This verse indicates there are two kinds of honor for Christians.
1. One is an honor that comes from humans or honor given each other by humans. This honor may come from non believers or from Christians. Anyway, it talks about honor coming from a human source.
2. The other is an honor that comes from God only. Scripture says honor that is from "God only." So, if we receive this honor, we may not be understood by other persons or possibly we may even receive persecution from men and women.
It seems these two types of honor collide with each other. Our hope is to receive honor from both men and God. If we can actually receive honor from both men and God, that would be ideal. But, we know from our own experience that if we really seek honor from God, we sometimes have to sacrifice the honor of men. Of course, there is no need to invite hate onto ourselves by others on purpose.
But sometimes, we may lose honor from humans if we really seek for honor from God. For example, let's consider Jesus Christ who came to this world as a human being. As far as this phrase of "honor from men," Jesus himself received the most unjustified dishonor from men. He was labeled as a man who possessed an evil spirit, a lawbreaker, and a deceiver of men and women, and a rebel against God. He was cursed by men, almost stoned, almost thrown from a cliff and ultimately was dishonored by death on the cross through the hands of men respected by society. Even his disciples, though they followed him, had many moments where they misunderstood him completely.
When Jesus was on the earth, he was not properly recognized by other men, nor did he receive appropriate treatment from them. He did not receive much honor from men. It was short lived when he did.
Had Jesus given the priority to receive honor from men, he may have conformed himself to the ways of man in order to elicit their accolades and praise; he may have then chosen the wisdom of this world to acquire fame, reputation, and recognition, but he did not see this as the priority as the natural minded person would. Instead, he gave priority to God's will and sought honor from God only. And Jesus, who chose this way, is our leader of faith and the one who perfected the faith.
Let's think about another man. He is the apostle Paul. He preached the "the gospel of the cross" in the early church age when many Jewish Christians were still holding to the teachings of the law of Moses and refused to refrain from teaching it to new believers. Paul saw no problem for Jewish Christians to teach the keeping of the law, especially the laws pertaining to the Sabbath, circumcision, and dieting. Early Christianity was divided among the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians and Paul understood this clearly and ministered in his sermons to each group accordingly. However, the Jewish Christians soon became hostile to the type of messages that Paul preached which did not require the keeping of the Mosaic law. They first knew that salvation came only by grace through the cross, but as Jews from birth their conscience would not bear any idea that said it was no longer necessary to keep the law in the same spirit as we have always known.
Some people understood this gospel, but other stiff minded people did not accept it. He responded to them like this:
"Galathians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased."
He knew that it was a stumblingblock to preach the Lord's cross among the people who had lived so many years in Moses's law and had been involved in its customs so much. He also knew that this gospel was not acceptable for all men. Moreover he knew that anyone who was earnest for Moses's law would stumble over the cross and could turn into his persecutors. Therefore, he faced the possibility of being persecuted and killed by them. He also knew that he might collide with any believers who did not take a stand against circumcision like Peter. Nevertheless, he gave priority to God's truth and did not give priority to receiving honor or reputation from men.
He sought after the honor that came from God only instead of the honor of men which is available through speaking acceptable, rational, and pleasing words for men and women. He was faithful toward God's word, even if he was not understood by others. Jesus and Paul sought for the kind of honor that comes from God only and shunned the honor of man.
I want to repeat it again. Honor from God only often collides with the honor of men. And when we start to seek for the honor from God only, we will be tested. This is test is whether we really are seeking for the honor that comes from God only and not the honor that comes from forgetful whimsical men. The test or trial we will face will examine our attitudes in whether we really seek for the honor from God only and whether we will succumb to the pressures of being misunderstood by others and can hold out against their criticisms.
Let's do the will of God in the end time.
-end-
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