De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae
The Pharisee's Self-Deceiving Thanksgiving
The proud Pharisee exalts himself in prayer, thanking God he is unlike other men, while Scripture testifies that all are liars and all need God's glory.
Notice how differently that proud Pharisee thought of himself. What did his rapture accomplish? God, I thank you that I am not like other people.✦ While he exults in himself alone, he arrogantly looks down on everyone else. David says otherwise: 'Every person is a liar.' He makes no exceptions, so that no one is deceived into thinking otherwise, since all have sinned and all need the glory of God.✦
The Prophet's Honest Confession versus the Pharisee's Concealment
While the prophet includes himself in the common human condition to remain within reach of mercy, the Pharisee exempts only himself, gives thanks for others' sins, and condemns his brothers without first removing the beam from his own eye.
The Pharisee deceives only himself — the one person he exempts — while he condemns everyone else. The prophet doesn't exempt himself from our common misery, lest he be excluded from mercy; the Pharisee blows mercy away while he hides his own misery. The prophet declares the same of all people as of himself: 'Every man is a liar'; the Pharisee affirms it of all except himself: 'I am not,' he says, 'like the rest of men.'✦ And he gives thanks — not because he is good, but because he is alone in it; not so much for the good things he possesses as for the evils he sees in others. He hadn't yet cast the beam out of his own eye, and already he is counting the splinters in his brothers' eyes; for he adds: 'unjust, robbers.'✦
Returning to the Purpose: Two Kinds of Excess
The author closes by affirming that the digression has served its purpose, provided the reader has grasped the distinction between the two kinds of excess.
I haven't strayed from my purpose without reason, I think — not if you've grasped the difference between the two kinds of excess.
Read the original Latin
Vide quam longe aliud senserit de se Pharisaeus ille superbus. Quid deprompsit in excessu suo? Deus, gratias ago tibi, quia non sum sicut ceteri hominum. Dum in se singulariter exsultat, aliis arroganter insultat. David aliter; ait enim: Omnis homo mendax. Neminem excipit, ne quem decipiat, sciens quia omnes peccaverunt, et omnes egent gloria Dei.
Pharisaeus se solum decipit, quem solum excipit, dum ceteros damnat. Propheta se non excipit a communi miseria, ne excipiatur a misericordia; Pharisaeus exsufflat misericordiam, dum dissimulat miseriam. Propheta affirmat tam de omnibus quam de se: Omnis homo mendax; Pharisaeus confirmat de omnibus praeter se: Non sum, inquiens, sicut ceteri hominum. Et gratias agit, non quia bonus, sed quia solus; non tam de bonis quae habet, quam de malis quae in aliis videt. Nondum de suo trabem eiecerat, et festucas in oculis fratrum enumerat; nam subdit: iniusti, raptores.
Non frustra, ut arbitror, excessum a proposito feci, si utriusque excessus differentiam intellexisti.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.18.11 — The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed these things toward himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.'
- ↩Rom.3.23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- ↩Ps.115.2 — Why should the nations say, 'Where is their God?'
- ↩Matt.7.3-Matt.7.5 — Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Matt.7.4 — Or how will you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? Matt.7.5 — You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae (On the Steps of Humility and Pride) companion
Humility is climbed one day at a time
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