“… do not be haughty in mind …” (Rom. 12:16, NASB)
The fifth fruit of pride is haughtiness.
Many of the fruits lie very close to one another, and are for this reason difficult to distinguish at times. There are however nuances that are of great importance in indicating the specificity of each.
Haughtiness is marked by looking at others with “haughty eyes” (Prov. 6:17, NASB), as if one is better than them, largely based on considering oneself thinner/more successful/smarter/wealthier than others, although this is not necessarily the true state of things. Rom. 12:16 (NASB) however provides the principle concerning this matter to the believer: “Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.”
Cultural determinism is often also an indication of an underlying root of pride. Men who are for instance prejudiced toward women (or vice versa), white people who are prejudiced toward people of colour, English-speaking individuals prejudiced toward their Afrikaans-speaking neighbours, heterosexuals who look down upon homosexuals, older people who do not acknowledge young people, etc, carry a root of pride in their hearts.
A haughty condition of the heart is however not only a state of one’s natural life – it can also be the condition of one’s spiritual life. There are believers who look down on other believers because they feel they have more knowledge, more spiritual awareness, greater obedience, etc, and this causes them to think more of themselves than others may think of them. Gal. 6:3 offers the corrective here: “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”
Certain attitudes in the organised Christian religion also definitively point to a root of pride, for instance negative statements made about other religious groups, the belief that others do not share the same level of revelatory knowledge as you do, etc.
Paul explains the matter beautifully in Rom. 12:3: “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”. The Amplified contextualises it well: “For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.”
Remember: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Pet. 5:5).
- Selah: Is this fruit present in your life?
- Read: 22-23; 1 John 3.
- Memorise: 1 John 3:9.
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read C. J. Mahaney’s Humility.
