What the Bible says about Proud
(From Forerunner Commentary)

What is pride, the subtle yet powerful influence that most commentators believe is the father of all other sins? Hebrew, Greek, and English share the sense of the word's basic meaning: to be lifted up; to have an undue sense of one's importance or superiority.

Pride motivates us to exaggerate the value of our thoughts. It causes us to elevate our opinions and raises the importance of the fulfillment of what we perceive as our needs even above God's and, of course, decidedly higher than our fellowman's.

To be even-handed, the Bible shows that there is also a narrow, positive application of the word, and thus, depending on the context, it can be translated as "dignity" or "glory." For instance, Proverbs 16:31 reads, "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness." This verse provides us with a slender sliver of insight that there is a natural pride to which God gives His approval. However, He qualifies it with "if it is found in the way of righteousness." Righteousness is the very thing pride sets itself to resist, making achieving a proper sense of pride more difficult. With God's own Word describing man at his best state being "altogether vanity" (Psalm 39:5 KJV), it certainly makes one wonder what we really have to be proud of!

In the context of the relationship between God and man, the overwhelming number of usages of the six Hebrew words and four Greek words translated as "pride" or its synonyms are negative and damning. These words are translated into such terms as "arrogance," "lifted up," "presumptuous," "loftiness," "proud," "proudly," "exalted," "overbearing," "condescending," "haughty," "superior," "disdainful," "scornful," "boasting," "self-esteem," and "contemptuous." Not all of these synonyms are in the King James or the New King James versions, but various modern translations use them depending on the context.

Pride carries, not only a lofty self-centeredness, but also a lively competitiveness against others that easily becomes a lustful, destroying enmity. It is highly critical, envious, and impatient, and it can be effortlessly stirred to anger, possessiveness, and suspicion of being taken advantage of. These characteristics are part of Satan's spirit. Each of them is destructive to loving family unity within the church.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Living By Faith and Human Pride

Psalm 10:2

In the Bible, "poor" does not necessarily mean without money or poverty-stricken. It is more likely to mean someone who is weak or lacks power. Sometimes the two go together: A poverty-stricken person is also weak. Other people—and most of us would be in this category—who are not starving or poverty-stricken are also weak, since we have little or no influence anywhere. This is often the case politically; we have no power to change policy in the community, much less in the nation. Many feel taken advantage of by people in positions of power, whether in government or business, and in many cases, it is real.

Here, we first see that the proud, the wicked, persecute the poor. Persecute means "hotly pursues after." It suggest that they take advantage of them or must always get the best of them. The proud are very competitive. This will show itself in business dealings, in law courts. They will be indifferent to the weak or the poor person's need, and they are quite adept with crafty and malicious plans. These people manipulate others to their own ends. They use them.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Faith (Part Six)


Find more Bible verses about Proud:
Proud {Nave's}
 

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