Pride
by H. E. Phillips

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).
Both the Old and New Testaments abound in the revelation of God’s mind toward the sin of pride that separates man from God. We must learn that a haughty spirit that reveals pride will lead to destruction, and we shall find ourselves miserable hypocrites who do more to hinder the truth than all the false teachers in the world. When one feels himself so important that in his opinion the Lord’s church could not survive without him, and that he has the answer to every question, he needs to read the verses that follow in this paper. Haughtiness is always an evidence that one is more interested in his own will than in the will of God. It may be manifested in many ways: by tongue, looks, deeds, and in attitudes toward others.

“ The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, {and} the tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psalm 12:3). “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible” (Isa. 13:11). “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer” (Psalm 101:5). “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility” (Prov. 18:12). “Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath” (Prov. 21:24). “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin” (Prov. 21:4).

“ He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat” (Prov. 28:25). “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low” (Isa. 2:12). “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished” (Prov. 16:5). “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:16-19).

All these verses clearly show the state of the proud and haughty man before God. These verses from the Old Testament are supported by equally strong language in the New Testament.

In the first chapter of Romans we read of a number of sins of the most depraved nature, and among them we find pride named: “Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents...” (Rom. 1:30).
Now if you will notice the nature of the sins mentioned in this verse, you will see that they are the most harmful sins to one living in this life. Every form of immoral corruption known to man is mentioned here, and in the list is the “proud” person.

The false teacher is classified as a proud man. “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strifes, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself” (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

It is hard for most people to think of a false teacher as being in the class with the depraved person described in Romans 1:30, but the “proud” persons are found in both passages. The pride of the false teacher is found in the fact that he thinks of himself above the word of God. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think...” (Rom. 12:3). “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. 6:3).

We should not be of those who measure themselves by themselves and by men instead of by the word of God. Sin is not defined as that which I dislike or that which I believe to be wrong. Nor is righteousness determined by what I like and believe to be right. As long as I can think of God’s word as being the standard of right and wrong, and reject the doctrines of men (including my own, if I have doctrines), I can more easily avoid the sin of pride.

You may display pride by what you say, by what you do, and by the way you appear to others. Proverbs 6 says God hates a “proud look” and 1 Peter 5:5 says that God “resisteth the proud.” James 4:6 says the same thing.

- Preacher of the Word, July 7, 1996