Religious pride is a problem, a major problem. It subtly seeps into our thinking until we are completely absorbed with ourselves.
This lethal gas can fill our hearts before, during, and after religious activities. For instance, after we have gone to church, or prayed, or read the Bible, we can be proud of what we have done. Or before going to church we can be motivated to attend to be seen by others.
Jesus addressed religious pride throughout his ministry. He accused the Pharisees of giving to the poor, praying, and fasting only to be seen by others (Matt. 6). They weren’t thinking about God and his kingdom; their eyes were on themselves as they fulfilled their religious activities. In other words, they were hypocrites or actors.
Defining Pride
What is pride? Pride is essentially thinking too highly of ourselves. In Romans 12, Paul says, “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (v. 3). This doesn’t mean we are not allowed to take satisfaction in our accomplishments. Paul also writes, “Each one should take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else” (Gal 6:4). Our downfall is that we are constantly comparing ourselves to others and thinking we are better than them. For example, when students brag about their grade on a test, it is because they are comparing themselves with their classmates. They are not taking “pride in themselves alone.”
Religious Pride
Religious pride is thinking too highly of ourselves in spiritual matters. It is playing the comparison game in religious matters. Karl Barth (1886-1968) insightfully writes:
Whenever men suppose themselves conscious of the emotion of nearness to God, whenever they speak and write of divine things, whenever sermon-making and temple-building are thought of as an ultimate human occupation, whenever men are aware of divine appointment and of being entrusted with a divine mission, sin veritably abounds—unless the miracle of forgiveness accompanies such activity . . . No human demeanor is more open to criticism, more doubtful, or more dangerous, than religious demeanor. No undertaking subjects men to so severe a judgment as the undertaking of religion. (Galli, 50)
We are prone to take pride in our achievements. How much more so when we think we have achieved something for God? Regarding the study of theology, Barth says:
Of all the disciplines theology is the fairest, the one that moves the head and heart most fully, the one that comes closest to human reality, the one that gives the clearest perspective on the truth which every disciple seeks . . . But of all the disciplines, theology is also the most dangerous, the one in which a man is most likely to end in despair, or—and this is almost worse—arrogance. (132)
The study of God should lead to deep humility. After all, we are tiny humans trying to understand the infinite God. But because all “knowledge puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1), even theology can result in an arrogant attitude.
How can these good things have negative consequences?
Pride.
“I love God” becomes “I love God.”
Words remain the same, but an unhealthy focus on the self has emerged.
The Solution to Religious Pride
What is the solution?
Since pride is an excessive focus on the self, we must continually look outside ourselves to Christ.
What do we see when we look to Christ and his cross?
Our need for forgiveness and the offer of forgiveness.
Receiving forgiveness is a pride-crushing experience.
There’s one more essential point. Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) said “a righteousness ‘by grace’ may lead to new forms of Pharisaism if it does not recognize that forgiveness is as necessary at the end as at the beginning of the Christian life” (Niebuhr, 105).
Did you get that?
Even the doctrine of salvation by grace—a teaching that should destroy human arrogance—can turn us into modern-day Pharisees if we don’t remember our need for ongoing forgiveness.
So here’s how to stop the diffusion of religious pride in our hearts: focus on Christ and his continual gift of forgiveness. It’s hard to be proud when we are constantly receiving divine mercy. In the words of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
After graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I served as a high school Bible teacher in Asia. I enjoy traveling, writing, and playing the drums. For a deep dive into church history and the character of God, see my book Surprised by Hell.
I live with my 83 year old mother. She constantly tells me and everyone she meets that God gave her “a gift” when she says that, she often will proceed to say “there it is”, “I just got goosebumps” I’m just wondering if this is a form of spiritual arrogance? She will often talk about other people as well, for example., my brother and his wife and how they live their lives, she also says money doesn’t matter to her yet, she often talks about having to pay this bill or something else. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother but, I find myself disliking the way she seems to put herself on a pedestal, or how she professes to be all about Jesus, yet she doesn’t seem to humble herself at all. I have asked her not to talk about or judge others because doing so would not be appealing to God.