The Danger Of Pride

The underlying deception that had gripped the people of the Corinthian church was in large part the reason for their boasting and pride. They thought they had made it spiritually. We learn later in this letter that they had been blessed with every kind of spiritual gift, and particularly the supernatural sign gifts. They believed that they had received all that there was to receive. The New Living Translation has verse eight this way, “You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you.”

Paul kind of mocks them for their self-satisfaction, and for having become victims of the illusion that possessing a certain gift marked them as having “arrived”. They had no basis for pride whatsoever because everything they possessed was simply a free gift from God. When we try to take credit for what God has given, pride has become a problem. Pride becomes a problem if we think we are better than someone else because of something we have done, or are able to do, or because of who we are, or even what type of Christian we are.

Yes, we are Christians. But we need to remember that it is because of Jesus' death on the cross, dying in our place that we are forgiven of our sins and on the way to heaven. This does not make us superior to others. We have received God’s grace through Jesus, but none of us earned it or deserve it. Without our Lord, there would be no salvation. “For the wages of sin (what we have earned) is death, but the gift of God (what we could never earn) is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Like the Pharisees in the gospels, there were those in the Corinthian church who looked at themselves as being spiritually superior to others. Some even considered themselves better than Paul and the other apostles! Now, if we asked ourselves an honest question, would we get an honest answer? Do we think we have made it spiritually and have become all that we should be? Certainly, most of would say, “Definitely not!” Yet, we have the tendency to get complacent about our journey with Christ.

When complacency slips into our midst, it is accompanied by satisfaction. We begin to be satisfied, proud with where we are spiritually, thinking there is nothing more to learn, or to do, or to be. Paul’s retort to that would be, “If you have arrived, what happened to me and the other apostles? We are still having a tough time.”

There is another danger of pride.

3. It Can Distort Reality

It will blind you to your true condition. The Corinthian believers thought that they had everything in themselves, but in fact they did not. Paul knew that he and the other apostles had nothing in themselves. They had a completely different view of the Christian life than the Corinthians.

Paul says in I Corinthians 4:9-13, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.”