Pride
“There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.”
Mike Woodruff and Glenn Wishnew | Est. 5 minutes
Perhaps there has never been a better preamble to a discussion about pride than the beginning of C.S. Lewis’ chapter in Mere Christianity:
“I now come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else' and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.”
That’s 9 superlatives in 5 sentences. Granting that an Oxford trained logician is not prone to hot takes, we can safely conclude that pride is no small matter.
On Pride
At its core, pride is self-centeredness. If humility properly orients us toward others and God, pride improperly elevates ourselves above both. John Milton in his poem Paradise Lost captured the essence of pride when he put these words in Satan’s mouth: “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”
A proud person is addicted to feeling superior – to animals, people and even God Himself. As Lewis said later in the chapter, pride is essentially competitive. It’s about being more brilliant, more rich, more righteous, more beautiful than the next person.
Pride’s PR
The Ancient Greeks and Romans saw pride as a form of honor, something to be celebrated. Pride was a proper expression of one’s greatness. Humility was for weak people like slaves, not for citizens of a mighty empire.
John Dickson, a historian of the ancient world, argues that pride’s stock began to decline when humility’s stock rose. And that happened when Jesus’ followers had to tease out a thorny issue.
“The crucifixion of Christ initially presented the followers of Christ with a massive problem. They were forced to go in one of two directions: To admit that Jesus was not as great as they thought because no great person could be crucified, or to redefine greatness. They decided that they had to rethink greatness.”
When early Christians aligned humility with Christ, they also aligned pride with the devil. This idea dates back to early church fathers like Gregory the Great, who considered pride the foundational sin from which all others flow. Pride was the sin that led to the fall of Satan and the sin that tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Pride in Today’s World
Pride persists today in an age of self-empowerment and self-assertiveness. Popular figures, like novelist Ayn Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche, have built entire philosophies on the idea that pride is not only acceptable but essential. In Rand’s world, self-love and self-promotion are virtues, not vices. Humility would only hold us back from achieving our fullest potential.
But not everyone agrees. Even secular thought leaders like Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, recognize the value of humility. Collins argues that the most successful companies are led by humble leaders, those who prioritize their teams and their organizations over their personal glory.
It’s a mixed bag.
The Insidious Nature of Pride
As a spiritual vice, pride is subtle. It doesn’t always manifest as arrogance or boastfulness. More often, it operates beneath the surface, shaping our motives in ways we don't even recognize. We might take pride in our humility, feeling superior because we’re so self-aware. We might pride ourselves on our self-discipline or our commitment to spiritual practices, secretly patting ourselves on the back for our "righteousness."
As a side note, I would imagine that over the last thirty years I’ve taught, preached or written about the dangers of pride – and advocated for humility – twenty times or more. In fact, when it comes to humility you might say that I’m an expert on the topic. I, of course, would never say that because I realize what that sounds like. But, if I’m honest, I do sort of think it. I’m quite taken with what I know about humility. I’m pretty proud of this article on pride!
…You see how that works?
Pride puts on masks, even ones of virtue. And those masks change frequently. Once we’ve developed a bit of humility in one area, pride resurfaces somewhere else.
The Deadliness of Pride
Pride kills.
A vivid example of this is the sinking of the Titanic – “the unsinkable ship.” Captain Edward Smith went full speed ahead without the life boats because he wanted to flex his ship’s muscle. You know what happened.
Hitler believed the Germans were a superior race to the Russians so he invaded while knowing he had less people and less resources. You know what happened.
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18) Pride is ugly and it’s dangerous. But I’m arguing that it’s more than that. I’m claiming it’s deadly. It blocks us from what we really need: the gospel.
Take the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). The Pharisee, puffed up with pride, boasts of his righteousness before God, while the tax collector humbly pleads for mercy. Jesus affirms that it is the humble man, not the proud one, who leaves justified before God.
One man came puffed up with pride and came away empty, the other brought empty hands and came away full.
Overcoming Pride
So how do we deal with this invisible enemy? What can we do to push against it.
Focus on God: Philip Brooks said “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.” The more we focus on God's greatness, the smaller we become in comparison. Worship and scripture help to reframe our self-perception, reminding us that we are not the center of the universe—God is.
Believe the Gospel: The Gospel empties our stores of self-righteousness. It declares that we are so sinful and flawed that nothing but Christ’s could save us. And then it fills us back up with the knowledge that Christ willingly did just that – for us and for our salvation.
As Frederick Buechner said, “The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. 2. He will go on and say, “That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy”
3. Confess Your Sins: To confess your sins is to operationalize the gospel on your own heart. It takes something abstract (you’re sinful) and makes it concrete (you were impatient yesterday). Doing this regularly will break the grip of pride. When we acknowledge our brokenness and our need for God’s mercy, we take the first step toward genuine humility.
Ultimately, the remedy for pride is not self-loathing but self-forgetfulness—humbling ourselves before God, focusing on His greatness, and confessing our dependence on His mercy. Only then can we truly live as God intended, free from the chains of pride and open to His transforming love.