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NASB | Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. |
Bible Question: What is spiritual pride? Is it a sin to be proud of one's knowledge of the Bible? |
Bible Answer: Cwade: Your question on pride reminds me of the infamous character Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield." Uriah was so proud of his humility that he went around boasting about it. In the final analysis, all pride is spiritual pride: there can be no other kind. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees severely for their pious way of praying on the street corners so that all men might see how devout they were. It was pure hypocrisy, of course, and their assumed piety was nothing more than thinly disguised pride. Pride -- a haughty spirit -- is "I" trouble that no ophthalmologist can cure. Since the misdoings of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, man has wanted to partake of the forbidden fruit so that he "will be like God." [cf. Gen. 3:5]. But who was it that appealed to Eve's pride and thus deceived her? [Gen.3:4]. Pride says, "I am the captain of my soul, the master of my fate." Humanism decrees that man alone has the capacity to rule his life, that he is the center of his universe, that he does not need God, who doesn't exist anyway. This is, of course, a transparent appeal to raw pride; that's why it's so popular in the world. Man is Mr. Big, he is accountable to no one, he rules the roost. That's humanism and humanism is formed and grounded in pride; it panders to fallen humanity who have lost their direction but not their pride..... And to the second arm of your question, cwade, concerning pride in one's knowledge of the Bible. Well, I don't really see how anyone who has anything more a thin, shallow, surface knowledge of Scripture could be proud of it. I say that for this reason: The air-head who is proud of his scriptural knowledge because he can quote a dozen or so verses and knows the Old Testament books from the New is a fool, because the reality is that the more the diligent student learns about the Bible the more he recognizes what little he knows and how vast the plain into which he has never yet traveled. So profound are the truths of the Bible and so vast its treasures, that even though I should study it diligently for a thousand years, I suppose I would have only begun to etch the surface. Thus one who takes pride in his knowledge of the Bible is displaying, for all the world to see, his wretched and abject ignorance. From your posts, gentle fellow, I infer that you have allowed Christ Jesus, not pride, to rule your will and direct your life. May it always be thus with you. --Hank |