An honest question
What does the Bible say about pride? What should I be proud of?
Key points
- Short answer: The Bible warns against pride that puts us above other people or above God, and calls it one of the oldest sins.
- What Jesus did: Jesus told a story about two men praying. One thanked God he wasn’t like other people.
- The Lutheran view: Luther called the human heart “curved in on itself,” always turning things back toward its own glory.
The short answer
The Bible warns against pride that puts us above other people or above God, and calls it one of the oldest sins. It has no problem with gladness, gratitude or self-respect.
The question to ask about any pride is: does it make me look down on someone God made?
What Jesus said and did
Jesus told a story about two men praying. One thanked God he wasn’t like other people. The other stood far back and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus said the second man went home right with God, “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
When his disciples argued over who was the greatest, he put a child in front of them. At their last supper, he washed their feet. He never asked anyone to think less of themselves; he asked them to stop ranking each other.
A little longer
Many people take pride in their country, their faith, their family, their team or their identity. Loving those things is natural and good. It becomes the pride the Bible warns about when we use it to feel better than others. Or when we think God loves us more than them.
Christians believe every person has the same worth for the same reason: God made them, and Jesus died for them. That worth can’t be earned, so there is nothing to boast about. It can’t be taken away, either, so there is nothing to be ashamed of.
The word “pride” also means something different for different people. When LGBTQ+ people speak of Pride, they usually mean refusing to be ashamed of who they are. They were often told to be. It is not a claim to be better than anyone. Many LGBTQ+ Christians say their Pride is closer to the tax collector in Jesus’ story than the Pharisee. It doesn’t say “I am better than you.” It says “I am allowed to stand here too.” Christians differ on how to respond to Pride events, and the question above applies to everyone, in every kind of pride.
So what can a Christian rightly be proud of? Paul answered: “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” Be glad of what God has given you. Be grateful for the people you love. Be proud of others when they do well, the way Paul told one church he was proud of them.
Where Christians disagree
Christians disagree about patriotism and faith: some see love of country as a Christian duty, others warn it easily becomes an idol. They also disagree about Pride events. Some ELCA congregations take part as a way of saying “you are welcome here”; other Christians feel they cannot. Both sides should be able to agree that no one gets to look down on anyone.
How Lutherans see it
Luther called the human heart “curved in on itself,” always turning things back toward its own glory. Lutherans say the cure is grace: if everything you have is a gift, you can enjoy it without needing to be better than anyone. Paul’s line is the Lutheran one: “far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Where it is in the Bible
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Luke 18:9–14 Two men pray; the one who exalts himself is humbled.
Read Luke 18:9–14
9 He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others. 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Matthew 18:1–4 The greatest is the one who becomes like a child.
Read Matthew 18:1–4
1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” 2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them, 3 and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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1 Corinthians 1:26–31 Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
Read 1 Corinthians 1:26–31
26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; 27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, 29 that no flesh should boast before God. 30 Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: 31 that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Galatians 6:14 Paul boasts only in the cross.
Read Galatians 6:14
14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
What do these words mean?
| The word | It means |
|---|---|
| Faith | Trust in God. Lutherans say it is a gift God gives, not something you work up. |
| Sin | Anything that turns us away from God and from loving other people. |
| Disciples | Jesus’ closest followers and friends. |
| Pharisees | Religious teachers in Jesus’ time who kept God’s law very strictly. |
| Grace | God’s love that you don’t have to earn. |
| The cross | Where Jesus was put to death. Christians see God’s love most clearly there. |
Tap a word for more. All 228 church words: the glossary, A to Z
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Other questions people ask
Written by Digital Lutheran Church, a small, free website from the nonprofit Hope for Americans, in the tradition of the ELCA. Bible passages are from the World English Bible.