The apostle Paul said to Timothy that pride is one of the ordinary outcomes when there will be terrible times in the last days. Pride is a rude attitude with arrogancy and showing off. Spiritually speaking, it is trusting in him or herself or the person’s own ways more than God.
Pride is the sin that disobeys God. It is the beginning of all other sins. The Devil and Satan challenged against God and tried to be served by their pride. Pride is a fundamental characteristic of Satan and the Devil. “Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.” (Proverb 18:10) This word clearly supports the fact.
Likewise, the pride that mankind will be God is a serious sin violating the first commandment out of the Ten Commandments “You shall have no other gods before me.” When you see pride as denying the only God, the idea that creatures will become like God is a serious sin that you can’t avoid destruction as a result.
Therefore, the fact of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the violation of not only the first commandment but also the second commandment. Pride of Adam and Eve caused the sin, “Denying the only God” for they wanted to be like God by eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Secondly, they committed idolatry since they tried to become God and be worshiped by all other creatures. In case a creature tried to become a god, it is trying to rename oneself to ‘God’. With the same intention, the Devil tempted Adam and Eve saying, “You will be like God when you eat the fruit from the trees of good and evil.”
How dare can creatures, created by God, be like God and be worshiped? Only God the creator deserves to receive worship, praise, and honor.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #708
