Humility (tapeinophrosyne in Greek, anavah in Hebrew) occupies an unrivaled place in biblical ethics, while pride (hubris, hyperēphania) is consistently identified as the primal sin and the root of all spiritual ruin. Pride was the original iniquity that transformed Lucifer into Satan (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-17) and deceived our first parents in Eden into desiring to "be as gods" (Genesis 3:5). Throughout Holy Scripture, God's posture toward the proud is one of active, relentless opposition: "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Proverbs 3:34). The Greek verb antitassetai is a military term meaning that God arrays Himself in battle against the haughty.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah encapsulates the totality of divine requirement: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8). The sovereign Creator who inhabits eternity declares that He dwells with the person of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones (Isaiah 57:15).
In the New Testament, humility is not mere self-deprecation, low self-esteem, or pretending to be incompetent; it is radical Christ-likeness and self-forgetfulness in the service of others. The pinnacle of biblical humility is revealed in the Carmen Christi (the Hymn of Christ) in Philippians 2:5-11. Jesus Christ, who eternally existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped for personal advantage, but emptied Himself (ekenosen), taking the form of a servant and humbling Himself to death, even the shameful death of the cross.
Because of Christ's humiliation and subsequent exaltation, the law of the Kingdom remains invariable: "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted" (Matthew 23:12). Christian humility does not mean thinking less of yourself; it means thinking of yourself less, esteeming others better than yourself, and boasting only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14).
