Humility in Scripture

• 2 Chronicles 7:14, humble yourselves, pray, seek God
• Proverbs 11:2, wisdom is with the humble
• Proverbs 18:12, humility goes before honor
• Micah 6:8, what does the Lord require you?
• Matthew 11:29-30, follow the example to be gentle and humble
• Matthew 23:10-12, the greatest is a servant
• Mark 1:7, John said that he was not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of Jesus' sandals
• Mark 10:45, Jesus came to give his life
• Romans 12:16, live in harmony with everyone
• Ephesians 4:1-3, lead a life worthy of the calling
• Philippians 2:3-8, do nothing from selfish ambition
• James 4:10, humble yourselves before the Lord

Reflections on Humility

Humility in Colossians 3:12, is one of the virtues that "fits" people who have been raised with Christ. It's part of the family uniform of the followers of Christ. The supreme humility of Jesus Christ portrayed in Philippians 2 is to be imitated by his followers who have "the same mind."

"Humility is not a "put-on"; it's not a ploy or device to manipulate others into doing what we want. This is the Uriah Heep syndrome in Dickens' David Copperfield. Uriah Heep understood that others like to think of themselves as one's betters, and that if one plays the role of sycophant "they'll do right by you."

Humility is not a device to fish for praise: people sometimes purposely run themselves down in order to get you to shore them up. They say "I'm so fat," or "I'm so stupid" and then they wait for you to contradict them, reassure them, brace them up with a mighty word. But none of this has anything to do with real humility.

Humility is not a humiliation: Jesus Christ took on the form of a servant, not the form of a doormat. He didn't do everything people wanted him to do. Humility has little to do with cringing or groveling. Christians don't serve people well by offering them submission when what they really need is firm resistance. (Think of Winston Churchill's attitude toward Adolf Hitler.) Humility has gotten a bad name because people keep mixing it up with humiliation. Whites preach humility to blacks, men to women, the strong to the weak, and the message gets garbled in transmission. It sounds like humility but feels like humiliation.

Humility is a species of wisdom. Wisdom is the knowledge of God and of God's world, including our own place under God and inside God's world. Humility (from the Latin humus) means having your two feet right on the ground. The humble are wise enough not to get carried away with fantasies of God being their junior partner, or the rest of humanity being in orbit around their own shining star. They're much too down-to-earth for nonsense like that. They're grounded. They don't put on airs.

Quiet Confidence

The humble person may nonetheless carry with her a quiet confidence in her own abilities and worth, but she knows these things are derived from God and is therefore much more grateful than proud. People who were around Marian Anderson, one of the 20[th] century's great contraltos, observed that she loved her own voice and did so with marvelous innocence. "God gave me this fabulous instrument," she seemed to say, "and I am so grateful because I can hear it any time I want."

Chief Objection to Sinful Pride

From a Christian point of view, the chief objection to sinful pride (and its progeny, including envy, scorn, pretentiousness, pomposity, belittling of others, and so on) is that it is unrealistic, off-kilter, out-to-lunch. Other people, no matter how their sin and folly may rival our own, are nonetheless persons of great weight and dignity, people who wear God's crown of glory, people for whom Jesus Christ came to die.