The most hateful sin

When I was younger, I often wondered why it seemed that God was so harsh on proud people. Of all the bad things done, pride always appeared to be the absolute worst to God. Pride is repeatedly denounced in the Bible, from Adam and Eve to Cain, to the powerful Philistines; to outright condemnation of it in the Psalms, the Proverbs and the Wisdom books. In fact, there is a passage in Ecclesiasticus that is especially descriptive of pride as sin (10: 6-18), and another passage in Habakkuk which talks about the end of the proud (Hab. 2: 4-9). Even Jesus Himself had compassion on the greedy tax collector and the adulteress, but reprehended the Pharisees without hesitation. I think I recently got a clue as to why this should be…

Before I go on, I have to add that when I talk here about pride, I mean it as how the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it: as “inordinate self-esteem”, associated with conceit, arrogance and disdain, a feeling of being superior to others. I am not referring to pride as “a reasonable or justifiable self-respect” or even as “delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship”, like a parent being proud of their children and of their accomplishments. In other languages, these different types of pride are referred to by different words, but in English it’s a bit harder to make the distinction.

My cousin, who was visiting me a while back and while we were simply discussing life, revealed to me part of the answer as to why pride should be so hateful. She said,

“Nobody can relate to someone who is arrogant, because they place themselves on a different level than anyone else.”

As she spoke, I connected to the fact that when one of my friends starts to brag about something, my immediate reaction is to feel an instant repulsion to the subject and to close up to my friend. On the other hand, when I hear myself talk in a haughty way, I usually notice the way I sound right after I speak and feel self-conscious and remorseful. I know that this repugnance can also be observed in others who relate to a particularly arrogant individual. Why is that?

And then the light bulb came on for me. It dawned on me that pride and arrogance are so totally against God’s very nature, and that is why it is so wrong for Him (and us).

What do I mean?

God is relational. We know this because of how He revealed Himself to us directly, through dialogue with the prophets and through Jesus; this knowledge is called “special revelation”. And special revelation tells us two things about God, both of which point to His relationality:

-God is Trinity: or, as my sister says, “God is community”. In a community, even if some people have special roles, the idea is that everybody is on the same footing, so that decisions and activities can be made together. As soon as someone is elevated in some way, they become distinct from the rest of the group, and this creates division in the community. God is Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and although each is distinct and has different tasks, they are all equal, and are able to therefore share in the same nature, which is One God. Pride assumes that one is on a higher footing than others, and therefore sabotages community.

-God is Love: Love describes the kind of relationship that goes on in the community of God, and also between God and His people. More so, however, it also describes the essence of God Himself; God is made up of Love. Therefore anything that is unloving does not make Him up and cannot come from Him. St. Paul tells us that pride is not part of love, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1 Cor. 13: 4-5). Pride makes us unattainable to God’s Love and to the love of others because we don’t wish to share with others this love we are made from, but to keep it to ourselves. This love, when not shared in relationship, dies.

Sin is essentially being in a state of being cut off from a relationship with God. Nothing is as effective in cutting us off from relationship as pride is; and therefore it has the most destructive potential for our relationality, which is an integral part of our being (made in the relational Image of God). God Himself, who has the excuse to be unattainable to us because He is so Great, did not even resort to this isolation, but reached out to us in our very humanity through His Son. If He didn’t make Himself unattainable, I believe, neither should we.

All of this is very conceptual; but I think that there are two easy ways for us to keep our pride in check:

1) To remember that, no matter what our important positions in society are, we are all God’s children, and are all therefore on equal footing with each other in front of a God Who Loves us all without favouritism.

2) To make sure that we always make room for the other in our lives, especially in service to them.

This Lent, and always, may we all be vigilant against pride, so that we are able to love and to be loved, to be impregnated with God’s very essence in us!