Christian Living
THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told a parable. Two men went to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’" (Luke 18:9-12).
"But the tax-collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breasts and said, ‘God, have mercy on me a sinner.’"
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Consequently, pride is set over against humility. Pride in this context refers a distorted sense of one’s virtue, characteristically in contrast to the appraisal of others. While humility is not self-effacement, which might be said to consist of a negative form of pride, but simply not to unduly focus on self (whether for the better or the worse).
In greater detail, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to" (Matt. 23:13).
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."
"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if someone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound to his oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? And he who swears by the temple swears by the one who dwells in it."
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel."
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had been in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’" But in doing so, they confirm that they are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
The term woe implies distress and regret. As would be consistent with a reality check such as Jesus sets forth. Why were they not aware of this? Since they were focused on establishing their pious credibility, rather than cultivating a relationship with God. If not in every instance, then sufficient to discredit their claims.
The notion of sin implies any lack of conformity to God’s will. While it may be by way of commission or omission, the latter tends to be less obvious and often more grievous.
Moreover, hypocrisy pertains to claiming that to which one’s behavior does not conform. As graphically illustrated by the terrorist who insists that in slaying innocent people he is exercising God’s will.
Self-righteousness is especially evident when one feels competent to criticize God for some alleged offense or lack of appropriate action. Such as that which demeans God for practicing what is sometimes alluded to as hard love, said to account for the fact that it is because of God’s unrelenting love that he strives to make us lovable. And so on.
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