VICAR
Rev. Joseph Esper
Humility
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PDF Documents
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WHAT THE BIBLE & OUR FAITH DOCTRINE SAY ABOUTHUMILITY
Listed below (4 categories- all Canonical order) are dozens of Scriptures related to HUMILITY. The Bible consistently exhorts that God resists the proud, arrogant and haughty while showing favor upon those who exhibit a humble, grace-filled demeanor. Faith Doctrine references are listed after the Scripture verses.
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THE LORD CAUSES / EXPECTS HUMILITY
For when they are brought low, you will say, “It is pride!” But downcast eyes he saves.
Good and upright is the LORD, therefore he shows sinners the way; He guides the humble in righteousness, and teaches the humble his way.
Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
Those who scoff, he scoffs at, but the lowly he favors.
There are six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him; Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that are quick to run to evil, the false witness who utters lies, and the one who sows discord among kindred.
It is better to be humble with the poor than to share plunder with the proud.
My hand made all these things when all of them came to be—oracle of the LORD. This is the one whom I approve: the afflicted one, crushed in spirit, who trembles at my word.
You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned.
Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
Likewise, you younger members, be subject to the presbyters. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for: “God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
HUMILITY PROPHESIED / EXHIBITED IN GOD / JESUS
The LORD makes poor and makes rich, humbles, and also exalts.
He raises the needy from the dust, lifts the poor from the ash heap,
Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he; Humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
"...For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.
But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
EXAMPLES OF HUMILITY IN THE BIBLE
Abraham spoke up again: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am only dust and ashes!"
Pharaoh then said to Joseph: “I had a dream but there was no one to interpret it. But I hear it said of you, ‘If he hears a dream he can interpret it.’” “It is not I,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God who will respond for the well-being of Pharaoh.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s time.
And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 18:9-14 (The Tax Collector)
He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Now I myself, Paul, urge you through the gentleness and clemency of Christ, I who am humble when face to face with you, but brave toward you when absent, I beg you that, when present, I may not have to be brave with that confidence with which I intend to act boldly against some who consider us as acting according to the flesh.
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
RESULTS OF HUMILITY
...if then my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land. Now, therefore, my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place...
(verse 6) Then the commanders of Israel and the king humbled themselves saying, “The LORD is in the right.”
He sets up the lowly on high, and those who mourn are raised to safety.
For humble people you save; haughty eyes you bring low.
When pride comes, disgrace comes; but with the humble is wisdom.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted (see also Luke 14:11, Luke 18:14).
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.
Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
FAITH DOCTRINE
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH REFERENCES
Humility
as the foundation of prayer, 2559, 2631
as necessary for prayer, 2713
"Poverty of spirit" as, 2546