The Roman philosopher Cato is reputed to have said, “After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.”1This pithy saying describes very nicely the kind of life a truly modest man should lead, but relatively speaking Cato was just a newcomer to observing the human condition. Almost a millennium before he lived, the Wisdom of Solomon put it even more succinctly: “…before honor is humility” (Prov 18:12).
The Scriptures do not treat the attribute of humility2lightly. In fact we can be certain that it is a first principle. Consider the following:
“By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life” (Prov 22:4, NKJV)
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5, NKJV, cited from Psa 37:11; see also Prov 15:33; 18:12; Acts 20:19; and 1Pe 5:5, among many others).
If humility, or equally its synonyms humbleness and meekness, are a matter of “life”, Solomon must have been alluding to eternal life. In the passage cited from the Beatitudes, it is obvious that the Lord Jesus Christ is referring to a first principle; in other words, meekness can lead to an eternal inheritance. Given the clarity of Scriptures regarding humility as an absolutely essential Christian characteristic, it is no wonder so many try to cultivate it to the point they become proud of their humility! In fact “too much humility is pride”, to quote an old German proverb. The complete antithesis of humility is pride. In the worldly sense, pride wins hands down over humility every single day in every single way. In this world those with the best education, drive, energy, hard work, connections, dedication, and often ruthlessness seem to prevail. In short, ambition gets one ahead, while meekness often leads to one being abused. On the other hand, what qualifies a person for leadership in the kingdom of God? One quality alone stands out: humility. It cannot be a false act put on as a cloak to fool our brothers and sisters, for that will fail miserably before our Lord and Master on judgment day. In the words of our Lord Jesus:
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt 23:12).
Given this unmistakable necessity, that one must have humility to be saved, why then is it so rare? And why does humility apparently often desert us in the working out of our ecclesial life? Let’s take a journey through a case study in Scripture and see if we can find the answer that can lead us to true humility.
Our attention will focus on a dispute among the disciples, and its aftermath, as recorded in Mark 9.
A case study
Jesus and the twelve had taken the Roman road leading to the city of Capernaum. When they arrived they apparently went straight to the home of Peter and Andrew.3Jesus was naturally aware of some intense arguing which had been going on among the disciples as they walked along the road to town. However, it does not appear that Jesus was physically in the middle of this disagreement. Perhaps he was leading the way and was some distance ahead of the trailing group of disciples and did not hear their discourse. Then again, our Lord may have been intent on ministering to the people along the way, and had no time to involve himself in the discussion at that juncture. Nevertheless, Jesus fully realized what they had been quarrelling about (Mark 9:35), but wanted to see what they would say. He was no doubt testing them.
Once they were settled in the house, and were assured some measure of privacy, however, Jesus asks them quite innocently, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” (Mark 9:33). This didn’t elicit any response at all from the disciples: “They kept silent” (Mark 9:34). The sure mark of someone doing something they know is completely wrong is for them to be absolutely speechless when caught, as it were, “red-handed”.4
The disciples instantly must have realized their discourse was unseemly and were ashamed that they had been having so crass an argument. Meanwhile it is obvious that Jesus knew their thoughts even as he assuredly must know ours. Sadly we seem to know this intellectually too, but often fail to act that way in life. It is even possible on occasion that brethren and sisters strive to have primacy in their ecclesia, or even beyond, in the larger Christadelphian community. Undoubtedly such deeds are done under the guise that they truly believe their knowledge and wisdom to be superior to all others. Indeed, that may be true — or it may not!
The proof is not in the outcome, because some will take the attitude that the end justifies the means. This is patently not true; the end can never justify an immoral path followed to accomplish that end. If it were so, then assuredly David should have slain Saul while he lay asleep in the cave in the wilderness of Engedi (1Sa 24:2-7), and the apostle Paul would not have castigated the concept that it was acceptable to “do evil that good may come” (Rom 3:8). Beyond any shadow of doubt, it is absolutely necessary that we not only do the right thing, but also that we must do it in the right way. Brethren and sisters have perpetrated some truly terribly immoral behavior, at times, under the pretext of “protecting” the Truth from error. In my experience, almost anything imaginable has been tried — everything from lying, to fabricating reports or minutes of meetings, to spreading unfounded gossip about brothers or sisters so as to assassinate their character. Such behavior will probably continue until the Lord returns. Nevertheless, it is not now, nor will it ever be, consistent with true humility.
The first clue to true humility in people is their willingness to serve others above themselves. Putting others’ needs before our own is the path to humility:
“If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
What parents wouldn’t do this for their own children? What persons wouldn’t do this for their spouses? I hope the answer to these questions is: ‘Yes, I would.’ Indeed, I would give up my own life for my wife, or children, or grandchildren; and I am sure such self-sacrifice for loved ones would motivate all who read this to do likewise. It becomes more difficult to put others first as we move further away in terms of family relationships, and even more difficult when we move further away from our social and philosophical comfort zone. Yet I don’t see any clear line of exclusion made in the Lord’s statement to his disciples and, by extension, to us.
Humility leads to love
A person possessing true humility cultivates love for the brethren. How are we taught to love one another? There can be no greater manual on how to love than the exhortation delivered by Paul to the Corinthians:
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1Co 13:4-7).
It is impossible for me to improve on these words; hence I will let them stand alone, unabridged, for all of us to contemplate once again, and to ponder how we may earnestly apply them in our lives.
A person of true humility is self-sacrificing even when it is to his or her own disadvantage. Consider the conflict between Abram and Lot over arable grazing land:
“And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left’ “ (Gen 13:7-9).
Abram was the elder and he certainly could have asserted his rights over Lot’s. Given this, Lot almost certainly would have yielded to his uncle, though probably with some bitterness. This is exactly what a humble Abram wanted to avoid. He was not interested in his own rights; he was only interested in retaining the love and affection of his nephew. In this action we have a direct reflection of what the apostle Paul meant when he said the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham (Gal 3:8). We see this clearly in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:
“And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” (Matt 5:38-42, NKJV; see the full context).
Abraham was willing to walk the extra mile to preserve a loving relationship with Lot. This was certainly an act meant also to help his nephew realize the character God desires in those who seek an eternal inheritance.
Brothers or sisters with truly humble spirits are not hypocritical in their actions.
Even the apostle Peter was not immune to acting hypocritically to protect his own self-image. Thus we find that he was reprimanded for this behavior by Paul:
“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy” (Gal 2:11-13, NKJV).
The other Jews (meaning the Jewish Christians within the ecclesia) joined Peter’s hypocrisy, showing how easy it is for a leader to drag others down with him. Obviously, Peter was afraid that his leadership position in the church would be jeopardized if he didn’t appease the circumcision party.
Nonetheless, humility is not about appeasement! Consider:
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17, NKJV).
We should never confuse humility with lack of courage. It has been said: “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.” 5To be quiet when there is wrong in the ecclesia is to fail in our duty; silence in this case has nothing to do with humility.
Naturally, there is a right way and a wrong way to correct perceived sins among us. I use the word “perceived” here advisedly, because all too often the failures of others are clear to us, while our own shortcomings disappear in a dense fog (cp Matt 7:3-5). In humbly dealing with others, we can never go wide of the mark by being too courteous. Our motives must be pure and our speech honorable. Above all, we need to exercise patience and tact. All these things are far easier to write than to actually do, as I know from long struggles with others and within myself. However, that is no excuse for giving up and not getting done what needs to be done. We find, for example, that the apostle Paul could exercise the utmost humility when he lamented his past behavior:
“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1Co 15:9).
Yet when occasion called for him to speak out boldly, he did not hesitate to do so — whether it was to preach the gospel to the Jews in the synagogue in Ephesus (Acts 19:8), or to write to the Roman Ecclesia, reminding them of their need to admonish one another, especially with respect to dealing with the Judaizers (Rom 15:14,15).
Examples in the life of Christ
No discussion on refining any aspect of human nature would be complete without examining how humility worked in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The actions of our Lord sometimes confuse those who have only a smattering of Bible knowledge, while those with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures can say unequivocally that Jesus always showed true humility. Detractors often ask: was he being humble when he violently drove the moneychangers from the temple? Or when he called the Pharisees and Sadducees by such names as “generation of vipers”? Let’s take a closer look at these stories.
The episode of driving the moneychangers from the Temple is recorded twice. Both times it happened at Passover time, in the first year (John 2:15) and in the third year (Mark 11:15; Matt 21:12) of our Lord’s ministry. (I suspect it also happened in the second year, but it is not recorded.)
It is (and was) the custom of Jews to cleanse the house in preparation for Passover. In my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, Jewish families would literally clean every nook and cranny of their homes, including emptying every cupboard and washing them out. The last thing to be done was to hide one piece of leavened bread for the children to search out and find. Once that was detected and purged, the home would be considered cleansed of all the leaven of sin; now it was fit for the Passover meal. (In orthodox homes, entirely separate plates, glassware, silverware, and pots were also reserved only for use at Passover times.) Hence, Jesus was driving the moneychangers (who shouldn’t have been within the Temple precincts in the first place, but were probably giving the priests and Levites a cut of the action) from his Father’s House. Thereby he was cleansing the house in preparation for the Passover. The apostle Paul explains very clearly why such behavior was perfectly within the realm of humility:
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Gal 1:10).
In other words, Jesus’ humility in fulfilling his duty to his Father transcended any necessary humility in his service to men.
The same applies to our Lord Jesus’ rather harsh words for the religious leaders of Israel. They had been privy to his miracles, witnessed directly and indirectly the power of his healings, and heard on many occasions the wisdom of his teachings. Thus they were without excuse.
We are not in the same position as Jesus, or the apostle Paul. We are certainly not endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit, or any semblance of infallibility in our thoughts and actions. This doesn’t mean that we let wrong prevail rather than raise our voice, but it does place a challenge upon us to do so in a most humble way. In fact, fulfilling our duties, humbly, may be one of the biggest challenges of our life in Christ. But it can be done; the apostle’s advice to his beloved Timothy gives useful guidance to us who are required to uphold Truth in humility:
“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2Ti 2:24-26).
- Attributed to Marcus Porcius Cato, 234-149 BC.
- The word “humility” appears seven times in the KJV and invariably means modesty, meekness, humbleness, or gentleness. See Strong’s numbers 6038 (Hebrew) and 5012 (Greek).
- See Mark 1:21-29 for the identification of the “house” mentioned in Mark 9:33.
- The expression “red-handed” comes from the notion of one having blood on one’s hands from murder or execution. Hence, a “red-handed” person is one caught doing a blatantly evil action (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings).
- Attributed to Thomas Jefferson.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One