Was Pride Really Satan’s Chief Sin, or Was It Something Deeper Than That?
Now don’t get mad at me for asking and bringing this up again lol…. because I already know you answered it. Yet every time I dig deeper and do more studying, my mind keeps telling me that this whole “Satan rebelled against God because of Pride” thing is just not cutting it for me. Yes, if the Bible says it was pride, of course its the truth. Yet I feel the Bible just touched the surface of the matter. I know that it goes much deeper then that. I wish it could just be more simple in my mind, yet my mind yearns for the truth or more of an accurate truth I guess I should say and always wants to dig deeper. But I firmly believe it goes way deeper then what we souls in the flesh understand. We just understand the surface of it. — A.
Steve’s Answer:
Hi A.,
Actually, the Scripture is very clear that Satan’s chief sin was pride. He rebelled against God because of pride. And we know that’s the case, because the Scripture says so. Pride leads to all sorts of other sins. So it wasn’t his only sin. It was just his chief sin — the sin that led to all of his other shortcomings, which the Scripture also documents. But let’s focus on pride, since that’s the basis of your question:
As it’s written:
Eze 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
That’s the very definition of pride, i.e., “Because thine heart is lifted up.” As it is also written:
Eze 28:6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
That is clearly the result of pride in action. That’s what “set thy heart” means, i.e., pridefulness. As it’s also written:
Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Once again, the phrase “thine heart was lifted up” is a clear reference to pridefulness, as is the reference to beauty.
What’s more, when St. Paul wrote to St. Timothy about how to choose good leaders for the church, he stated that one should always choose…
1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
St. Paul was saying that when choosing a leader for the church, if you pick a man who can’t properly run his own family household, how can he possible run a successful church? And if you pick a rank novice for the job, he might become prideful at the glory of his newfound position at the head of the church, and as a result of that pridefulness “fall into the condemnation of the devil.”
This, once more, clearly refers to pride as Satan’s great sin (and one of our own potential weaknesses, as well, except we be very mature in the Lord and His Word).
No matter what our personal reasoning is in regards to the matter of Satan’s downfall and what his motives were in going against God, we are still obligated to go with what Scripture says. And the Scripture says it was pride.
Were there other issues, as well?
Yes. Ezekiel 28 names quite a few more reasons for his downfall. But before you go there, go to a Strong’s Concordance (or a good Bible program like Blue Letter Bible on the internet) and use their search engine to do a Bible search of the word “pride.”
Take a look at all of the many verses in which Father assigns pride as the chief problem or chief downfall of a person or nation or people. You’ll see that there are many places where Father talks about this. Just for example:
Psa 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
In other words, pride is considered by God to be at the very foundation of ungodliness.
Pro 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
God hates pride, and lumps it in with its triplet sisters, arrogancy, the evil way, and the froward (i.e., perverse) mouth. No wonder the queers call their organizations “gay pride” organizations.
Pro 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
God says it is pride and haughtiness (arrogance) that bring about one’s destruction and fall.
So when the Scripture says Satan was afflicted with pride, I have to go with what the Scripture says.
You say you believe it must “go beyond pride.” And maybe it does. But if in your personal reasoning you toss out the foundational aspect of Satan’s basic problem, which the Scripture itself points out as pride — then you risk disagreeing with God Himself.
As a fellow truth-seeker, that’s not a position I’d personally want to be in. Yes, Satan had many other sinful characteristics. But the underlying or foundational sin was his own excessive pride in himself.
Regards in Christ,
Steve Barwick
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