Luke 18:11, commentary and pictures

The Pharisee stood apart in proud self-sufficiency and prayed with himself rather than to God, offering self-praise full of I that recounted his own virtues while thanking God he was not as other men are — extortioners, unjust, adulterers — or as the publican beside him.
He measured himself not by the holy character of God but by the character of worse men, and that turning from God to humanity to compare himself favorably is the secret of his self-satisfaction.
Trusting in himself that he was righteous, with no sense of defilement, poverty or need of mercy and Christ's help, he despised and condemned others, and that contempt leaves no room for Jesus and shuts out the Holy Spirit.
His prayer had no value and went unanswered so he went home destitute of blessing, while the publican who grieved over sin and pleaded for mercy in dependence on God was heard and went home justified, for self-exaltation leads to abasement and humility to exaltation.
The prayer stands for trusting personal religious acts and good works for salvation instead of relying alone on the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and its only remedy is to be emptied of self, come as a needy, contrite suppliant, and depend on the Holy Spirit.

Prayer’s Words and Posture

The Pharisee stood apart from others in an upright, haughty posture that expressed pride, self-sufficiency, self-esteem and self-satisfaction rather than humility and reverence before God. His look, walk and prayer were full of self-praise, as one come to win commendation and secure favor with both God and men, regarding his worship as an act of merit and assuming God and men viewed him with the same complacency. That standing apart was the expression of a self-righteous class separated by its own exalted estimate of itself and looking down on others, an example of irreverence and pomposity not to be imitated.

He prayed thus with himself, so that his prayer was centered on himself and reached no higher than himself. It expressed no dependence on God and therefore had no value, in contrast to true prayer which expresses the needy person's dependence on divine power. Those who seek God must come as needy suppliants, counting self as shame and distrusting their own strength.

His thanksgiving was really self-praise full of I, lifting up self in self-esteem, self-sufficiency, proud boasting and complacent self-righteousness. He listed and recounted his own virtues, good deeds, devotion and liberality, treating his outward standing and conduct as proof of his worth and righteousness. That boasting covered a blind, destitute and wretched condition, for religious position and outward appearance do not earn approval, and such an I-centered religion that keeps self in front leaves no room for Jesus and kills spiritual life.

He thanked God that he was not as other men are — extortioners, unjust, adulterers — or even as this publican, naming sinners to set off his own goodness. He compared himself favorably with others, treating his supposed moral superiority to the publican and to sinners he named as grounds for thanksgiving. In contrast with the publican's plea for mercy, that contemptuous thanksgiving exposed hypocrisy and self-righteous confidence that has no foundation before God.

Self-Righteous Heart Exposed

The prayer exposes a false standard of judgment, for the character is measured not by the holy character of God but by the character of other men. The mind is turned away from God to humanity, and comparing the self favorably with those who act worse is the secret of self-satisfaction. Doing better than others is no ground for self-flattery and does not make a person righteous, for each must consider the light received and whether the heart is yielded to God. Those who think they are already good and need nothing do not seek grace and righteousness, and their pride closes the heart so they leave empty.

He trusted in himself that he was righteous, confident in his own piety and conduct with no sense of defilement, sin, spiritual poverty, or need of mercy, pardon, and Christ's help. Without true knowledge of self and without conviction of sin there is no feeling of need for wisdom, light, strength, forgiveness, or continued growth in grace. Only the one who knows himself to be a sinner can be saved, for a person must know his real condition to feel need of help, must understand danger to flee to refuge, and must feel pain of wounds to desire healing. Inward self-righteousness claims keener perception and ideas far in advance of others, feels richness and high value and great ability, and regards brethren as inferior and scarcely to be tolerated.

That self-complacency is self-deception and spiritual disease, a perverted judgment that feels whole and in need of nothing while blind, destitute, wretched, and destitute of Christ. Self-righteousness encases the soul like armor that conviction and pointed truth cannot penetrate, so the Holy Spirit cannot work. Spreading virtues before God while thinking little of sins and much of goodness lifts self as high as possible instead of seeing self as God sees, whose eye reads intents and purposes and whose judgment is wholly different from human judgment. Exalting self by dwelling on the faults of others does not show true righteousness but reveals false righteousness, and it bars the soul from the grace that truly exalts. Profession without doing Christ's sayings and without perfect and entire obedience to all claims of the law, which is satisfied with nothing short of perfection, leaves words and actions wrong and bearing bad fruit while the professor still thinks he is doing a great religious work.

Whoever trusts in himself that he is righteous will despise, condemn, and accuse others, judging himself by other men and judging other men by himself, so that the worse they are the more righteous by contrast he appears. He looks down with contempt on sinners, the weak, and brethren who by temperament struggle to overcome besetting evils, thanking God that his own faith and zeal exceed those of poor feeble ones striving under discouragement. Noticing another's faults leads to the vain thought of not being like him, in conflict with the command to esteem others better than self. That accusing and condemning spirit is the very spirit of Satan the accuser of the brethren, and with that spirit communion with God is impossible.

Self fills the whole temple of the soul and leaves no room for Jesus, putting Him on the lower seat while self swells into importance. Pride and self-exaltation close the heart to Christ, exclude Him from the thoughts, keep the heart from being bound up with His heart, blind the soul to the glory of the Redeemer, and place a barrier between the person and the Saviour. A heart woven through with self leaves God little to do with it and requires a large measure of the Spirit to break it up. Distance from God leaves the heart closed to the Holy Spirit, so he receives nothing, and this I-centered religion kills spiritual life.

Rejected Before God

The thanksgiving of the Pharisee had no worth before heaven and went unanswered, for it expressed pride and self-reliance rather than dependence on divine power. It was irreverent self-sufficiency centered on outward religious duties as a claim to approval, without recognition of spiritual poverty and need. Without humility and searching of heart and without putting wrongs right, such approach leaves the soul unblessed and destitute of the divine blessing on the way home. True prayer is the plea of the needy suppliant reaching out in dependence on God, with self counted as shame.

God looks upon the heart, and His judgment is wholly different from human judgment. Religious position and outward appearance do not earn His approval, nor do praise from friends and much good work commend anyone to His favor. Business judgment, wealth, confident feeling, and claims of superior piety have no foundation as a ground of standing with Him, and temporal riches do not make a person of value in His sight. He reads the intents and purposes of the soul beneath boastful virtue, seeing disobedience and grave faults of character where men see worth. Only he who abides in Christ is found of value with God.

In contrast the publican felt his unworthiness, grieved over his sin, and pleaded for mercy in dependence on divine power. His prayer was heard because it confessed need, and in his sense of unworthiness he was nearer to God than the confident Pharisee. He went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee, while the prayer that trusted in personal righteousness was not accepted. Humility, not self-righteousness, marks those to whom Christ reveals Himself.

Self-exaltation leads to abasement, while those who humble themselves will be exalted. Exalting self by favorable comparison with others and by dwelling on their faults reveals self-deception and false righteousness, and bars the soul from the grace that truly exalts. No one can enter heaven without humility, and God's blessings are not received by display or reliance on one's own righteousness but by coming humble and contrite. The lesson is to humble the heart, learn meekness and lowliness from the great Teacher, and look to God alone to change the heart and prepare it for His kingdom.

Grace Versus Good Works

The prayer is the picture of a righteousness that springs from self alone rather than from Christ, trusting in personal religious acts, prayerful lives, devotion, moral conduct and good works as the ground of salvation instead of relying alone upon the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour and upon His atoning blood. Outward religious standing, rigorous duties and cold legal observance may proclaim a person righteous and entitled to heaven, but they cannot earn entrance there, for salvation rests only on the offering made for those who believe. Such worship is loveless and does not lead to Christ, and when people become just in their own eyes and despise further instruction because of past experience, Jesus leaves them to their own ways to be deceived, with a hard spirit that has no union with His meek spirit and stands at war with His work.

It is profession without doing His sayings and without rendering perfect and entire obedience to all the claims of the law, which will be satisfied with nothing short of perfection. Those who pray in this way may boast of good deeds and thank God they are not as other men, while crafty and overreaching in business, with words and actions that are wrong and bear bad fruit that disgusts unbelievers and fails to correspond with faith, yet they think they are right and doing a great religious work when they are wrong and blind, destitute and wretched. To claim to be righteous while failing to obey God's commands and to fail to do His will while professing belief in truth is to stand apart like the Pharisee, and greater light and knowledge bring greater accountability, so those who know the truth must practice it and keep growing spiritually.

It is also the picture of those who profess sanctification while entirely ignorant of the work of grace upon the heart, reiterating God leads me, God teaches me, I am living without sin. Like the Pharisee they will bear no contradiction, lay aside reason and judgment, depend wholly upon feelings and upon emotions once experienced, and stubbornly urge tenacious claims of holiness with many words but no precious fruit as proof, deluding their own souls and leading astray many who earnestly desire to conform to the will of God by an influence altogether unlike Christ, the only true pattern. The same spirit appears in false humility that speaks to God of spiritual poverty and the faults of others while inwardly taking pride in superior humility and righteousness, flattering itself with high moral standing and superiority over ordinary people. Such self-righteous zeal is not of Christ and is not commended, and those who cherish it must seek the Lord as common sinners lest they fail to develop Christian character and be lost.

It means making excuses for defects of character so they appear unavoidable or even praiseworthy, going back over past life instead of seeking fresh daily experience, and refusing reform in order to remain in spiritual darkness. It means clinging to past experience and familiar teachings, despising further instruction and learning, and, as with ministers who think themselves safe, rejecting the message God sends to His people. It means bringing in I whenever there is chance, parading self for praise and commendation, keeping Jesus in the background and leaving Christ out, and taking to self the glory that belongs to God, so that God cannot safely bless the labor. It means being whole in one's own sight, rich and increased with goods and needing nothing, with a heart woven through with self so that God has little to do with it, satisfied with self instead of being divested of self to give Jesus undivided worship, conscious of weakness, and putting forth determined effort to obtain divine aid. Only a large measure of the Spirit can break up such supreme self-complacency, and when grace enables a person to see himself, empty himself of self-complacency and humble himself at the foot of the cross, Jesus becomes his restorer; without this there is no new, fresh, joyful experience in God, but only relating wonderful incidents of the past while deceiving the soul.

Warning and Call to Humility

Phariseeism can arise in any church whenever people think and pray self-righteously, comparing themselves favorably with others and thanking God they are not like them instead of humbling the heart before God. That self-righteous thinking and praying breaks love and oneness in Christ, and humbling the heart exposes the danger and turns people away from accusing, condemning, judging and reproaching fellow believers. It is self-sufficiency that feels righteous and counts all its acts meritorious while far from the right spirit toward God and toward brethren, cherishing self-esteem and wanting to be first. From that spirit come criticism of others for not giving first place, envy, jealousy, suspicion, fault-finding, false witness, perverted viewing of words and acts, secret retaliation, and planting disaffection and disunion, with loss of unity and fellowship, while still claiming firm belief in the truth, which dishonors God, degrades the principles of truth, and mars and dwarfs Christian experience. The fallow ground of the heart must be broken up so the seeds of truth can take deep root and bear much fruit to the glory of God.

It is wrong to thank God that one's own faith and zeal exceed those of poor, feeble ones striving to do right under discouragement and darkness, exalting self above brethren who are not so strong and looking with contempt on the faulty who by natural temperament struggle to overcome besetting evils. Jesus pities and loves the weak and bears with their infirmities just as with the strong, and angels from pure heaven sympathize with the weakest and most helpless, while Christ left His throne to help just such people and died for all, loving others as much as He loves the strong. No one has a right to hold aloof in marked superiority from faltering ones or to refuse help while forgetting his own vulnerability to temptation and need for help, for faith and zeal do not justify looking down on them. His followers must come into unison with Christ to pity the erring as Christ has pitied, labor with softened hearts, love, meekness and no desire for contention, help bring the struggling, repentant sinner back to God, lift up hanging hands, strengthen feeble knees, and bid fearful hearts be strong. Approaching others with contemptuous comparison and condemnation instead of compassion is the Pharisee's self-righteous attitude of thanking God for supposed moral superiority and being better than other people.

Workers must not lift themselves up in vanity, compare their work with a brother's, and criticize and depreciate him as inferior and scarcely to be tolerated in order to exalt self. Such comparison treats one's own conduct and methods as grounds for superiority and best, instead of esteeming others better than self and above self. That criticism proves the Spirit of God is not with the critic and breaks the command to esteem others better than self. By God's grace, humility and the Holy Spirit's work reveal defects of character and keep a person from treating others as worse while assuming himself righteous and condemning others while failing to see his own faults. Every laborer must instead learn meekness and lowliness, work in Christ's lines, co-operate with God, and blend and harmonize with his brethren, for zeal shaped by self-righteous character is not commended because it is not of Christ.

An I-centered religion full of I lifts up self in self-esteem, self-sufficiency, proud boasting and complacent self-righteousness, spreading its virtues before God while thinking little of its sins and much of its goodness and lifting itself as high as possible in its own eyes instead of seeing itself as God sees it. Such self fills the whole temple of the soul and leaves no room for Jesus, putting Him on the lower seat and keeping Him in the background while self swells into importance, is talked about, is paraded for praise and commendation, and takes to self the glory that belongs to God, with Christ left out. This spirit kills spiritual life, separates further from God, renders less obedience to His commandments while placing more confidence in self, and is why the Lord can do little and cannot safely bless the labor, because the worker would appropriate all the glory to his own smartness, wisdom and ability. Keeping I in front instead of hid in Christ, making excuses for defects as unavoidable or even praiseworthy, going back over past life instead of seeking fresh daily experience, and refusing reform in order to remain in spiritual darkness, this religion finally falls into grievous sins while presuming from self-importance that God will not hold to strict account. Indulging selfishness and worldliness, infatuated with this world, casting aside imperishable things, thinking riches mean greatness and honor and love of ease and display, desiring positions of power and flattery, making wealth an idol and indulging sin until moral power is palsied, the proud pretentious boaster who thinks himself an important personage slumbers on in imperfection toward the second death, deaf and blind to compassion, mercy and truth, though temporal wealth, business judgment, praise from friends and much good work cannot recommend a person to favor, for Heaven does not estimate men as the world does and only he who abides in Christ is found of value with God.

The remedy is to break up the fallow ground of the heart, humble ourselves, learn from the great Teacher, and value the privilege of learning from Scripture, for those who humble themselves will be exalted. Worshipers must distrust their own strength and approach God with humility and reverence, not in haughty self-sufficiency and irreverent pomposity that treats supposed goodness as the focus and reaches no higher than self. They must come as needy suppliants with faith and prayer, counting high estimate diminished in the presence of Christ, ashamed over self, confessing sinfulness and need with a sense of spiritual poverty, in contrast to self-reliance that has no value and is unheard. In that humbled place the prayer changes to dependence on God's power and on the Holy Spirit to do any righteous thing, with willingness to link with brethren and receive counsel instead of claiming keener perception, ideas far in advance, richness, high value and great ability while regarding brethren as inferior.

Ministers and parents must come down from Pharisaical self-satisfaction to the simplicity of humble, experienced religion. The heart must be softened and subdued by the Holy Spirit before a person can win children to Christ. All must seek the Lord as common sinners and learn meekness and lowliness of heart, wearing His yoke, lifting His burdens, becoming one with Him, beholding Him steadfastly and thinking little of self, lest clinging to familiar teachings and familiar ideas cause them to reject the message God sends and fail to develop Christian character.