Pride Goes Before Destruction
So says Proverbs 16:18. That is, of course, if you believe the Bible. And I do.
I have multiple Bible versions in my library, but they all translate this verse essentially the same way. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” That’s because the message is quite clear. It’s unambiguous. There is no commentary needed. Pride goes before destruction.
Certainly we’ve heard Christians—I’ve said it myself—say that they’re proud of someone’s accomplishments. Perhaps a graduating senior. A successful business venture. A delightfully prepared meal. These are things we celebrate, which is a biblical concept. Yet if we’re true to biblical language, even those statements are a stretch by scriptural categories. One could even argue that they are unscriptural.
According to my Logos Bible software, there are approximately 84 references to pride or its derivatives in 68 verses throughout the Old and New Testaments (mostly in the Old). None of them are positive. Here are just a few striking references:
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate (Proverbs 8:13, ESV).
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day (Isaiah 2:11, ESV).
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (I John 2:16, KJV).
Perhaps you wonder where I’m going with this. June is designated as “pride month,” which apparently started around 1970. According to USA Today a few weeks ago, “‘Pride’ itself does not stand for anything.” It’s a time when LGBTQ+ identities are celebrated. + defines other identifies “under the rainbow umbrella” which aren’t necessarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (or questioning). When I was in training, anyone identifying as Jesus or Napoleon was diagnosed as psychotic and suffering from either hallucinations or delusions or both. Now, I can identify as a woman (which I am not) and there’s a month to celebrate me! Just don’t identify as a white professional male (which I am), because that’s characteristic of a racist white supremacist.
It seemed to be last year when all major businesses felt the need to make a statement in support of pride month. LuAnne and I love to burn candles, and we’ve been Yankee Candle fans most of our married life—until last year. When Yankee Candle created a rainbow candle to celebrate, LuAnne wrote and told them she wouldn’t be buying their candles anymore, as we’re interested in candles and not social agenda statements. So we permanently moved our $750+ per year candle acquistions elsewhere. Just today I saw a picture of rainbow rockers on the porches of Cracker Barrel.
It is the height of blasphemy to take the rainbow from Genesis 9, God’s “promise to uphold creation in its natural order” (Michael Horton, Introducing Covenant Theology, p. 114), and pervert it into a celebratory symbol of flagrant sin.
It seems further the height of biblical irony to have a month celebrating “pride” when the Bible has nothing good to say about it. Pride is usually listed first in “the seven deadly sins.” And while these are not listed as such in Scripture, they’ve been rightly identified by the church since at least 400 AD. Of this, Scripture says:
Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin (Proverbs 21:4, ESV).
Romans 1:18-32 (ESV) is a key passage to understand the downward progression into sin, specifically sexual sin. It follows this basic outline:
God has revealed Himself in both His Word and His world. Verse 20 says that God’s “invisible attributes” (this Stack is about the Transcendentals—goodness, truth, and beauty) “have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (.i.e. His creation).
Because all people are created in the image of God (imago dei), all people have a sense of right and wrong. The “they” of this passage refer to the ungodly and unrighteous men/people, “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (v. 18). Even though they are likely not reading His Word, Paul says they are “without excuse” (v. 20), because of what has been revealed in His world.
Verse 21 says that even though they knew God, they refused to acknowledge Him as God or give thanks to Him (ungratefulness is a hallmark of the wicked).
This posture of heart led them to distorted and dark thinking (v. 21).
While they claimed to be wise, they were actually exposed as fools (v. 22).
This led to idolatry, which verse 23 identifies as exchanging the glory of the true God for false gods.
With the above in place, God then gives them over to sexual debauchery where the creation is honored above the Creator (vv. 24-25). A specific representation of this in in the form of lesbian and homosexual behavior (vv. 26-27).
Finally and as a result of refusing to acknowledge God, “God gave them up to a debased [worthless, despicable] mind” (v. 28). This then results in all sorts of ungodly practices and a bold and blazen approval of those who commit such sins.
This scriptural line of reasoning is pushed back against by some professing Christians who state this doesn’t demonstrate any love for those who struggle with sexuality, identity, etc. My response to that is simple. This passage states that sexual sin is a result of a deliberate rejection of God. All of us have deliberately rejected God prior to conversion and even after conversion (cf Romans 7). Therefore, all people struggle at some level with sexuality. Now that requires a book to unpack!
But Scripture must be our starting point, not our own sin. And the above gives none of us the license to sin. The struggle on either side of the ditch is lawlessness (known as antinomianism, or live as you please) or legalism, neither of which are appropriate. Either way, we have no recourse but to run into the arms of our Saviour!