In the same way that marijuana is the gateway drug to more dangerous drug use, inviting self-righteous thinking into our lives is the first step to becoming a full-blown Pharisee. Self-righteous people seek to establish their right standing with God based on human performance. This idea runs contrary to the very essence of the gospel. If people can achieve righteousness based on their performance, Jesus’s death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection were in vain. Unfortunately, too many believers are getting high on the gateway drug that leads to becoming a Pharisee.
Paul, the subject matter expert on becoming a Pharisee
Paul, who was once a prominent Pharisee himself, shared his concern for those trapped in this ideology. “For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:2–3). Many people today have a similar zeal for God, as the Pharisees did in the first century, but they lack the biblical understanding of righteousness. Therefore, they get caught in the trap of trusting in their spiritual performance to maintain their right standing with God.
In the context of the modern church, we have been conditioned to believe that certain human activities, such as prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, home schooling, serving people, and even avoiding sinful actions factor into what makes a person righteous. Some have pushed this agenda to the point that many well-meaning believers don’t feel righteous until they complete enough tasks from their religious checklist. We must draw a clear line in the sand and recognize that adherence to programs, disciplines, and behaviors—including any attempt to maintain God’s written laws—will never make a person righteous before God.
Jesus is the only reason believers are righteous
Scripture is clear that those who have been rescued from spiritual death are made righteous based solely on the performance of Jesus. Paul wrote, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (5:19). The disobedience of Adam, the first man God created, produced a ripple effect that contaminated the human condition of every descendant thereafter. As a result, we were all born sinners based on no fault of our own. In the same way, when we trust in Jesus for salvation, we are born righteous based on no good deeds of our own.
People get into trouble when they conflate who is ultimately responsible for their righteousness. The moment we take credit for our right standing with God—or trust in ourselves to stay right with God—we are inhaling the same drug that intoxicated the Pharisees with spiritual pride. When this happens, we will inevitably compare ourselves against others. After all, if human activities can make us right with God, then it makes logical sense to hold in contempt those who are underperforming. Jesus was known for hanging out with all types of disreputable people despite their spiritual performance. As a result, the sinners were drawn to Him. However, those who have given way to self-righteousness have the opposite effect on people.
Have you ever known a person who makes you feel inadequate in their presence? Such individuals seek to maintain a series of rules to feel more in control of their lives, but deep down they struggle with uncertainty, jealousy, and fear. Therefore, as a type of coping mechanism, they become skilled at comparing their best against someone else’s worst. What usually follows are nonverbal disapproving signals that repel people like the skunk’s scent repels its predators. If we insist on playing the comparison game, we must compare ourselves only against the perfect standard of God. Otherwise, we will look down on those who are lost, struggling, or don’t adhere to the same religious checklist.
Jesus attacked self-righteousness head on
In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus revealed the ugly truth behind self-righteousness: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’” (Luke 18:10–12). In one fell swoop, the Pharisee managed to score a trifecta concerning self-righteous behaviors. First, he propped himself up above other people. Second, he insulted the tax collector who was also praying in the temple. Third, he bragged about his ability to keep the rules. God is not impressed with our spiritual performance. If we place any confidence in our abilities—as opposed to trusting in Jesus alone for righteousness—we fail to see that even our most valiant efforts are viewed as no better than filthy rags to God.
Jesus revealed that it was the tax collector, not the religious leader, who came away from the prayer justified before God. When the tax collector prayed, he would not even look up to heaven because he knew that his failures were many. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” he cried (Luke 18:13). This man did not follow the rules. He had nothing to offer God. However, despite his many failures, the tax collector could look in the mirror and see himself clearly, which drove him, with a broken and contrite heart, to the Lord. Jesus said that it was through the humility of the tax collector that allowed him to receive the gift of righteousness.
Much has been said about the virtue of humility, but at its core, humility is nothing more than a willingness to see ourselves from a clear and accurate perspective. Humility sees that living a good life does not make us better than other people. Humility understands that we were created in the image of God and therefore have intrinsic value. Humility does not seek to earn the approval of God because it understands that human effort cannot measure up to His perfect standard. At the end of the day, true humility has learned to rest fully in the finished work of Christ—nothing more, and nothing less.
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