When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom. — Proverbs 11:2
The first of the seven deadly sins is pride. It naturally comes first — for as we read in Proverbs 16:18,
Pride goes... before a fall.
Pride is thus the mental and moral condition that precedes almost all other sins. All sin is selfishness in some form or other, and pride consists essentially of undue self- esteem, delighting in the thought of one’s own superiority over his fellows. Scripture reminds us,
Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished. — Proverbs 16:5
Again in Proverbs 29:23 we read,
A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.
The pride that God loathes is not self-respect or a legitimate sense of personal dignity. It is a haughty, undue self-esteem out of all proportion to our actual worth. It is that egotism which is repulsive to both humans and God. It is that revolting conceit which swaggers before individuals and struts in the presence of the Almighty. God hates it.
It is an abomination unto Him, which means that it makes Him shudder. God has told us in Psalm 101:5,
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure.
God cannot stand or endure pride. He hates it!
Pride may take various forms, but it all emanates from the haughty human heart.
Some take pride in their looks, others in their race, others in their business, others in their social life. In other words, pride may be spiritual, intellectual, material, or social. The most repugnant of these four is spiritual pride. This pride of the spirit was the sin that caused Lucifer, the devil, to fall. This is where sin actually began.
We read in Isaiah 14:12–15,
How you are fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations! For you have said in your heart: “I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
Here we find Lucifer saying, “I will,” five times. “I will be above God.” It was the pride of his heart that was the first sin ever committed in the universe. When we, like Lucifer, begin to feel that we are self-contained and self-sufficient, we are on dangerous ground.
Spiritual pride, because it trusts in one’s own virtue rather than the grace of God, is earmarked for God’s judgment. It induces in us a contempt for others and makes us contemptible to those about us. It says with the repulsive Pharisee of old, “God, I thank you that I am not as other men are.” It is smug, self-satisfied, and full of conceit. God loathes spiritual pride because it presumes to be good in its own right. It is the strutting of a tramp clad in filthy rags who imagines that he is the best dressed of all men.
Spiritual pride would be humorous if it wasn’t so tragic. God has sounded a stern warning for these descendants of the Pharisees. He has told us in James 4:6,
God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
There are some people who think they have a corner on the gospel. They have become conceited, smug, proud, and pharisaical. There are others that glory in their self-righteousness and think that they are better than other people. They don’t do this, and they don’t do that. They keep the letter of the law but have long since forgotten the spirit of the law. They are guilty of spiritual pride. There are also others who think themselves to be pure and all others impure. They have forgotten that there is no such thing as a completely pure church. Jesus taught that the chaff and the wheat would grow together, and that we would not be able to distinguish them until the end of time. Yet we have many Pharisees today going about trying to throw the chaff out of the wheat, doing that which God said could never be done until Christ comes again. We have many going about pulling specks out of other people’s eyes when they have beams in their own eyes. They have a haughty, superior, “chip on the shoulder” attitude. They spend their time criticizing and gossiping about others. This is the worst pride of all.
Another form of pride is intellectual pride. The Bible says to those who suffer from this kind of spiritual delusion,
Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. — 1 Corinthians 8:1b–2
This kind of pride manifests itself in arrogance toward the unlearned, the illiterate, and the oppressed. It forgets that our mental capacities were given by God, and that the knowledge we attain is largely the labor of others. Is this a reason for intellectual arrogance? Paul said in Romans 12:16,
Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.
The Greek philosopher Plato (fourth century BC) once entertained some friends in a room where there was a richly ornamented couch. When Diogenes of Sinope entered Plato’s house, he trampled upon his carpet, saying that he “trampled on the empty pride of Plato,” to which Plato retorted, “How much arrogance are you displaying, O Diogenes! when you think that you are not arrogant all.”1
Intellectual pride is too often the enemy of the gospel of Christ because it gives its possessor self-confidence rather than God-confidence. We read in Proverbs 3:5,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
But the intellectually proud are not like that. They like to put God in a test tube, and if He cannot be put in a test tube, then they cannot accept Him. They do not like to lean on Him and trust Him. They cannot understand that faith goes beyond learning, knowledge, and even reason, and accepts that which may not even appear logical to the mind. To have knowledge without faith is to use only half of your mind. The psalmist said in Psalm 111:10,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
True religion, contrary to the conception of some, increases your intellect rather than distracts from it. Paul, himself an intellectual, said in Romans 12:2,
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The kind of intellectual pride that is given to intolerance, bigotry, and smugness, God hates. God abhors intellectual pride. He says in Proverbs 26:12,
Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Still another manifestation of pride is the pride of material things. Material possessions, like other blessings, flow from God. The Lord says in Deuteronomy 8:18,
And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.
In 1 Chronicles 29:12 David said,
Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all.
- In material pride, self is enthroned instead of God. Secondary things are exalted to a place of first importance, and life gets out of balance.
The individual then begins to concentrate on what he or she has rather than on what he or she is in the sight of God, and the soul begins to shrivel. Material pride tends to make one covetous. The lust for money can be more habit-forming than the thirst for drink. We are warned in Psalm 62:10,
Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
The Bible again warns in 1 Timothy 6:9,
Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
All the material things that you have come from God.
The ability to accumulate wealth comes from God. The time you are allotted to enjoy material things comes from God. So why all this unjustified human pride of your possessions? James 1:17 teaches:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
You have absolutely nothing that you did not receive from God. He gave you the strength to work, a mind to think, and opportunities to thrive. It all came from God.
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Yes, the Bible teaches that pride is sin. Any kind of pride is a stumbling block to the Kingdom of God. The greatest sin that will keep men and women from the Kingdom of God is the sin of pride. Pride is the sin that God seemingly hates most.
- What can you do about it? Confess your pride. Humble yourself in the sight of God.
Come to the cross of Jesus Christ, and
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 2:5
No person will ever get to the Kingdom proudly. No individual can walk up to God with pride in his or her heart and be received. You can only come to God when you humble yourself, acknowledge your sin, and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
1. Diogenes Laertius, Live of Eminent Philosophers, trans. C. D. Yonge, G. Bell and Sons, LTD. (Project Gutenberg, 2018), 224. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57342/57342-h/57342-h.htm (accessed February 10, 2026).
Excerpted with permission from Freedom from the Seven Deadly Sins by Billy Graham, copyright The Billy Graham Literary Foundation.
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Your Turn
Pause today and ask the Lord to show you any area of pride in your life. Ask Him to forgive you and help you by rooting that pride out of your life. Humble yourself before Him today and praise God for His immeasurable gifts in your life! ~ Devotionals Daily