The signification of the Greek word that is translated humility in the New Testament is “lowliness of mind.” That indicates a lack of pride, not thinking of myself as better than others, whether because of ethnic origin, economic status, education or because of anything that I might claim to have achieved.

Jeremiah10:23 says: “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” This is the root of humility, the acknowledgment that of myself I am incapable of doing anything that is good.

When God called me to repentance I had a choice: I could reject the voice of the Holy Spirit telling me that I was a sinner, eternally lost and unable to help myself; or I could acknowledge that the Spirit was telling me the truth. Up to that point I had been telling myself that I was doing the best that anyone could expect of me under the circumstances. Now I confessed that all my problems were my own doing, there was no one else whom I could blame.

I believe that was genuine humility, and upon that confession of sin God forgave me and I was born again. But I am still human and have the very human tendency to think highly of myself. That is pride and it is rooted in my very being.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6). Luke recorded the words of Jesus: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The ongoing struggle of Christian life is to return daily to that humility we received when we first believed.

How do we do that? The same way we did at the first, by submitting to God. James writes: “ But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:6-7).

There are verses that seem at first to suggest that we are able to make ourselves humble. 1 Peter 5:6 says: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” Note that the apostle is not instructing us to take ourselves in hand to make ourselves humble, but to allow God to take us in hand. Adam Clarke comments on this verse: “Those who submit patiently to the dispensations of God’s providence he lifts up; those who lift themselves up, God thrusts down.” James 4:10 exhorts us to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, not in our own sight. Adam Clarke says of this verse: “ In James 4:7 they were exhorted to submit to God; here they are exhorted to humble themselves in his sight. Submission to God’s authority will precede humiliation of soul, and genuine repentance is performed as in the sight of God; for when a sinner is truly awakened to a sense of his guilt and danger, he seems to see, whithersoever he turns, the face of a justly incensed God turned against him.”

Thus I believe the Scriptures teach everywhere that humility is the fruit of submission to God and not a work of the flesh. However, there is a form of humility, a counterfeit of the real thing, that is a work of the flesh. It can be that unconverted people will put on this form in order to convince themselves and others that they are walking with God. Or, it can be that a born-again, Spirit-led Christian is so impressed by the need of humility that he or she layers a self-made form of humility over the genuine humility of the heart. This is not necessarily a sin, but it can lead to deception.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians: “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels” (Colossians 2:18). Adam Clarke considers the first part to be a reference to the prizes awarded in the Olympic games of that era, so that the apostle is saying that you have gained the prize, don’t let anyone rob you of it. Regarding the second part, he takes it as an allusion to the Essenes, “who were remarkably strict and devout, spent a principal part of their time in the contemplation of the Divine Being, abstained from all sensual gratifications, and affected to live the life of angels upon earth.”

Voluntary is derived from the French word for the will and refers to something done of one’s own will. Here is how the new French Geneva Bible of the Trinitarian Bible Society, translated from the textus receptus, renders Colossians 2:18: “Let no one, in following his own will, rob you of the prize of the combat by humility and the worship of angels.” Here it is a clear reference to a false humility, only the appearance of humility.

In an earlier post I quoted Peter Toews who said of his fellow members of the Kleine Gemeinde that some were merely walking in “self-chosen humility.” True humility, submission to God, liberates us from the guilt and bondage of sin. Self-chosen, or self-made, humility is another form of bondage and can quite easily lend itself to pride. If humility is a work that I must do, I know that I will soon come to believe that I am doing a better job of it than you.