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PRIDE

 

Can any Christian take pride in their actions.  Paul suggests you can.  In this blog post, I examine what the Bible tells us about pride and its flip side, humility and how both qualities reveal on what, and in whom, men and women find their security.

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else… (Galatians 6:4)

Greek word translated is καύχημα; kauchéma (Strong’s 2745) and means ‘boast’; properly, it is the grounds for boasting; in other words pride, self-glorification or exultation.

Pride is almost always a negative quality in Scripture but in his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul, within a narrow definition, says a person can take some credit for their actions.  This is an important point, because the follower of Christ is not a puppet, God continues to grant license to make poor decisions along with wise ones, and do evil along with good.

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JUDGING

 

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.  Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.  So, when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?  (Romans 2:1-3)

Paul’s epistles were not originally arranged in chapters, and ‘therefore’ links to the text in chapter 1.  Verses 18 onwards to the chapter end (v32) Paul describes the godless and lawless in the most explicit terms – and yet, he tells the reader to not sit in judgment.

This echoes Jesus’ own words from the ‘Sermon on the Mount’:

‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you…’(Matthew 7:1-2)

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