The Scriptural View

What is the Scriptural view of praising fellow humans?  Jehovah sets a pattern of us to follow in this regard. We are told in the Bible that we will be praised if we do Jehovah's will.  The apostle Paul says that "each one will  have his praise come to him from God."  Peter tells us that the tested quality of our faith "may be found a cause for praise."  So the fact that Jehovah will praise Humans shows  us that giving genuine praise is kind, loving, and beneficial act, one not to be overlooked. -1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Peter 1:7. 

Another source from which praise can come to us, according to the Bible, is government authorities who observe our good conduct and honestly commend us.  "Keep doing good," we are told, "and you will have praise from it." (Romans 13:3) We may also receive praise from people who sincerely believe what they are saying and who have no ulterior  motive in praising us.  the inspired Scripture  say at Proverbs 27:2:  "May a stranger, and not your own mouth, praise you."  This indicates that accepting praise from humans is proper.  

 (Note: The only authority I would want praise from is God.  The government is too corrupt for me to care what they think about me and it would not mean anything anyway, because the praise would mean nothing coming from the government. Yes, I abide the laws that God wants me to abide by as far as humanly rules, but the most important rules I obey are God's first and foremost.)  

No so with giving or receiving flattery. Why is flattering speech so displeasing to Jehovah?  For one thing, it is insincere, and Jehovah condemns  insincerity.  (Compare Proverbs 23:6, 7)  Further, it is not honest.  Describing people who warrant God's disapproval, the psalmist says:  "All they do is lie to one another, flattering lips, talk from a double heart.  May Yahweh slice off every flatter lip." -Psalm 12:2, 3, J.B.

Above all, flattery is unloving. It is motivated by selfishness. After speaking of the flatterers, the psalmist David quotes them as saying:  "With our tongue we shall prevail. Our lips are with us. Who will be a master to us?"   Jehovah describes  such selfish ones as 'despoilers of the afflicted ones.' Their flattering tongues have been used, not to build up others, but to despoil them and afflict them. -Psalm 12:4, 5. 


Next time: Flattery-A Trap

From the Watchtower magazine, 1998