What is the problem with pride?
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553): Adam and Eve. Beech wood, 1533. Bode-Museum, Berlin (Erworben 1830, Königliche Schlösser, Gemäldegalerie Kat. 567) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
We may say with Aquinas that pride was first revealed when Lucifer attempted to set his throne on high in proud independence of God (Is. 14:12–14). The fallen devil (Lk. 10:18) instilled the craving to be as gods into Adam and Eve (Gn. 3:5), with the result that man’s entire nature was infected with pride through the Fall (cf. Rom. 1:21–23). The ‘condemnation of the devil’ is associated with pride in 1 Tim. 3:6 (cf. ‘the snare of the devil’ in 1 Tim. 3:7; 2 Tim. 2:26); pride was his undoing and remains the prime means by which he brings about the undoing of men and women. Hence we find a sustained condemnation of human arrogance throughout the OT, especially in the Psalms and Wisdom Literature. In Pr. 8:13 both gē’â, ‘arrogance’, and ga’awâ, ‘insolence’, are hateful to the divine wisdom: their manifestation in the form of national pride in Moab (Is. 16:6), Judah (Je. 13:9) and Israel (Ho. 5:5) are especially denounced by the prophets. The notorious ‘pride which goes before a fall’ is called gā’ôn, ‘swelling excellence’, in Pr. 16:18, and is rejected in favour of the lowly spirit. ‘Haughtiness’, gōḇah, appears as a root cause of atheism in Ps. 10:4. It is the downfall of Nebuchadrezzar in Dn. 4:30, 37. A milder word, zāḏôn ‘presumption’, is applied to David’s youthful enthusiasm in 1 Sa. 17:28, but in Ob. 3 even this is regarded as a deceitful evil. Further warnings against pride occur in the later Wisdom Literature, e.g. Ecclus. 10:6–26.
Greek teaching during the four last centuries bc was at variance with Judaism in regarding pride as a virtue and humility as despicable. Aristotle’s ‘great-souled man’ had a profound regard for his own excellence; to underestimate it would have stamped him as mean-spirited. Similarly, the Stoic sage asserted his own moral independence and equality with Zeus. Insolence (hybris), however, is a deep source of moral evil in the Greek tragedy (cf., e.g., the Antigone of Sophocles).
The Christian ethic consciously rejected Greek thought in favour of the OT outlook. Humility was accorded supreme excellence when Christ pronounced himself ‘gentle and lowly in heart’ (Mt. 11:29). Conversely, pride (hyperēphania) was placed on a list of defiling vices proceeding from the evil heart of man (Mk. 7:22). In the Magnificat (Lk. 1:51f.) God is said to scatter the proud and exalt the meek. In both Jas. 4:6 and 1 Pet. 5:5, Pr. 3:34 is quoted to emphasize the contrast between the meek (tapeinois), whom God favours, and the proud (hyperēphanois), whom God resists. Paul couples the insolent (hybristas) and the boastful (alazonas) with the proud sinners in his sketch of depraved pagan society in Rom. 1:30; cf. 2 Tim. 3:2. Arrogant display or ostentation (alazoneia) are disparaged in Jas. 4:16 and 1 Jn. 2:16. Love, in 1 Cor. 13:4, is stated to be free from both the arrogance and the self-conceit which mar the heretical teachers of 1 Tim. 6:4.
Paul saw pride (‘boasting’ in knowledge of the law and in works/righteousness) as the characteristic spirit of Judaism and a direct cause of Jewish unbelief. He insisted that the gospel is designed to exclude boasting (Rom. 3:27) by teaching men that they are sinners, that self-righteousness is therefore out of the question, and that they must look to Christ for their righteousness and take it as a free gift by faith in him. Salvation is ‘not because of works, lest any man should boast’; it is all of grace. No man, therefore, not even Abraham, may glory in the achievement of his own salvation (see Eph. 2:9; 1 Cor. 1:26–31; Rom. 4:1–2). The gospel message of righteousness through Christ sounds the death-knell of self-righteousness in religion; that is why it was a stumbling-block to the proud Jews (Rom. 9:30–10:4).
This NT emphasis made a deep impact on early and mediaeval ethics. Augustine, Aquinas and Dante all characterized pride as the ultimate sin, while Milton and Goethe dramatized it.
Bibliography. ERE; Arndt; MM; R. Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man, 1944–5, ch. 7; E. Güting, C. Brown, NIDNTT 3, pp. 27–32; G. Bertram, TDNT 8, pp. 295–307, 525–529.
D. H. Tongue.
