False Humility

False Humility

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1). In the same way that pride will set you up against God, false humility will lead to your destruction. In fact, pride and false humility are of the same essence, except that false humility hides under a disguise. False humility gratifies the cravings of the flesh, by seizing the opportunity afforded by the law to engage in sin (2). This can happen in two ways: You can either try to uphold the law by means of the flesh, or you can excuse sin because of the flesh. Either way, you end up practicing sin in the flesh, while pretending to have achieved righteousness. On the one hand, a self-righteous person might engage in asceticism and severity of the body, which might have an appearance of wisdom, but still lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (3). On the other hand, a man desiring to indulge in sin might make excuses for sin, or even worse, approve of sin, thereby perverting the grace of God into sensuality (4). The first man should be rebuked for thinking that, having begun with the Spirit, he could be perfected by the flesh (5). The second man should be rebuked for promoting sin in order that grace might increase (6). What do the two have in common? They practice sin because they are slaves to the flesh; yet, they claim to have taken hold of the grace of God. In reality, they have both departed from it. They have taken a new road, which leads to destruction. There is no power therein. We should remember that salvation – from beginning to end – is by grace, through faith, in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit. When false humility takes away any of these elements, the result is a destructive lie. Remove grace, and you become conceited and arrogant. Remove faith, and you are again condemned under the law. Remove Christ, and you have no access to the promises. Remove the power of the Spirit, and you are still a slave to the flesh, under the dominion of sin. True humility recognizes grace, faith, Christ, and the power of the Spirit. True humility cries out: “Nothing that I have done; yet, all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise be ascribed unto the Faithful One, whose arm is mighty to save!” Is there victory at the cross? More than enough! (7) False humility might deny it, but true humility rejoices in it and lives in it, to the glory of God! (8)

1. 1 Peter 5:5-6
2. Romans 7:8
3. Colossians 2:23
4. Jude 1:4
5. Galatians 3:3
6. Romans 3:8, Romans 6:1-2
7. Romans 8:37
8. Revelation 19:7-9, Romans 6:17-23

You can either try to uphold the law by means of the flesh, or you can excuse sin because of the flesh.

Thank you Renoncer,

A very balanced word.
We hear so much of the first group but the church is filled of the second. Most of the Bible teaching focuses on the first group because of Jesus encounter with the Pharisees since the sin of the Jew is to try to uphold the law by means of the flesh (( self- righteousness )), but if He would to live in our time, he would have taught so much more on false humility or what may be called "The sin of the Gentile" , those who excuse sin because of the flesh (( Christ righteousness worn only outwardly shielding from the wrath of God but without any inward cleansing effect )).

While the Pharisee may say: " I thank thee, Oh God for the length of my prayers , the severity of my fastings, the broadness of my phylacteries". The false professor may say: " I thank thee, Oh God for Christ righteousness that made peace with you that I may live in sin and not come to judgment, after all, I am a sinner, born in sin, toasted and fried in sin, sitting and lying in sin, living and dying in sin.Yes,I may make a bit of a progress here and there, but that is verrrry Slooooow."

Thank you for writing this, recently I have been struggling with an addiction which has just again started to let up a little bit, I needed to be reminded that it is not me who is saving myself from sin, but the grace and mercy of God is responsible for victory over sin. once again thank you.

well stated renouncer.no one can humble themselves for if they could they would be proud.jimp

Jimp,
Actually, at this point again there is a difference between false humility and true humility. False humility would boast in humility as though this virtue came from within. True humility is simply stooping down, by His grace. Thus, we let go of any claims of our own and boast in the Lord.

I can tell you that if it wasn't for the grace of God, pride would overtake me. Oh, how gracious He is to me! His discipline brings me back to the right path all the time! I keep going back to Hebrews 12, and rejoice in the fact that God is treating me as his son.

Whether it is pride, sexual immorality, drunkenness, slander, or any other sin, we desperately need God's grace in our lives; apart from His grace, we would have no power to overcome. Actually, we would find that our will is not firm enough, and that our strength is too weak. But, when the grace of God and the Holy Spirit is poured out in us through Christ Jesus, then we find that we are more than conquerors! Oh, the victory given to us through faith! Praise the Lord! All glory to Him! He is mighty to save! His arm is not too short! His compassions are new every morning!

Dillman,
Praise the Lord! The truth is that Satan would want to keep us bound in sin, whether through an addiction to a particular sinful habit, or by falling into the other ditch of pride.

I know that many people are bound by an addiction, whether it be to drunkenness, illicit pleasures, lust, or power. The truth that will set them free is that there is victory at Calvary. Jesus has come to save us from our sins!

Notice that the enemy will both oppose us (2 Timothy 3:8) and flatter us (Romans 16:18), so as to take us off course. We must remember that there is good reason to boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! (Galatians 6:14) Moreover, we must remember that God's power is revealed in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). It gives much more glory to God to destroy an army with 300 men, rather than destroying the enemy with 32,000 men (Judges 7:2).

"True humility recognizes grace, faith, Christ, and the power of the Spirit. True humility cries out: “Nothing that I have done; yet, all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise be ascribed unto the Faithful One, whose arm is mighty to save!” Is there victory at the cross? More than enough! (7) False humility might deny it, but true humility rejoices in it and lives in it, to the glory of God!"

Amen! Christ is our humility. Nothing that we have done, but knowing that outside of Him we are nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing, but in Him the fulness of God dwells, and through Him we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.

Mike

Scripture does warn us of the draw to the law that sneaks up on one. I would see this being the same case with humility. I have by experience as well as observation, known that which has been understood as sanctification by modern application (false sanctification) as a great problem as well. When the majority are bought by cheap means they must see themselves being sanctified, for if they are not sanctified they are not saved. They live by a loose adherence to the law. It being a slow process but none the less understood as sanctification. This absurdly slow snail pace like process redefines what sanctification is. So there also exists that which is a false sanctification. Under this new definition. False humility which seizes the opportunity afforded by the law to engage in sin becomes justified by a false sanctification that moves the believer (false convert) forward, but at ever so slow a pace. An extremely crude analogy of this might be something like imagining the length of a football field that would measure sanctification (allow a little liberty in this analogy please). Then imagine one being content, justified, and assured (all of these falsely) as long as they can see progress in the flesh that shows them they have moved even the slightest fraction of an inch. Even if it takes 50 years as long as there is an inch of movement they rest in salvation? This new definition of sanctification also is a casualty of the age. I Know this to be a problem of epic proportion. Hope I did not detract from a great post Renouncer, but there is a tie in here that we must be aware of also.

Lylewise,
I agree with your warning. That is exactly what Paul's letter to the Galatians is all about!

I have heard someone say that God does the justifying, but that we do the sanctifying. That is absolutely wrong! The truth is that God begins the work of salvation in us, and God brings it to completion! (Philippians 1:6) So, we can have great confidence that if God began a good work in us, He will bring it to completion; that is, of course, if He REALLY DID BEGIN A GOOD WORK IN US!

If we think that having begun with the Spirit, we can now do the sanctifying work on our own, we are fooling ourselves! (Galatians 3:3) Conversely, if we do not see the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, transforming us and sanctifying us, we have great reason to fear that we have never truly been united with Christ! (2Corinthians 13:5, Romans 8:5-9)

What is the remedy? The truth! You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free! (John 8:32) When we hear the Word of Truth, it is incredible how God uses that to stir up in us life-giving faith. After all, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

Does that absolve our responsibility? Absolutely not! It just puts it into proper perspective so that we recognize that whatever we did was really the working of God's grace in our life! (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Oh, praise the Lord for such a great salvation! It is truly great, and it is completely of grace! All glory to Him!

False humility which seizes the opportunity afforded by the law to engage in sin becomes justified by a false sanctification that moves the believer (false convert) forward, but at ever so slow a pace.

Could you explain further what you mean by this?

And could you be a bit more specific as to this teaching? Is this a teaching you have heard systematically taught or is it more like a general sentiment you have noticed?

Thank you Lyle.

One way to detect false humility is when it isnt from the heart, one can tell. The other manner is quite interesting to me, it is when one has to announce how humbled they are for whichever reason.

The latter is a statement that expresses that (one) has either the inability to express or or convey without words.

true humility comes with time and as God conquers us.

It will manifest out of truth

I wish when i started my walk in Christ that i would've put the onus and seeking on humility equally with teachings/doctrines. God can open up our understanding more and more and if we aren't careful from the getgo, we will get puffed up. This is the fork on the road where one goes either in the direction of a pharisee or one of Christ. I believe a pharisee truly believes he is humble yet it is false and blind to it. Ultimately, the fruit will show. I think Murray said the fruit of humility is death to self. So, we have to die to ourselves if we seek the true humility. False humility is from the flesh (man-made religion).

Well said lovejt! Thanks for sharing.

Alreadymind, the initial post by Renouncer quotes not verbatim, but with some liberty in regard to expounding upon sin, Romans 7:8. He just makes application by putting a face on the broad category that is sin. His quote:

"False humility gratifies the cravings of the flesh, by seizing the opportunity afforded by the law to engage in sin by means of the flesh" He then makes two applications.

This is no teaching per se but merely relating what has been lived, and subsequently observed in my life. I was 32 years in the church unsaved. Can you imagine all the many aspects of what religion is made under false conversion in what would be considered a very conservative church. Hundreds of millions I believe to be of this same condition and I believe scripture speaks to this sufficiently. So will many who's sermons can be heard here. So I was merely relating what is false humility in regard to those who are amongst us calling themselves by the name of Christ, yet without Christ in them.

Teaching no! Real life yes! We must recognize in this age that every affection that we hold to in Christ is counterfeited in the church (not the Bride but the church). The mere fact that we cannot use terminology safely anymore bears witness to this i.e. the very term church! So I just wanted to embellish a little of what Renouncer had posted and hopefully I have not detracted from his post. This is a most needed discernment for our day.