The Pharisee and the Publican Praying in the Templeby CBPepper
23:12Matthew 23:12
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Whoever lifts himself up will be brought low, and whoever lowers himself will be lifted up by the Lord in due time. In His kingdom true greatness is not rank, honor, or title but moral worth shown in living for others through loving, humble service. Self-lifting through ambition, seeking the highest place, trusting self and despising others belongs to Satan and shuts out the grace that truly exalts. Lowering self is each person's own daily work before God, by hiding self in Christ, pursuing duty to glorify Him rather than to be praised, and letting Him do the lifting round by round from the bottom. Those who refuse to exalt themselves are the ones He can safely entrust with responsibility and honor, so workers and especially ministers are to put away high ambitions, walk humbly with God, and honor Christ instead of seeking to rule.
Setting in Matthew 23
Matthew 23:12 belongs to Christ's final day of teaching in the temple and in the temple courts, where His words warned and condemned the rulers, instructed inquiring listeners, and exposed the claims to authority of the religious leaders and elders, their hypocrisy, and their failure to practice what they taught. That teaching set the leaders' pursuit of honor and station against Jesus' lack of earthly rank. Those teachings were intended for people of every age and nation.
The verse is part of His recorded denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees and His warning not to follow blind leaders. These warnings admonish future generations about the danger of exalting human authority to rule the conscience and of undue assumption of authority. That practice would continue to harm the church in later ages.
The scathing rebukes and woes of the chapter reveal a spiritually blinded condition that cannot discern the relative importance of matters needing understanding. They apply today to priests and rulers for impenitence and for opposition to truth and righteousness. In that setting of rebuke of religious leaders, the promise that whoever exalts himself will be brought low and whoever humbles himself will be lifted up applies to priests who misuse legitimate authority for unlawful ends.
True Greatness Through Service
Whoever lifts himself up will be brought low, and whoever lowers himself will be lifted up. True greatness is measured by moral worth, and moral worth consists in living for others through love and benevolence and works of love and mercy. In Christ's kingdom greatness is measured by humble service, not by worldly position or rank or honor or reputation or titles.
Rivalry for supremacy has no place there, because all are brethren. The greatness God recognizes is humility and devotion to serving others. Self-denial and self-sacrifice in service develop qualities of character that commend a person to God and give that person the chief place and honor in His kingdom.
Christ Himself exemplified this principle by serving fallen humanity though He was the King of glory. He humbled Himself as God's servant and accepted abasement and self-sacrifice and death to give believers freedom and life and a place in His kingdom. True honor does not come from guarding dignity or seeking respect, but from humility and self-forgetfulness. The person who gives others kindness and comfort and consideration displays true dignity and will receive respect without demanding it, and humbling self causes truth to appear in its true value. So Peter took no authoritative position over the other apostles but stood on an equal footing with them.
Self-Exaltation Brings Abasement
Self-exaltation is raising oneself through ambition, status, and outward displays of piety, and through desire to stand first and to seek rank, honor, reputation, personal glory, authority, supremacy, and control. It is making self prominent and seeking the highest place, striving to rule over fellow workers, following one's own ideas and plans, and taking to oneself the glory for what God does. Those who so raise themselves will be brought low, while those who humble themselves and serve others will be exalted.
Self-exaltation includes trusting one's own goodness while despising others, and self-righteousness and self-conceit that reveal high ideas and ambitions and desire to make a show in words, demeanor, and conduct even in little things. It includes self-confidence and self-importance that credits position to personal talents and natural energy, and moving on impulse without a meek childlike spirit or considering the wisest course. Human weakness gives no grounds for such lifting up, and such a state proves the soul is not feeding on Christ and His Word and shows the Spirit departing, leaving reliance on one's own wisdom.
Self-exaltation also appears as a stubborn, unyielding disposition with independent judgment, refusal of counsel, criticism of brethren, and bitterness needing to be rooted out. It appears as ruling over God's people without God-given authority instead of serving them, and as seeking authority and honor over others contrary to the spirit of Christ. It appears as seeking public status or the highest position through human plans while treating truth lightly in institutional work, and as wealth tempting to pride and self-importance as if riches made one independent of God and worthy in His sight.
Self-exaltation belongs to Satan, and Christ and Satan can never work together, so it prevents the Lord from doing much for a person. Rejecting Christ's yoke to preserve dignity and authority leads to humiliation, stops growth in the meekness and lowliness of Christ, and harms rather than helps influence. False righteousness produces self-exaltation while true righteousness does not, and pride excludes from the grace that truly exalts.
Whoever exalts himself is in great peril of losing his soul, for the enemy will use his influence and capabilities to deceive others and lead them into false paths. Lifting self to thwart God's purposes is fearful danger requiring determined change, lest the end be ruin. Ambitious self-exalting without being clothed in Christ's righteousness, looking to God and obeying Him, ends in failure and disappointment, while the true source of peace, joy, and victory is rejoicing in the Lord and giving all glory to God.
The reversal also applies to misjudgment of character, where people without moral worth are honored while those seeking the Lord and following His steps are not appreciated. Promoting self in entrusted work is incompatible with the humility and harmony of heaven and requires change to meekness, lowliness, and childlike simplicity to enter God's kingdom. The deepest experience of God moves people farthest from pride, for when His glory fills their thoughts they abase themselves and regard even the lowest place in His service as an honor.
Humility Receives Exaltation
Humbling oneself is a person's own work to do daily before God and must not be left for God to do. It is far better to keep the heart humbled before God every day than to build up in pride and wait until God lays a heavy hand to humble and bring into proper position. Whoever is lifted up and exalted must humble himself, or God will humble him, for the Lord will surely humble those who uplift themselves. This duty presses with special force on ministers of the gospel, whose lack of consecration, self-denial, and willingness to bear care and responsibility keeps divine power from working with their efforts.
Humility means pursuing duty to glorify God rather than to be praised, petted, favored, or honored by people. It means trusting Christ, reflecting His self-giving character, letting self-interest yield to redemption and praise to God, watching jealously over one's own spirit and action rather than claiming superiority, and hiding self in Christ rather than seeking prominence. It is the right position before God, not trying to boost self to the highest pinnacle as though worthy of everything, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who exalts the humble in due time. As people draw nearer to Jesus their desire for the highest place diminishes even while they work toward God's high standard.
The verse forbids placing dependence on man, expecting homage from fellow men, or letting any living man take the place of God in the mind. It forbids measuring self among self and leaning to one's own understanding with superiority when seeing others' prejudices, errors, instability of opinion, and partiality, calling instead for less self-confidence and jealous watch over one's own spirit and action. It must be read and obeyed to the letter by walking in humility before God, seeing Christ's perfection of character in contrast with personal weakness and imperfection, which removes boasting and lifting up of self. That walk gives appreciation of the value of souls for whom Christ died, and those who meekly pursue duty to glorify God will be exalted with glory, honor, and eternal life, while spiritual pride that refuses harmony with Christ's instruction brings abasement.
Man is to humble himself and let Christ do the lifting up, climbing round by round from the bottom. Trying to climb to the highest place by self, grasping the higher rounds without the stern self-denying experience that gives solid worth, wisdom, and sound judgment, brings confusion, crooked paths, and failure. Plans laid in flattering light with ardent desire to do something great, without committing body, soul, and spirit to God's keeping, end in failure and disappointment. It is better to be in the lowest place than in the highest when unprepared for influence, for exalting self by crediting position to personal talents and natural energy harms rather than helps and stops growth in the meekness and lowliness of Christ. Lowering self requires converting power in a higher sense, so that character bears the rich cluster of fruits that satisfies God.
Humbling oneself before God by admitting sin and seeking forgiveness through the crucified and risen Saviour is nobility that brings exaltation before people and angels. This humility does not mean exposing the secret thoughts of the heart in confession to a fallen human being, for doing so debases the person and lowers the standard of character. Humility before God with a humble, contrite heart wholly devoted to Him is the condition for His presence and help, without which entrusted work cannot be done successfully.
Those who refuse to exalt themselves are the ones God can safely entrust with responsibilities, for humble service and Godlike character fit a person to carry responsibility and lead. Those who are humble and do not seek to exalt themselves will be raised up by the Lord to important posts of duty. Those who are self-sufficient, put trust in men, and make flesh an arm will be tested and tried by the Word of God and found unqualified for His service.
Applying Humility in Service
Matthew 23:12 calls workers to put away pride, self-esteem, self-confidence and high ambitions, and to cultivate modesty and humility as Scripture repeatedly enjoins. True greatness depends on humility rather than on seeking greatness before the world, so the worker is to walk humbly with God instead of seeking honor and position. Whatever honor God gives is to be borne humbly, and those who humbly honor Christ rather than strive to rule over fellow workers and seek the highest place will be lifted up while those who seek that place will be brought low. Exalting self and putting down others shows the Spirit departing and leaves a person to rely on mere human wisdom.
Christ's followers must give up self-seeking, take up the cross, and follow His example, and anyone who would reform others must first reform himself. Seeking personal glory and authority leads to being brought low, while humility leads to exaltation, and ruling over God's people instead of serving them can cost souls. To seek to be first, to grasp supremacy and control, to follow one's own ideas and plans, and to take to oneself the glory for what God does is self-exaltation belonging to Satan, with whom Christ can never work together, and it prevents the Lord from doing much for such a person. For that reason unconsecrated medical workers who seek self leave half undone what might have been done.
This duty presses especially on ministers of the gospel, whose lack of consecration, self-denial, and willingness to bear care and responsibility keeps God's power from working with their efforts. Humbling oneself is a person's own daily work before God and must not be left for God to do, for a person either abases himself or builds himself up in pride until God abases him. Though God at times lays a heavy hand on men to humble them and bring them into proper position, it is far better to keep the heart humbled before Him every day. A minister who humbles himself so that God may be exalted will be exalted with genuine eloquence, joined to true piety, close connection with God, and daily living knowledge of Christ. As God's ambassador and Christ's representative, that experience supplies what mere wisdom of words lacks, making eloquent even the stammering tongue and enabling truth to be presented in simplicity so as to reach both the most elevated and the lowliest.
Instead of ambitious self-exaltation, the true source of peace, joy, and victory is rejoicing in the Lord with holy joy and sanctified experience. No one is safe unless clothed with Christ's righteousness, looking to God and obeying Him, recognizing that without Christ nothing can be done and giving all glory to God, for the Lord will surely humble those who uplift themselves. The Lord gives to every man his work, and if a man seeks to exalt himself the Lord will humble him. Everyone must therefore be on guard against selfishness and grasping advantages that are not his right, must not consider himself self-sufficient, and must not make it his work to humble others, for God's work advances through hearts renewed and purified from all selfishness.
Whoever lifts himself up will be brought low, and whoever lowers himself will be lifted up by the Lord in due time. In His kingdom true greatness is not rank, honor, or title but moral worth shown in living for others through loving, humble service. Self-lifting through ambition, seeking the highest place, trusting self and despising others belongs to Satan and shuts out the grace that truly exalts. Lowering self is each person's own daily work before God, by hiding self in Christ, pursuing duty to glorify Him rather than to be praised, and letting Him do the lifting round by round from the bottom. Those who refuse to exalt themselves are the ones He can safely entrust with responsibility and honor, so workers and especially ministers are to put away high ambitions, walk humbly with God, and honor Christ instead of seeking to rule.
Setting in Matthew 23
Matthew 23:12 belongs to Christ's final day of teaching in the temple and in the temple courts, where His words warned and condemned the rulers, instructed inquiring listeners, and exposed the claims to authority of the religious leaders and elders, their hypocrisy, and their failure to practice what they taught. That teaching set the leaders' pursuit of honor and station against Jesus' lack of earthly rank. Those teachings were intended for people of every age and nation.
The verse is part of His recorded denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees and His warning not to follow blind leaders. These warnings admonish future generations about the danger of exalting human authority to rule the conscience and of undue assumption of authority. That practice would continue to harm the church in later ages.
The scathing rebukes and woes of the chapter reveal a spiritually blinded condition that cannot discern the relative importance of matters needing understanding. They apply today to priests and rulers for impenitence and for opposition to truth and righteousness. In that setting of rebuke of religious leaders, the promise that whoever exalts himself will be brought low and whoever humbles himself will be lifted up applies to priests who misuse legitimate authority for unlawful ends.
True Greatness Through Service
Whoever lifts himself up will be brought low, and whoever lowers himself will be lifted up. True greatness is measured by moral worth, and moral worth consists in living for others through love and benevolence and works of love and mercy. In Christ's kingdom greatness is measured by humble service, not by worldly position or rank or honor or reputation or titles.
Rivalry for supremacy has no place there, because all are brethren. The greatness God recognizes is humility and devotion to serving others. Self-denial and self-sacrifice in service develop qualities of character that commend a person to God and give that person the chief place and honor in His kingdom.
Christ Himself exemplified this principle by serving fallen humanity though He was the King of glory. He humbled Himself as God's servant and accepted abasement and self-sacrifice and death to give believers freedom and life and a place in His kingdom. True honor does not come from guarding dignity or seeking respect, but from humility and self-forgetfulness. The person who gives others kindness and comfort and consideration displays true dignity and will receive respect without demanding it, and humbling self causes truth to appear in its true value. So Peter took no authoritative position over the other apostles but stood on an equal footing with them.
Self-Exaltation Brings Abasement
Self-exaltation is raising oneself through ambition, status, and outward displays of piety, and through desire to stand first and to seek rank, honor, reputation, personal glory, authority, supremacy, and control. It is making self prominent and seeking the highest place, striving to rule over fellow workers, following one's own ideas and plans, and taking to oneself the glory for what God does. Those who so raise themselves will be brought low, while those who humble themselves and serve others will be exalted.
Self-exaltation includes trusting one's own goodness while despising others, and self-righteousness and self-conceit that reveal high ideas and ambitions and desire to make a show in words, demeanor, and conduct even in little things. It includes self-confidence and self-importance that credits position to personal talents and natural energy, and moving on impulse without a meek childlike spirit or considering the wisest course. Human weakness gives no grounds for such lifting up, and such a state proves the soul is not feeding on Christ and His Word and shows the Spirit departing, leaving reliance on one's own wisdom.
Self-exaltation also appears as a stubborn, unyielding disposition with independent judgment, refusal of counsel, criticism of brethren, and bitterness needing to be rooted out. It appears as ruling over God's people without God-given authority instead of serving them, and as seeking authority and honor over others contrary to the spirit of Christ. It appears as seeking public status or the highest position through human plans while treating truth lightly in institutional work, and as wealth tempting to pride and self-importance as if riches made one independent of God and worthy in His sight.
Self-exaltation belongs to Satan, and Christ and Satan can never work together, so it prevents the Lord from doing much for a person. Rejecting Christ's yoke to preserve dignity and authority leads to humiliation, stops growth in the meekness and lowliness of Christ, and harms rather than helps influence. False righteousness produces self-exaltation while true righteousness does not, and pride excludes from the grace that truly exalts.
Whoever exalts himself is in great peril of losing his soul, for the enemy will use his influence and capabilities to deceive others and lead them into false paths. Lifting self to thwart God's purposes is fearful danger requiring determined change, lest the end be ruin. Ambitious self-exalting without being clothed in Christ's righteousness, looking to God and obeying Him, ends in failure and disappointment, while the true source of peace, joy, and victory is rejoicing in the Lord and giving all glory to God.
The reversal also applies to misjudgment of character, where people without moral worth are honored while those seeking the Lord and following His steps are not appreciated. Promoting self in entrusted work is incompatible with the humility and harmony of heaven and requires change to meekness, lowliness, and childlike simplicity to enter God's kingdom. The deepest experience of God moves people farthest from pride, for when His glory fills their thoughts they abase themselves and regard even the lowest place in His service as an honor.
Humility Receives Exaltation
Humbling oneself is a person's own work to do daily before God and must not be left for God to do. It is far better to keep the heart humbled before God every day than to build up in pride and wait until God lays a heavy hand to humble and bring into proper position. Whoever is lifted up and exalted must humble himself, or God will humble him, for the Lord will surely humble those who uplift themselves. This duty presses with special force on ministers of the gospel, whose lack of consecration, self-denial, and willingness to bear care and responsibility keeps divine power from working with their efforts.
Humility means pursuing duty to glorify God rather than to be praised, petted, favored, or honored by people. It means trusting Christ, reflecting His self-giving character, letting self-interest yield to redemption and praise to God, watching jealously over one's own spirit and action rather than claiming superiority, and hiding self in Christ rather than seeking prominence. It is the right position before God, not trying to boost self to the highest pinnacle as though worthy of everything, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who exalts the humble in due time. As people draw nearer to Jesus their desire for the highest place diminishes even while they work toward God's high standard.
The verse forbids placing dependence on man, expecting homage from fellow men, or letting any living man take the place of God in the mind. It forbids measuring self among self and leaning to one's own understanding with superiority when seeing others' prejudices, errors, instability of opinion, and partiality, calling instead for less self-confidence and jealous watch over one's own spirit and action. It must be read and obeyed to the letter by walking in humility before God, seeing Christ's perfection of character in contrast with personal weakness and imperfection, which removes boasting and lifting up of self. That walk gives appreciation of the value of souls for whom Christ died, and those who meekly pursue duty to glorify God will be exalted with glory, honor, and eternal life, while spiritual pride that refuses harmony with Christ's instruction brings abasement.
Man is to humble himself and let Christ do the lifting up, climbing round by round from the bottom. Trying to climb to the highest place by self, grasping the higher rounds without the stern self-denying experience that gives solid worth, wisdom, and sound judgment, brings confusion, crooked paths, and failure. Plans laid in flattering light with ardent desire to do something great, without committing body, soul, and spirit to God's keeping, end in failure and disappointment. It is better to be in the lowest place than in the highest when unprepared for influence, for exalting self by crediting position to personal talents and natural energy harms rather than helps and stops growth in the meekness and lowliness of Christ. Lowering self requires converting power in a higher sense, so that character bears the rich cluster of fruits that satisfies God.
Humbling oneself before God by admitting sin and seeking forgiveness through the crucified and risen Saviour is nobility that brings exaltation before people and angels. This humility does not mean exposing the secret thoughts of the heart in confession to a fallen human being, for doing so debases the person and lowers the standard of character. Humility before God with a humble, contrite heart wholly devoted to Him is the condition for His presence and help, without which entrusted work cannot be done successfully.
Those who refuse to exalt themselves are the ones God can safely entrust with responsibilities, for humble service and Godlike character fit a person to carry responsibility and lead. Those who are humble and do not seek to exalt themselves will be raised up by the Lord to important posts of duty. Those who are self-sufficient, put trust in men, and make flesh an arm will be tested and tried by the Word of God and found unqualified for His service.
Applying Humility in Service
Matthew 23:12 calls workers to put away pride, self-esteem, self-confidence and high ambitions, and to cultivate modesty and humility as Scripture repeatedly enjoins. True greatness depends on humility rather than on seeking greatness before the world, so the worker is to walk humbly with God instead of seeking honor and position. Whatever honor God gives is to be borne humbly, and those who humbly honor Christ rather than strive to rule over fellow workers and seek the highest place will be lifted up while those who seek that place will be brought low. Exalting self and putting down others shows the Spirit departing and leaves a person to rely on mere human wisdom.
Christ's followers must give up self-seeking, take up the cross, and follow His example, and anyone who would reform others must first reform himself. Seeking personal glory and authority leads to being brought low, while humility leads to exaltation, and ruling over God's people instead of serving them can cost souls. To seek to be first, to grasp supremacy and control, to follow one's own ideas and plans, and to take to oneself the glory for what God does is self-exaltation belonging to Satan, with whom Christ can never work together, and it prevents the Lord from doing much for such a person. For that reason unconsecrated medical workers who seek self leave half undone what might have been done.
This duty presses especially on ministers of the gospel, whose lack of consecration, self-denial, and willingness to bear care and responsibility keeps God's power from working with their efforts. Humbling oneself is a person's own daily work before God and must not be left for God to do, for a person either abases himself or builds himself up in pride until God abases him. Though God at times lays a heavy hand on men to humble them and bring them into proper position, it is far better to keep the heart humbled before Him every day. A minister who humbles himself so that God may be exalted will be exalted with genuine eloquence, joined to true piety, close connection with God, and daily living knowledge of Christ. As God's ambassador and Christ's representative, that experience supplies what mere wisdom of words lacks, making eloquent even the stammering tongue and enabling truth to be presented in simplicity so as to reach both the most elevated and the lowliest.
Instead of ambitious self-exaltation, the true source of peace, joy, and victory is rejoicing in the Lord with holy joy and sanctified experience. No one is safe unless clothed with Christ's righteousness, looking to God and obeying Him, recognizing that without Christ nothing can be done and giving all glory to God, for the Lord will surely humble those who uplift themselves. The Lord gives to every man his work, and if a man seeks to exalt himself the Lord will humble him. Everyone must therefore be on guard against selfishness and grasping advantages that are not his right, must not consider himself self-sufficient, and must not make it his work to humble others, for God's work advances through hearts renewed and purified from all selfishness.