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Seven Deadly Sins – Pride

If there was to be a prize for the greatest of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, then pride would surely win the day. One only has to look inward for a moment to discover it alive and well, thirsting for another opportunity to self-glorify. It is the master of disguise, with any number of faces, that sneaks up when you are least expecting it.

This is why pride is so dangerous: pride strikes when things are going well, when you think that you’ve figured it all out. It is important at this point to note the difference between pride and self-esteem; self-esteem is important, it recognises that our self-worth is found in Jesus and in the constant, unchanging and glorious character of God. Pride, by contrast, occurs when we begin to link our self-worth with our own character, ability and successes.

Pride can come in many forms, but I want to focus on a few of the more subtle ways that it can creep into our lives. For some will experience the ‘Pride of Power’. This type of pride occurs when our egos feel secure in their own ability and forget their creaturely limitations. This can be especially problematic for those of us who work or live in environments where this kind of pride is seen as a virtue and not a vice.

For others, ‘Pride of Knowledge’ is problematic as Christians slip into an attitude which says that they know everything and the truth that they know is final and complete for all eternity. This can be a very dangerous attitude, suggesting an exclusive superiority while forgetting the reality that Jesus alone is complete truth – a truth that is revealed in scripture for all to read. This kind of pride can create problems within the church and has historically been the cause of much conflict and division. But it can also affect the way that we do our evangelism as it leads to a smug and patronising attitude that is more likely to offend than convict.

Finally, we can fall into a ‘Pride of Virtue’ whereby we feel that we are morally superior to those around us, incorrectly equating our own standards with God’s standards.

Dietrich Bonheoffer goes to the heart of the problem of pride when he writes:

My sin is of necessity the worst, the most grievous, the most reprehensible. Brotherly love will find any number of extenuations for the sins of the others; only for my sin is there no apology whatsoever…He who would serve his brother in the fellowship must sink all the way down to these depths of humility. How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?

Here Bonheoffer is meditating on Paul’s declaration that he was the foremost of sinners (1 Tim 1:15). Strikingly, Paul declares this in the context of his work as an apostle and not as he reminisces about his past life as the chief persecutor of the Christians. Despite the revelation that has been given to him and his exalted position as an apostle, Paul still knows that he is a sinner, justified only through faith in Christ Jesus. To contain our pride, we with Bonheoffer and Paul must in humility, acknowledge our own sinfulness and our utter reliance on Christ our Saviour.