What is pride?
Question:
I was just wondering what pride really means. Checking the dictionary gave me too many definitions. I was wondering why it would be a sin. I mean, of course, you should love God with all your heart, but can't you also have some self-esteem or self-confidence?
Answer:
Pride is the concept of putting yourself and your desires ahead of others. It is the opposite of humility (accurately seeing your abilities and flaws) and meekness (treating others as more important than yourself).
Interestingly, one word for pride in Greek is tuphoo, which literally refers to a smokescreen. It means to delude, to be blinded, or become foolish. When a person focuses on himself, he doesn't see himself accurately nor does he see others accurately because his own ego is in his way. Other words for pride is the Greek word huperephania and its related forms. This refers to a person who is haughty or arrogant. Barclay defined it this way, "It does not so much mean the man who is conspicuous and someone to whom others look up; instead it refers to the man who stands on his own little self-created pedestal and looks down." The words literally refer to a person who sees himself appearing above others.
When a person has pride before God, it means he thinks that what he wants or desires is more important than what God wants. "Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."" (I Peter 5:5). The proud person doesn't take proper consideration of the needs of other people. "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3-4).
