations of the wicked are not acceptable" (Sir 34:21); the ungodly are "not pacified for sins by the multitude of sacrifices" (Sir 34:23); and the man "fasting for his sins, And going again and doing the same" — "who will hearken to his prayer? And what has he profited by humiliating himself?" (Sir 34:31). Multiplied works do not yield a confidence God will honor while the bearer's life contradicts them.

Confidence in Allies, Resources, and Flesh

Closely related to self-trust is the trust placed in horses, walls, kings, and wealth. Psalm 20 sets it as a comparison: "Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses; But we will make mention of the name of Yahweh our God" (Ps 20:7). Psalm 49 sets it as an inability: "Those who trust in their wealth, And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him" (Ps 49:6-7). Jeremiah states the principle as a curse: "Cursed is the [noble] man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from [the Speech of] Yahweh" (Jer 17:5). Even the proverb of the field commander makes the point in a soldier's idiom — "Don't let him who girds on [his armor] boast himself as he who puts it off" (1Ki 20:11). Paul's word to the Corinthians collapses the same confidences in a phrase: "let no one glory in men" (1Co 3:21), with Romans adding the corresponding inward warning, "Don't be wise in your⁺ own conceits" (Rom 12:16).

Instances of False Confidence

Scripture supplies a roll-call of named instances. The builders of Babel resolve, "Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top [may reach] to heaven, and let us make us a name; or else we will be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth" (Gen 11:4) — the city, the tower, the name, all proposed against the very scattering they are designed to forestall. Saul, told that he had not waited for Samuel as commanded, defends himself: "I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn't come within the days appointed… I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt-offering" (1Sa 13:11-12). Sennacherib, in a posture identical with Babel's at much grander scale, boasts, "When I mount my chariot I will come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars, and its choice fir-trees" (2Ki 19:23). Asa is rebuked through Hanani — "Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and haven't relied on Yahweh your God, therefore the host of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand" — the contrast pointed up by his earlier success: "because you relied on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand" (2Ch 16:7-8). Hezekiah, building Jerusalem's defenses, is faulted on the same axis — "you⁺ also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you⁺ didn't look to him who had done this, neither had you⁺ respect to him who purposed it long ago" (Isa 22:11). Jonah's confidence is geographical — he "rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh… and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh" (Jonah 1:3). And Peter, told that all would be offended, "spoke vehemently, If I must die with you, I will definitely not deny you" (Mr 14:31), and to Jesus directly, "Lord, I am ready to go both to prison and to death with you" (Lu 22:33). The reply is a flat prediction: "before the rooster crows twice, will deny me thrice" (Mr 14:30; cf. Lu 22:34).

The Presumption of Tomorrow

A particular form of false confidence is the assumption that the future is at one's disposal. James reads it as practical atheism: "Come now, you⁺ who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and will gain: whereas you⁺ don't know what will be on the next day. What is your⁺ life? For you⁺ are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. Instead you⁺ ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that" (Jas 4:13-15). Sirach gives the proverbial form — "Do not say, What do I need? And now what good thing is for me?" and "Do not say, I have enough with me. And now what evil thing will concern me?" (Sir 11:23-24) — and pairs it with the forward-look that does not presume: "in time, his hope will blossom" (Sir 11:22).

Boasting in God

The texts do not deny that humans must glory in something; they redirect what is glorified in. Isaiah states the constructive principle — "In the [Speech] of Yahweh will all the seed of Israel be justified, and will glory" (Isa 45:25) — and Jeremiah names the only legitimate object: "let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh" (Jer 9:24). David models it personally: "My soul will make her boast in [the Speech of] Yahweh: The meek will hear of it, and be glad" (Ps 34:2); and the sons of Korah corporately: "In [the Speech of] God we have made our boast all the day long, And we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah" (Ps 44:8). Paul cites the principle twice — "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord" (1Co 1:31; 2Co 10:17) — and exposes the abuse of the same vocabulary by the merely religious self: "if you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God" (Rom 2:17), where the name and the rest and the boast in God are stacked together as items of identity rather than realities.

Holy Boldness

Where the object of confidence is right, Scripture authorizes a confidence that approaches and speaks. Paul calls it boldness in approach: "in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him" (Eph 3:12). Hebrews prescribes the manner of approach — "Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help [us] in time of need" (Heb 4:16) — and grounds the entry in Christ's blood: "Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus" (Heb 10:19). John names its eschatological direction: "love has been made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world" (1Jn 4:17). Paul promises the same boldness as a reward of faithful diaconate: those who serve well "gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus" (1Ti 3:13). Joseph of Arimathaea is the standing example — "a councilor of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God; and he boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus" (Mr 15:43). And the Maccabean record gives the corporate variant: Lysias "saw that his men were put to flight, and how bold the Jews were, and that they were ready either to live, or to die manfully" (1Ma 4:35) — a boldness whose ground is the live-or-die-manfully readiness of those defending the sanctuary.

Composure under Threat

A particular display of right-grounded confidence is composure where alarm would be expected. Christ at the storm waking moves directly from sleep to command: he "rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm" (Mr 4:39). Christ before Pilate, with the cross already in view, replies, "You would have no power against me, except it were given you from above: therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin" (Joh 19:11) — measured and unhurried. The same composure is commanded of the disciples: "Don't let your⁺ heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me" (Joh 14:1). Peter applies it under persecution — "even if you⁺ should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed [are you⁺]: and don't be afraid of their fear, neither be troubled" (1Pe 3:14). And Paul gives it eschatological reinforcement, promising the afflicted "rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven" (2Th 1:7), and an unshaken mind under false-alarm pressures — "you⁺ are not quickly shaken from your⁺ mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand" (2Th 2:2).

Paul's Confidence

Paul's own confidence-vocabulary is the New Testament's clearest demonstration of where misplaced trust gets relocated. Having said that he and his coworkers "had the sentence of death inside ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (2Co 1:9), he uses the same word, fully reattached, in writing to the Philippians: "having this confidence, I know that I will stay, yes, and stay with all of you⁺, for your⁺ progress and joy in the faith" (Php 1:25). Paul's confidence about a forthcoming visit is not a presumption upon tomorrow; it is a confidence in what God who raises the dead will do for the church through him — the same confidence the texts everywhere license, set against the false confidences they everywhere expose.