What does it
profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
…For as the
body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
While it is clear that self-righteousness can
arise from pride in what one has accomplished, it is nevertheless true that
self-righteousness can also arise from grace.
As a child can be self-righteous about the wealthy home he was born into
without any credit of achievement on his own, so also can believers be
self-righteous about being members of the family of God. Would that there were some intellectual or
spiritual contrivance to insure against the sin of self-centered pride, but there
is none. Essentially righteousness is a
matter of honesty. It is based on a
frank admission that each individual has fatal flaws and imperfections. Jesus asked “Why do you call me good?...No one is good--except God alone” (Mark
10:18 NIV). The thirst for perfection turns
ugly the moment we assume we have attained it, which is on the whole a very disingenuous
if not stupid thing to do. A world
populated by self-appointed gods is not a safe place to be. We have to conclude that it is only by the grace
of God and under the exigencies of the spirit that we can be ruthlessly yet
charitably honest with ourselves; else our most coveted merit becomes our
greatest flaw.
