Pride
By Wayne Boyer
If we are to examine ourselves faithfully and honestly, we will most likely find some form of pride in our life. In his book, Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges goes as far to list pride as one of the sins that we find acceptable, or tolerate, in our life. So what is pride, and what does the Bible teach about pride? What makes pride so evil in the eyes of God and most importantly, what is the cure for pride? I will attempt to answer those questions in this brief article.
What is Pride?
Both the Hebrew and Greek translations contain positive forms of the word which are translated as “exalted”, “excellence”, “glory”, and “majesty.” In the negative sense, the word is always translated as “pride”, “arrogance”, “haughty”, or “lofty.” Because of these translations, one may conclude there are forms of pride that are not sinful, but I am concerned with understanding the negative sense of the word for the purpose of addressing sin and growing spiritually.
The Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines pride as “an inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others; insolence; rude treatment of others; and insolent exultation.”
For a more modern definition Dictionary.com defines pride as “a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.”
In these two definitions we see that pride is described as a level of self-esteem that is unrestrained (inordinate) and irrational (unreasonable) in its assessment of self and others, leading to a contemptuous and domineering spirit (insolence). We also see that pride can be hidden in the heart or openly displayed in our conduct. While pride clearly has an effect on our relationship with others, we need to recognize if, and when, these qualities are present in our relationship with the Heavenly Father.
What Does the Bible Teach About Pride?
Pride is sinful. Pride reflects a problem with our heart. Habakkuk says, “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him” (Hab. 2:4). As Jesus addresses the Pharisees, He says, “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23). Here, Christ names “pride” and warns us it defiles man, and He calls it evil. We need to see the sin of pride for what it is – evil. Unfortunately, not only in our culture but even in some of our Christian communities we have lost sight of our sin as being evil; that is, wicked, hurtful, and of no worth.
God is opposed to the proud. We have a jealous God. However, His jealousy must not be viewed as the sinful jealousy we are acquainted with, but it must be understood as a zeal for His name and character. As Strong’s expounds, “He is the sole object of human worship and does not tolerate man’s sin. His holiness does not tolerate competitors or those who sin against Him.” On behalf of God, Isaiah proclaims, “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8). James specifically says, “God is opposed to the proud” (James 4:6). We need to understand there is no room for our desires outside of God’s counsel and will.
Pride leads to destruction. This is probably one of the most important lessons we need to learn in our life. All sin can be traced to pride and therefore, when we fail to root out this sin we can be sure it will not go well with us. Remember, pride is directly opposed to God and even hostile toward Him, competing for sovereign control over our life. Solomon spoke frequently of pride; he warns, “when pride comes, then comes dishonor; before destruction, the heart of man is haughty; pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling; and a man’s pride will bring him low” (Proverbs 11:2, 18:12, 16:18, 29:23).
God will not leave pride unpunished. “The proud look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased” (Isaiah 2:11-12).
What Makes Pride Evil in the Eyes of God?
In his sermon, The Feelings and Employments of Saints in Heaven, Edward Payson expounds,
“Ever since the fall, man has been a proud creature. Indeed the exercise of pride was one essential part of his fall. Not content with the honor and immortality with which he was crowned, he proudly desired to become as a god, knowing good and evil. The same proud disposition has ever since constituted a principal feature in the character of fallen man. It essentially consists in a disposition to exalt and arrogate glory to ourselves, and thus withhold it from him to whom alone it is due. Hence the constant struggle which has ever existed among fallen men for pre-eminence. Hence the love and desire for the chief room, and the uppermost seats. Hence, too, the little success which attends the preaching of the gospel. Pride forms the principal obstacle which exists in the heart of man to the reception of its humbling doctrines. And even after the pride of the heart is so far subdued as to admit these doctrines, it still maintains its existence, and occasions the Christian more trouble than all other sinful propensities united. It is the very last of his internal enemies, over which he obtains any victory; and many, many victories does it previously obtain over him.”
Pride exalts self above God (idolatry, slander). In the years of the divided kingdom, when Israel employed Syria for protection against the Assyrians and then threatened Judah for not participating in their alliance, the king of Judah (Ahaz) then employed Assyria for protection out of fear of its northern neighbors. Both arrangements proved to be ungodly alliances and further showcased the estrangement of God’s chosen people from Himself. However, in God’s providence, Hezekiah was raised up as king of Judah. Scripture says he trusted and clung to the Lord and did not depart from Him. It also says he “rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him” (2 Kings 1:5-7). Hezekiah’s lack of loyalty to the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) only welcomed more hostility and threats from the king via his spokesman, Rabshakeh. Here we find the most blatant and prideful response by the spokesman on behalf of his master, the king: “Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (Isaiah 36:18, 20).
The spokesman very much exemplifies the words of the king of Babylon, even Satan himself, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13, 14). Succinctly put by Thomas Manton, pride “is a lifting up of the heart above God and against God and without God.”
Do we recognize the desire to elevate oneself above God? While we would never admit or declare such hostility to our God, we must understand that the seed of pride in our heart can blossom into such hostility. Spurgeon reminds us, “the moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory in the universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High. Perhaps one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life is to learn this sentence – ‘not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be glory’” (CHS Morning – Aug. 15).
Pride exalts self above neighbor (lack of love). Probably the most noteworthy group of people in the Bible accused of pride is the Pharisees. We often have Luke’s account in mind when he describes the Pharisee as standing and praying this to himself: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). Here the Pharisee has revealed his arrogant heart by setting himself apart from others, implying immunity from sin. But Christ condemns them for their actions, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation” (Matthew 23:13, 14). Can we think of anything worse than shutting off the kingdom of heaven from our neighbor or drawing them away from God?
In a similar manner, Ezekiel points us to Sodom. From Jude we understand Sodom was destroyed for its sexual immorality (Jude 1:7) but Ezekiel records another reason, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me” (Ezekiel 16:49, 50).
Do we love our neighbor, or do was cast judgements on them and fail to help meet their needs? Do our actions testify to the place of our heart? Pride will display an ungodly image to others, which is a form of profanity.
Pride blinds oneself to their true condition (deceitful). Payson says it is “the principal obstacle which exists in the heart of man to the reception of its humbling doctrines.” From the beginning, sin prospered through a mechanism of deceit; deceitfulness is the modus operandi of Satan. Paul says “the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” (2 Cor. 11:3). We see examples and warnings of this as it relates to the sin of pride. In Jeremiah’s prophecy against Judah, we find the people had forsaken the Lord God by idolatry and sinful dependence on man. Yet amazingly enough, the LORD asks of them, “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals’ (Jer. 2:23)?” Furthermore, they brazenly declared, “I am innocent; surely His anger is turned away from me” (Jer. 2: 35). But the LORD says, “I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned’” (Jer. 2:35). Jeremiah (and Obadiah) later goes on to prophesy against Edom, saying, “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you…I will bring you down from there, declares the LORD” (Jer. 49:16; Ob. 1:3, 4).
But how could the people of God be so deceived? We need a spirit of humility in our assessment because we are susceptible to the same sins. Paul warns us of this susceptibility when speaking of the restoration of one(s) caught in sin. He says, “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6:3). To the Corinthians he reminded them that everything they had they received from God, so there was no room for boasting and an arrogant spirit (1 Cor. 4:6, 7). In fighting the deceitfulness of sin we do well to heed the instruction from the writer of Hebrews, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called, ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).
What is the Cure for Pride?
In a word, the cure for pride is Christian humility – humility is the antithesis of pride. However, knowledge of the antidote doesn’t make the medicine easy to ingest. When we recognize that pride is bred deep in our sinful nature and Satan uses it to appeal to our fleshly desires, we should understand that the fight for humility is really a spiritual battle and not something we can fight for, or even desire, in our own strength. We must turn to our Father God, through the intercessory work of Christ, and by obedience to the Spirit within us. While there are a few good books that expound on humility, there are some basic principles to help us walk in humility:
Look to Christ’s example. There’s no greater example of humility than in Jesus Christ our Savior, so it stands to reason He is our prime example in all things pertaining to life and godliness. Paul instructs us to “have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). When we look at Christ’s humiliation it’s hard to imagine there is any circumstance in which we would need to elevate ourselves above others or vindicate ourselves before men.
Deny yourself. In encouraging the Philippians, Paul says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). Notice the phrase, “humility of mind.” This is a good reminder that our battle with pride is in the heart, not in outside circumstances. As Paul says elsewhere, we are to put off the old self and its desires and “be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:22-24). We are not to be “conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of [our] minds (Romans 12:2).
Walk by the Spirit. Paul wrote to the Galatian church out of a concern they were deserting the true gospel, of justification by faith in Christ, for the false teaching of justification by works of the Law, in particular, circumcision. There were among the church false teachers who were disturbing, troubling, and hindering the Galatian believers from obeying the true gospel. The false teachers had a desire to draw attention to themselves (4:17). However, Paul reminds the Galatians that they were to love and serve one another rather than bite and devour another. Paul instructed them to walk by the Spirit so that they would not carry out the desires of the flesh (5:16); and in this the fruit of the Spirit would be displayed in their lives (i.e. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control). Paul goes on to say, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” (5:25-26). So we see here that when we walk by the Spirit we are others-centered and have no room for boasting or animosity towards others. Paul says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24).
Repent and submit to God. When we examine ourselves and pride is revealed, we need to come to a place of confession and repentance. As we enter into communion with the Father, there is no room for Satan, the world, or our flesh. James instructs us, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:7-10). How sweet to know that in our brokenness before God there is forgiveness of sin and we are lifted up in righteousness through the blood of Christ.
So as we battle pride in our lives, let us recognize it for the idolatry it is and be quick to repent; let us look to Christ as our example and submit to the teaching of the Word; and let us commune with the Father, seeking a humble spirit.
As Christ ceased not to be a King because He was like a servant,
not to be a lion because He was like a lamb, nor to be God because He was made man,
nor to be a judge because he was judged;
so a man doeth not lose his honor by humility, but he shall be honored for his humility.
(Henry Smith, The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations 2011)
