I've been studying our adversary, Satan, and I have a thought...So bear with me...
Am I correct in saying that pride in itself isn't a sin? It's actually how we allow pride to work in us as did Satan.
That being asked...then pride, anger, lust, etc...were all created from the beginning. What I'm trying to say is for Satan to have allowed his pride to cause him to do his own will, as stated in Isaiah 14:13,14, then the presence of pride had to have been there beforehand.
Does that make sense?
God created ALL things.
6 comments:
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Good question. I would not look at pride as a "thing" though... I would think the all "things" God created are physical things, and pride is a mental thing. Just as sin is not a thing in and of itself, but rather the absence of obedience to God's will, so too I would consider pride the absence of selflessness or obedience to God's will for our attitude.
I don't know anywhere pride is a good thing. The definition is (if I correctly remember) thinking HIGHER or MORE of oneself than one actually is. If that be the case, be glad you've accomplished something, or happy with what God has given you is not pride in any way. Pride is thinking yourself to be greater than you are. The opposite is humility, which we should always see when we are seeking the face of or comparing ourselves to Jesus.
Also, if God gave Satan free will, then pride would have sprang from his decision, not necessarily a pre-existing pride. The only thing God DID create concerning sin was the ability for man to do so, and that only so that he could CHOOSE otherwise.
This is one of those posts where I'm not using much scripture, but rather just giving an opinion. I could be wrong, but that's how I view it.
Are you "convicted" about your feelings? :)
So, Satan and the other angels were created beings that also had free will. And although God didn't "create" pride, arrogance, etc...what He did create was humility, love, etc...and anything opposite to these things were started by Satan. Is that a fair statement?
I'm just trying to figure out where all of these sins started.
I don't see how pride can always be a bad thing...I'm proud to be a Christian!
btw...I know Satan is the father of sin...I was just trying to figure out how the first sin began.
I think the problem could be in our modern use of the word "proud". A Hebrew word translated "proud" is as follows:
גּאון
gâ'ôn
gaw-ohn'
From H1342; the same as H1346: - arrogancy, excellency (-lent), majesty, pomp, pride, proud, swelling.
Notice the Hebrew word for proud is arrogant or pomp.
The Greek word for proud is as follows:
G5244
ὑπερήφανος
huperēphanos
hoop-er-ay'-fan-os
From G5228 and G5316; appearing above others (conspicuous), that is, (figuratively) haughty: - proud.
Notice this is about being above others, or haughty.
The Webster 1828 definition of the word proud is as follows:
Proud
PROUD, a.
1. Having inordinate self-esteem; possessing a high or unreasonable conceit of one's own excellence, either of body or mind. A man may be proud of his person, of his talents,of his accomplishments or of his achievements. He may be proud of any thing to which he bears some relation. He may be proud of his country, his government, his equipage, or of whatever may, by association, gratify his esteem of himself. He may even be proud of his religion or of his church. He conceives that any thing excellent or valuable, in which he has a share, or to which he stands related, contributes to his own importance, and this conception exalts his opinion of himself. Proud is followed by of, before the object, supra.
2. Arrogant; haughty; supercilious.
A foe so proud will not the weaker seek.
3. Daring; presumptuous.
By his understanding he smiteth through the proud. Job 26.
4. Lofty of mien; grand of person; as a proud steed.
5. Grand, lofty; splendid; magnificent.
Storms of stones from the proud temple's height.
6. Ostentatious; grand; as proud titles.
7. Splendid; exhibiting grandeur and distinction; exciting pride; as a proud day for Rome.
8. Excited by the animal appetite; applied particularly to the female of the canine species.
9. Fungous; as proud flesh.
So, while some of the modern use and definition of the word "proud" or "pride" might refer to being happy about something (like you said, you are "proud" or happy to be a Christian, the meaning of the word as referred to in the Bible is not about having a sense of joy over something, such as being a Christian. The Bible use of the word "proud" is to be haughty, have pomp, think of oneself higher than others or higher than he actually is. This is ALWAYS a sin, because we are no higher than others. We are not to feel higher than any other person, because compared to Christ, we all fall so short. Feeling higher than others means we feel like others should, in essence, bow down to us on some level. This is, always has been, and always will be a sin. This, the Biblical use of the word pride, can NEVER be a good thing.
So your use of "I am proud to be a Christian" is one modern use of the word, which is fine for modern speaking people. Yet the Biblical 1600s - 1700s word pride would never be used in the way you did. It is always used to refer to the sin of thinking of oneself higher than he really is, or higher than others.
As to the sin of pride, as I said, I don't believe it is a "thing" that was created. I believe it is simply the absence of humility, or seeing oneself as he truly is (lowly compared to God.) The sin of pride came about when Satan decided to stop seeing himself as he truly was, lower than God. When he saw himself equal to God, this was pride, and this was sin. This is why he could choose to do what he wanted. He was no longer inferior to the LORD in his mind, and therefore no longer needed to be in subjection to the LORD.
I believe this sin also describes us. Every time we sin, in essence, we feel we do not need to be in subject to God's command. We, therefore, put ourselves in the place of God. We become our own gods. We make our will to be of equal or higher worth than God's will. This is pride, and this is always evil.
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