What is Pride in the Bible, and is having it a sin?
Find out more about what the Bible says about Pride in this article.
The sin of Pride separates us from God and loved ones and our families. The Lord wants us to bend our Pride and be humble, giving priority to spiritual things and not to the things of the world that take us away from the purpose that God has for each one of his children.
The sin of Pride according to the Bible
In the Holy Scriptures, we can find different kinds of Pride. There is the one that God hates and that we can appreciate in the book of proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance, the evil way, and the wicked mouth, I abhor.”
Similarly, there is the kind of Pride that we feel about a job well done, as can be seen in the word: “So, let each one test his own work, and then he will have reason to boast only about himself. and in no other” (Galatians 6:4).
We also find the kind of Pride we express in the success achieved by someone we love, as reflected in the word: “I am very open with you; I boast much about you; I am full of consolation; I overflow with joy in all our tribulations” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
However, the kind of Pride that comes from self-justification or vanity is sin, and the Lord hates it because it turns out to be a great obstacle to seeking him. In this regard, Psalm 10:4 tells us that the proud are so immersed in themselves that they are very far from the Lord: “The wicked, because of the haughty face of his countenance, does not seek God; there is no God in any of their thoughts.”
In this sense, this type of Pride is haughty, and it is the opposite of the spirit of humility that the Lord seeks: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
This quote refers to the “poor in spirit”, who are those who recognize their spiritual weakness and the inability they have to meet God. On the other hand, the proud are so blinded by their arrogance that they consider that they have no need to have God in their lives, that he must accept them as they are because they deserve his acceptance.
In this way, the proud think that God will do what they want or that they must fully comply with their wishes. They do not recognize God’s sovereignty, authority, and power because they believe they are self-sufficient, and their Pride is such that they do not realize that they need God in their lives.
This distances them from the Lord and locks them up within their arrogance, and God clearly abhors this type of attitude, as reflected in the word: “For the Lord is exalted, and attends to the humble, but the proud he knows from afar” (Psalms 138:6)
The Bible shows us in many verses and in the stories presented there that Pride is a sin and brings consequences. In the book of proverbs 16:18-19, the word tells us, “Pride is before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to humiliate the spirit with the humble than to share spoils with the proud”.
One of the clear examples of the consequences of the sin of Pride is the figure of Satan, who was cast out of heaven for his haughtiness and arrogance. He dared to try to replace God and believe himself better than him, and he thought he could be the legitimate ruler of the universe.
But God will cast Satan into the abyss of hell at God’s final judgment. For those who rise up against God, and claim to be better than him, nothing but chaos awaits them, just as the word indicates: “For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and will destroy Babylon the name and the remnant, son and grandson, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 14:22).
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Pride is a sin that has been a great obstacle for many people to accept and surrender to Our Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a spiritual barrier that they have placed, preventing them from receiving the greatest gift, such as salvation and access to the kingdom from heaven.
When Pride does not let them see that they are sinners and that they need to repent and recognize their weakness before God, nothing can be done about it because the stone they have laid prevents the Holy Spirit from being part of their lives transforming them.
The word prompts us that we should not boast of ourselves, but we must give all the glory to God because without him, we are nothing. The vain opinion of ourselves does not leave traces in the work of God. On the contrary, it distances us from the purpose that the Lord has for us.
But the opinion that God has of us is very important and makes a difference in our lives, as we can appreciate in the word: “because he who praises himself is not approved, but he whom God praises” ( 2 Corinthians 10:18).
In this sense, Pride only allows us to give ourselves credit for something the Lord has done in our lives. Pride is a sin because it takes the glory that belongs to God and takes it for itself. Pride gives way to self-worship.
Pride is not only an evil that haunts unbelievers. It can certainly be present in the life of a Christian. This is an obstacle to the personal and spiritual growth of the person because everything we achieve in this world is impossible if we do not have God to help us and sustain us. This can be clearly seen in the word:
“Because who distinguishes you? Or what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
In this way, the sin of Pride only distances us from God, from our loved ones. It isolates us in a world full of Pride and arrogance, where we think we can do everything without anyone’s help.
This is false because God is the one who sustains us, and thanks to his mercy, we can overcome and pass the trials of this world, all to achieve the purpose that God has for each of his children.
Why does Pride separate us from God?
Pride refers to self-exaltation that alienates us from God and loved ones and people around us. This sin is related to Pride, arrogance, and idolatry, leading to consequences in our lives, where we can even lose the most precious salvation.
In this way, the sin of Pride has the peculiarity of alienating us from everyone and our Lord since the person immersed in this sin is blinded. They lack all empathy and are unaware of their own humanity, which is undoubtedly sinful.
However, we know that we have the opportunity to be justified through the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the Cross of Calvary. But we must repent from the heart, and when a person is blinded in his Pride, he cannot see the way of salvation because he thinks he is self-sufficient.
When we think that we do not need God in our lives, we move away from him because we do not give the Lord first place, which makes us a kind of idolater, a great sin before God. As the word of God says:
“Speak to them, therefore, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any man of the house of Israel who has set his idols in his heart, and sets up the stumbling block of his wickedness before his face, and comes to the prophet, I will answer the LORD who comes according to the multitude of his idols” (Ezekiel 14:4)
In this way, God hates the Pride that leads to idolatry, arrogance and Pride. All this not only distances us from the Holy Spirit but also from our loved ones, making us isolated people mired in vanity and self-centeredness.
In this sense, people, in general, do not feel comfortable being with an arrogant and proud person, so not only does the Lord resist the proud and give grace to the humble according to his sacred word, but the proud find resistance among people and do not behave as children of God.
These people, full of Pride and vanity, cannot apply empathy and put themselves in the place of others since their world revolves around themselves and their iniquities.
However, there is always a way out, and Christ is the answer to this evil that haunts humanity today. Pride can be overcome if we want to do it, opening our hearts and recognizing that we are weak. God does not reject a contrite and humbled heart. So God’s mercy is forever.
How to overcome Pride according to the Bible?
If we want to overcome the sin of Pride, we must first recognize that we are wrong in the eyes of God and ask him for direction to help break that tie that keeps us from salvation.
In this way, by coming to the feet of Christ, acknowledging our sin before his presence, we can get out of the hole in which we are. Even if we are Christians, we can also fall into Pride and boast, giving ourselves merits that only belong to the Lord.
So the most positive way to overcome the sin of Pride is to have a true encounter with the Lord, where being under the throne of his grace and glory is that we can visualize ourselves and recognize our sins before the presence of the Lord.
Only when we have a real relationship with the Holy Spirit can we overcome what separates us from God. In the Bible, we find prophets, kings, chosen ones who recognized that without the help of the Lord, they could do nothing. So the Holy Scriptures show us all the promises that God has for our lives, among which they stand out, is that if we humble ourselves before God, he will exalt us.
In this sense, the Bible provides us with many teachings and gives us many beautiful promises from God. Therefore, as believers, we must instruct ourselves every day in the word and fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit.
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In the word of God, we can find all the answers to the questions we have and know the power of God, who, with his teachings, shows us the path we must follow, leaving aside the sin of Pride and getting closer to him every day.
On the other hand, it is important to maintain communion with God and pray and prostrate ourselves before the Lord, recognizing that we need his Holy Spirit to overcome life’s adversities.
In this way, the importance of repentance and doing our part to change should be highlighted since God can completely transform your life if you recognize your weaknesses before him. Ask him for the strength to be humble of heart, be honest with God and reveal your weaknesses to him.
In this sense, the only way to overcome the sin of Pride and arrogance is through humility. Our Heavenly Father rebukes people full of Pride and grants grace to the humble since the Lord Himself does not reject a humble heart. Just as his word says: “The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit; You will not despise a contrite and humbled heart, O God” (Psalm 51:17).
