Moral Self-Righteousness
If we are morally upright, and especially if we are believers who seek to live morally upright lives, it is only because the grace of God has prevailed in us. No one is naturally morally upright. Rather, we all have to say with David, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5, Nly). Rather than feeling morally superior to those who practice the flagrant sins we condemn, we ought to feel deeply grateful that God by His grace has kept us from, or perhaps rescued us from, such a lifestyle.
The pride of the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable was what we can call moral self-righteousness. It expresses itself in a feeling of moral superiority with respect to other people. This type of pride is not limited to believers. It is found in the political and cultural realms among both liberals and conservatives. Anyone who believes, for example, that he holds the moral high ground in any area such as politics, economics, or environmental policy is likely indulging in moral self-righteousness. Sadly, however, it is very common among conservative, evangelical believers.
The sin of moral superiority and self-righteousness is so easy to fall into today, when society as a whole is openly committing or condoning such flagrant sins as immorality, easy divorce, a homosexual lifestyle, abortion, drunkenness, drug use, avarice, and other flagrant and scandalous sins. Because we don’t commit those sins, we tend to feel morally superior and look with a certain amount of disdain or contempt on those who do. It’s not that those sins I’ve mentioned are not serious sins that are tearing apart the moral fabric of our society. Indeed, they are serious, and I respect those Christian leaders of our day who raise a prophetic voice against them. But the sin we ourselves fall into is the sin of moral self-righteousness and a resultant spirit of contempt toward those who practice those sins. In fact, Jesus told the parable about the Pharisee “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (Luke 18:9).
I venture that of all the subtle sins we will address in this book, the pride of moral superiority may be the most common, second only to the sin of ungodliness. But though it is so prevalent among us, it is difficult to recognize because we all practice it to some degree. In fact, we seem to get a perverse enjoyment out of discussing how awful society around us is becoming. When we engage in this kind of thinking or conversation, we are guilty of the pride of moral superiority.
How, then, can we guard against the sin of self-righteousness? First, by seeking an attitude of humility based on the truth that “there but for the grace of God go I.” Though that statement has become something of a trite expression, it is indeed true for all of us. If we are morally upright, and especially if we are believers who seek to live morally upright lives, it is only because the grace of God has prevailed in us. No one is naturally morally upright. Rather, we all have to say with David, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5, Nly). Rather than feeling morally superior to those who practice the flagrant sins we condemn, we ought to feel deeply grateful that God by His grace has kept us from, or perhaps rescued us from, such a lifestyle.
Another means by which we can guard against self-righteous pride is by identifying ourselves before God with the sinful society we live in. After the Babylonian captivity, when many of the Jewish people had returned to the land of Judah, Ezra, a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses went back to teach his people God’s law. The Scripture says of Ezra that he “had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:1o). Ezra was obviously a godly man who lived an exemplary life.
Yet on an occasion when he became aware of some of the deep sin among the people, he identified himself with their sin, even though he himself was not guilty. Consider his prayer as recorded in Ezra 9:6: “0 my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.” Note how he included himself in his confession of guilt: “our iniquities” and “our guilt.” As we in our day see the increasing moral degradation of our society, we need to adopt the attitude of Ezra. As we do so, it will tend to keep us from self-righteous pride.
- Jerry Bridges, from Respectable Sins
