The Religious Spirit of Self-Righteousness
It's more common than we know
It is very hard to detect self-righteousness, especially in ourselves. First, self-righteous people are carnal and legalistic. Of course everyone is both physical and spiritual in nature, but our spirit must lead. When it does, it’s called living “from the inside out;” artists tend to possess this strength. Otherwise, trying to live “from the outside in,” as most people traditionally have done, is like putting the cart before the horse. The moment the physical attempts to lead the spiritual (love, hope, faith, forgiveness), it chokes it off. The human spirit dies and becomes a heart of stone, cold-hearted with a diminished sense of instinct, creativity, joy and all the miraculous things about being human.
But this is what civilization largely has been up until now: rule-bound, judgmental and cruel, disregarding the human spirit. Self-righteousness is so hard to detect because it’s so common.
The following are signs of self-righteousness.
1. Self-righteousness repels and has no compassion
Instead of being compassionate, they are critical, judgmental, and condemning. Better to hate the sin, but care about the sinner. Jesus hung around society’s outcasts, but wouldn’t give the Pharisees (the name means “set apart”) the time of day because he knew his message would be received by the tax collectors and prostitutes long before the priests and big wigs in the temple would ever listen, and it’s still true to a large degree today, although less so.
Remember the woman caught in adultery? That was a Pharisee conspiracy to entrap her with everyone looking on; no doubt they’d done it millions of times before. But Jesus could see right through them and bravely defended her from the death penalty they were about to mete out, using the Law of Moses for evil purposes. Jesus defused the situation by saying, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” -John 8:7
Jesus never ran out of harsh words for the Pharisees: “You brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." -Matthew 12:34
2. Self-righteousness seeks approval from people, not from God
Carnal, self-righteous types are insecure and therefore seek the approval of others. The Pharisees, the Jewish sect that was firmly in charge during Jesus’ lifetime, made a big show of giving charity. Exactly like clergy today, they also called themselves haughty titles like “Rabbi” (Teacher) and “Father,” but Jesus said to never do this. I feel newer titles like “Bishop,” etc are even worse and carry spiritual baggage we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies, and yet some churches continue the practice, completely disregarding Jesus’ words:
Matthew 23:6-15
6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ [Teacher, Teacher.] 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
3. Self-Righteousness rejects correction
The Pharisees were the perfect example of how Satan turns religion inside out to use it to destroy rather than redeem humanity!
Weirdly, the Pharisees publicly declared that blame for Jesus’ death should be heaped upon themselves and their progeny for all time, “His blood be on us, and on our children!” -Matthew 27:25
God seems to have given them their wish. Suddenly, they could do nothing right. The extreme disharmony they caused after Jesus’ crucifixion came to a head when the Jews were banished from Judea by the Roman Empire in 70 A.D., sending the Jews into Diaspora. Somehow, people realized it was all the fault of the Pharisees and the sect was finally outlawed, but the damage was and is still irreparable, incalculable, and still multiplying to this very day.
Matthew 23:25-26
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Two Misunderstandings
While it’s certainly true that egotism is not helpful, it’s not all about us, but it’s also true that we are very important to God’s work on Earth. We need God to guide us in all things, and God needs us to do his work on Earth, to bring in the harvest, to assist in the redemption of humankind (win souls for the Kingdom). Know your value — we are priceless to God once we follow God closely! God is the hand, we are the glove. Stay close to him to benefit from his promises!
Another misunderstanding is that we shouldn’t talk back to God, or that talking back indicates self-righteousness, but it’s not necessarily true. Job (in the Book of Job) talked back to God, pleading his innocence and asking God for answers for why bad things happened to him, and God answered him. God explained that there’s so much Job will not understand in this life, and then God restored everything Job had lost, repaying him double. Job endured and would not curse God as his wife did. Job had a heart of flesh and was simply trying to understand.
Prayer for Forgiveness
If you or anyone you know struggles with a religious spirit of self-righteousness, pray for forgiveness and God will grant it. Ask for transformation and you will transform. Sometimes there is a stubborn religious spirit that persists despite prayer. In that case, fast and pray. If you are serious about overcoming this problem, God will remove it from you.
Claim the verses in Ezekiel 36 for your own life and God will keep his promises. I am praying for you, too, and hope you will join me in praying these verses over the next generation as well:
Ezekiel 36:26-29
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
