BE UNITED IN CHRIST BOOK SUMMARY

Book Summary: Humility
Copyright © 2015 by Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry

All quotations are taken from the second edition of Andrew Murray’s Humility, published in London by James Nisbet and Company in 1896. This public domain copy is hosted by the HathiTrust Digital Library (hathitrust.org).

Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures are taken from the King James Version, public domain.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV ® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011.

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Be United in Christ

Book Summary

Humility

Andrew Murray

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Author

Andrew Murray was born May 9, 1828, in the frontier settlement of Graaf-Reinet, South Africa. His father, Andrew Murray Sr. (1794–1866), was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary serving with the Dutch Reformed Church. His mother Maria was of German Lutheran and French Huguenot heritage. At age ten Andrew was sent to Aberdeen, Scotland, to study under the Reverend John Murray, his uncle. After completing his master’s degree in 1845, he continued his theological studies in Utrecht, Holland, where he was ordained by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1848. Returning to South Africa, Andrew Murray served in a church in Bloemfontein from where he also labored as a minister to Dutch-speaking farmers. In 1856, he married Emma Rutherford, and together they had eight children: four boys and four girls.

Murray pastored churches in Worcester (1860), Cape Town (1864), and Wellington (1871), but his ministry extended far beyond his congregations. He helped found the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary (1857), Grey College (1859), the Huguenot Seminary (1874), and the Wellington Missionary Training Institute (1877). He was elected moderator of the Dutch Reformed Synod six times and traveled as an evangelist and conference speaker. Murray’s contributions to missions were recognized by the Universities of Aberdeen and the Cape of Good Hope, which awarded him honorary doctorates. But his widest influence was as an author. Murray published more than 240 works, including such classics as Abide in Christ (1882), With Christ in the School of Prayer (1885), and Absolute Surrender (1895). He died January 18, 1917.

Overview

The church quickly diagnosed pride as the source of sin, but her dedicated remedies were fewer and later. It is easier to denounce pride than to combat it. This helps explain the widespread impact that Andrew Murray’s Humility has had since its publication in 1895. His Biblical treatment provides practical guidance for promoting a Biblical self-image. Humility motivates us “as a creature, as a sinner, and as a saint,” but Murray explains in his preface that in these dozen “meditations” he “almost exclusively directed attention to the humility that becomes us as creatures.”[1] Humility, then, is the appropriate posture of the creation to the Creator (Ch. 1), which is why pride is the root of sin and humility the secret of redemption (Ch. 2). It was the essential virtue modeled and taught by Jesus (Chs. 3–4), and only He can produce it in His disciples (Ch. 5). Followers of Jesus must live humbly in their daily lives (Ch. 6), for humility is the essence of holiness (Ch. 7). God’s gracious response to sin helps in this regard (Ch. 8), which is important because pride quenches faith (Ch. 9). Ultimately, for pride to die the self must die (Ch. 10). This death to self produces happiness (Ch. 11), for God exalts the humble (Ch. 12). Murray’s purpose in writing this work is placed prominently on the cover of his book: “Lord Jesus! May our Holiness be perfect Humility! Let Thy perfect Humility be our Holiness!”

Chapter 1 – Humility: The Glory of the Creature

Humility begins with an appreciative awareness that one is a creature, a created being. God alone is self-existent. Everything else was graciously created to enjoy and exalt Him.

When God created the universe, it was with the one object of making the creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and so showing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they were capable of receiving.

God also sustains what He creates. “The life God bestows is imparted not once for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power.” Thus every created thing is entirely reliant upon God for its existence and continuance. Humility is the grateful acknowledgement by the creature that it is absolutely dependent on its Creator. The proper response to this acknowledgment is complete dedication to God. For every creature “its highest virtue, its only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.”

This humble posture before God is foundational to a creature’s relating rightly to God. “Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.” Conversely, “pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil.” Willful independence prompted the rebellion of angels and then men. “In Heaven and earth, pride, self-exaltation, is the gate and the birth and the curse of Hell.”

Because humility lies at the root of man’s creation and fall, it also lies at the root of redemption. “Nothing can be our redemption, but the restoration of the lost humility, the original and only true relation of the creature to its God.” Jesus humbly forsook Heaven, became a man, and died on the cross to pay the penalty for pride and to make the righteousness of His perfect humility available to men. “Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.”

Because humility lies at the root of redemption, it also lies at the root of the Christian life.

And so the life of the saved ones, of the saints, must … bear this stamp of deliverance from sin, and full restoration to their original state; their whole relation to God and man marked by an all-pervading humility. Without this there can be no true abiding in God’s presence, or experience of His favor and the power of His Spirit; without this no abiding faith, or love or joy or strength.

Despite the centrality of humility to creation, fall, and redemption, “the call to humility has been too little regarded in the Church because its true nature and importance has been too little apprehended [understood].” Christians must understand that humility is neither a work nor a gift but “simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.” This fact does not demean but dignifies man, for “humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as creature, and yielding to God His place.” To understand and embrace humility one must look to the life and teaching of the only truly humble man who ever lived, Jesus Christ.

Chapter 2 – Humility: The Secret of Redemption

“No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang.” This exact sentence is used three times in this section and indicates the primary metaphor of this chapter.

No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. Through all its existence it can only live with the life that was in the seed that gave it being. The full apprehension [grasp] of this truth in its application to the first and the second Adam cannot but help us greatly to understand both the need and the nature of the redemption there is in Jesus.

The root of Adam’s pride produced the tree of sin and the need for redemption. The root of Jesus’, the second Adam’s, humility produced the tree of righteousness and the nature of redemption. Understanding these two roots underlying these two trees reveals the secret of redemption: humility.

The need for redemption ultimately traces back to Satan whose pride led to his expulsion from Heaven and his temptation of Eve in the garden. He infected Adam and Eve and all their descendants with his poisonous pride, “destroying for ever that blessed humility and dependence upon God which would have been our everlasting happiness.” Lost humility is the source of all pain and woe.

All the wretchedness of which this world has been the scene, all its wars and bloodshed among the nations, all its selfishness and suffering, all its ambitions and jealousies, all its broken hearts and embittered lives, with all its daily unhappiness, have their origin in what this cursed, hellish pride, either our own, or that of others, has brought us. It is pride that made redemption needful; it is from our pride we need above everything to be redeemed.

Since that awful moment when Adam listened to Satan rather than God, pride has wielded its terrible power and yielded its tragic fruit. Adam’s pride is the root of man’s need for redemption.

Christ’s humility, on the other hand, is the root of salvation and the essence of redemption. To understand and appreciate how the second Adam’s humility overcame the first Adam’s pride one must carefully consider the essential characteristic of Christ and His atonement: humility.

What is the incarnation but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And what is His atonement but humility? “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.” And what is His ascension and His glory, but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? “He humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.” In Heaven, where He was with the Father, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His sitting on the throne, it is all, it is nothing but humility.

Since humility is the root of redemption, humility is the fruit of redemption. “If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus—if humility be the secret of His atonement, then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else.” Once one understands that Adam’s pride is the root of man’s need for redemption and that Christ’s humility is the root and the nature of his redemption, what then? “Believer! Study the humility of Jesus!” The next chapter does just this.

Chapter 3 – The Humility of Jesus

Humility is “nothing but that simple consent of the creature to let God be all, in virtue of which it surrenders itself to His working alone.” Nowhere is this submission to God more evident than in Jesus Christ. Though the word “humility” does not occur in the Gospel of John, it is clearly indicated in the frequent use of the words “not” and “nothing” voiced so freely by Christ.

The Son can do nothing of Himself. (John 5:19)

I can of Mine own self do nothing … because I seek not Mine own will. (John 5:30)

I receive not honor from men. (John 5:41)

I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will. (John 6:38)

My doctrine is not Mine. (John 7:16)

I am not come of Myself. (John 7:28)

I do nothing of Myself. (John 8:28)

Neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. (John 8:42)

I seek not Mine own glory. (John 8:50)

The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself. (John 14:10)

The word which ye hear is not Mine. (John 14:24)

Jesus’ denials that He desired anything apart from God model a humble heart that all men are intended to exhibit. These words show the character of the Savior and of the salvation He died to provide. “They teach us what the essential nature and life is of that redemption which Christ accomplished and now communicates. It is this: He was nothing, that God might be all.” Contrary to fleshly fears, this life of prioritizing God over oneself does not produce misery but joy. “This life of entire self-abnegation [self-denial], of absolute submission and dependence upon the Father’s will, Christ found to be one of perfect peace and joy. He lost nothing by giving all to God.”

By humbling Himself before God, Jesus was able to humble Himself before men. “He counted Himself the Servant of men, that through Him God might do His work of love. He never for a moment thought of seeking His honor, or asserting His power to vindicate Himself. His whole spirit was that of a life yielded to God to work in.” Jesus came and died and rose so that His followers might similarly live a life of complete submission to God in the loving service of others. Only by considering Christ’s humility will Christians commit themselves to acquiring humility. “It is not until Christians study the humility of Jesus as the very essence of His redemption, as the very blessedness of the life of the Son of God, as the only true relation to the Father, and therefore as that which Jesus must give us if we are to have any part with Him, that the terrible lack of actual, heavenly, manifest humility will become a burden and a sorrow, and our ordinary religion be set aside to secure this, the first and the chief of the marks of the Christ within us.” Having highlighted humility in the life of Jesus, Murray turns next to humility in the teaching of Jesus.

Chapter 4 – Humility in the Teaching of Jesus

“We have seen humility in the life of Christ, as He laid open His heart to us: let us listen to His teaching.” Murray quotes Jesus’ instructions concerning humility so that we can “receive the full impression of how often and how earnestly He taught it: it may help us to realize what He asks of us.”

1. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.… Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:3, 5). “The poor, who have nothing in themselves, to them the kingdom comes. The meek, who seek nothing in themselves, theirs the earth shall be. The blessings of Heaven and earth are for the lowly. For the heavenly and the earthly life, humility is the secret of blessing.”

2. “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). “Meekness and lowliness is the one thing He offers us; in it we shall find perfect rest of soul. Humility is to be our salvation.”

3. “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:4). In response to the disciples’ arguing over their greatness Jesus taught that “the chief glory of Heaven, the true heavenly-mindedness, the chief of the graces, is humility.”

4. “Whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:44–45). “Humility, as it is the mark of Christ the heavenly, will be the one standard of glory in Heaven: the lowliest is the nearest to God. The primacy in the Church is promised to the humblest.”

5. “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11). “Humiliation is the only ladder to honor in God’s kingdom.”

6. “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11). “The demand is inexorable [inescapable]; there is no other way. Self-abasement alone will be exalted.”

7. “Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14). “In the temple and presence and worship of God, everything is worthless that is not pervaded by deep, true humility towards God and men.”

8. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). “The authority of command and example, every thought, either of obedience or conformity, make humility the first and most essential element of discipleship.”

9. “He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.… I am among you as He that serveth” (Luke 22:26, 27). “The path in which Jesus walked, and which He opened up for us, the power and spirit in which He wrought out salvation, and to which He saves us, is ever the humility that makes me the servant of all.”

“Jesus, the meek and lowly One, calls us to learn of Him the path to God. Let us study the words we have been reading, until our heart is filled with the thought: My one need is humility.”

Chapter 5 – Humility in the Disciples of Jesus

“We have studied humility in the person and teaching of Jesus; let us now look for it in the circle of His chosen companions—the twelve apostles.” This study is fruitful because the transformation God achieved in these men at Pentecost is the same transformation He accomplishes in people today. Though there were “occasional expressions of humility” in the disciples, though they often exhibited faith, love, obedience, and commitment, “deeper down than all this there was a dark power, of the existence and the hideousness of which they were hardly conscious.” Unconquered pride plagued even those closest to Christ till the Spirit of Christ dwelt within them. Murray points out three practical lessons from his examination of humility in the disciples of Jesus.

“First, how much there may be of earnest and active religion while humility is still sadly wanting.” The disciples were neither hypocritical nor noncommittal in their commitment to Christ. They left everything to follow Him. They accompanied Him for the three years of His public ministry. They heard and heeded His instruction. They ministered alongside Him and were sent out by Him to minister on His behalf, even performing miracles and casting out demons. Yet they also argued and questioned, doubted and denied, faltered and failed. And the same has been true for Christians since then. Even the most passionate disciples and gifted ministers struggle with pride and need God’s grace to attain humility.

“Second, how impotent [powerless] all external teaching and all personal effort is, to conquer pride or give the meek and lowly heart.” No one heard more of Jesus’ teaching than His disciples. Public parables were followed by private explanations. Synagogue sermons were accompanied by personal tutorials. Apart from Jesus’ matchless instruction, the disciples also had the benefit of watching Him day and night in countless circumstances and situations. And surely they strove to please Him, to impress Him. No one was more motivated to try harder than the Twelve. Yet as the gospel accounts make clear, neither knowledge nor effort conquered their pride. So why did God preserve the embarrassing narratives of their failures?

To teach them and us the much-needed lesson, that no outward instruction, not even of Christ Himself; no argument however convincing; no sense of the beauty of humility, however deep; no personal resolve or effort, however sincere and earnest, can cast out the devil of pride.… Nothing can avail but this, that the new nature in its divine humility be revealed in power to take the place of the old, to become as truly our very nature as that ever was.”

“Third, it is only by the indwelling of Christ in His divine humility that we become truly humble.” Pride rises from the nature we inherited from Adam, so humility must arise from the new nature given us by the second Adam. “All Christ’s teaching of His disciples, and all their vain efforts, were the needful preparation for His entering into them in divine power, to give and be in them what He had taught them to desire.” Following Pentecost, Christ indwells His disciples to instill in them His nature, His humility, and His holiness.

Studying the humility of Jesus’ disciples teaches that “it is when the truth of an indwelling Christ takes the place it claims in the experience of believers, that the Church will put on her beautiful garments, and humility be seen in her teachers and members as the beauty of holiness.”

Chapter 6 – Humility in Daily Life

How does one know whether or not he has attained humility, or even made progress towards it? He observes the interactions of his daily life. “It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God: humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real; that humility has taken up its abode [home] in us, and become our very nature; that we actually, like Christ, have made ourselves of no reputation.” The actual posture of a man’s soul in his daily relationships, in conversations and inconveniences, reveals the substance of his character. Not private devotions but public interactions are the true test of humility. “Humility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men.”

This was what Jesus taught. “It was when the disciples disputed who should be the greatest; when He saw how the Pharisees loved the chief place at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues; when He had given them the example of washing their feet—that He taught His lessons of humility.” Paul likewise exhorted the churches to live with one another in humility (Romans 12:10, 16; 1 Corinthians 13:4; Galatians 5:26; Ephesians 4:2–3; 5:20–21; Philippians 2:3–5; Colossians 3:12–13). His epistles consistently testify to the fact that “it is in our relation to one another, in our treatment of one another, that the true lowliness of mind and the heart of humility are to be seen. Our humility before God has no value, but as it prepares us to reveal the humility of Jesus to our fellow-men.”

“The humble man seeks at all times to act up to the rule, ‘In honor preferring one another; Servants one of another; Each counting others better than himself; Subjecting yourselves one to another.’” The humble way Christians treat others is unrelated to who the other person is. “It has given up forever every thought of self in God’s presence; it meets its fellow-men as one who is nothing, and seeks nothing for itself; who is a servant of God, and for His sake a servant of all.… The spirit of Him who washed the disciples’ feet, makes it a joy to us to be indeed the least, to be servants one of another.”

The truly humble person is untouched by jealousy or envy, is immune to impatience, and is not tempted to boast. Offenses do not cast him into rage and resentment but rather provide opportunities to display compassion, kindness, humility, and patience. The fact that the church as a whole has failed to teach and display genuine humility should not be discouraging but should prompt believers to promote this neglected virtue.

Let the discovery of the lack of this grace stir us to larger expectation from God. Let us look upon every brother who tries or vexes [irritates] us, as God’s means of grace, God’s instrument for our purification, for our exercise of the humility Jesus our Life breathes within us. And let us have such faith in the All of God, and the nothing of self, that, as nothing in our own eyes, we may, in God’s power, only seek to serve one another in love.

Chapter 7 – Humility and Holiness

In the 19th century the Second Great Awakening produced many converts that the Holiness movement sought to sanctify. This is the backdrop to Murray’s references to “the Holiness movement” and to the “holiness teaching and holiness meetings.” In the context of this revived interest in sanctification, Murray asserts the centrality of humility to any Biblical notion of holiness.

The great test of whether the holiness we profess to seek or to attain, is truth and life, will be whether it be manifest [evident] in the increasing humility it produces. In the creature, humility is the one thing needed to allow God’s holiness to dwell in him and shine through him. In Jesus, the Holy One of God who makes us holy, a divine humility was the secret of His life and His death and His exaltation; the one infallible [foolproof] test of our holiness will be the humility before God and men which marks us. Humility is the bloom and the beauty of holiness.

Conversely, “the chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility.” As Jesus made clear in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9–14), those who are religious and relatively moral often look down on sinners whom they consider less righteous. Yet in the eyes of God self-righteousness is unrighteousness; a lack of humility is a lack of godliness. Therefore those who attain a certain measure of morality and religiousness must beware of pride.

Being often in church is no protection against conceit. “There is no place or position so sacred but the Pharisee can enter there. Pride can lift its head in the very temple of God, and make His worship the scene of its self-exaltation.… In God’s temple, when we think we are in the holiest of all, in the presence of His holiness, let us beware of pride.” Satan himself remained proud in the very presence of God. Fallen hearts are so deceptive that “pride can clothe itself in the garments of praise or of penitence.” Those who pursue holiness must prioritize humility or pride will undo all.

Self-righteous pride in one’s own moral and religious stature is a great source of division in Christian communities, no matter how holy and righteous and committed they may be.

Is there not many a Church or assembly of the saints, many a mission or convention, many a society or committee, even many a mission away in heathendom [non-Christian settings], where the harmony has been disturbed and the work of God hindered, because men who are counted saints have proved in touchiness and haste and impatience, in self-defense and self-assertion, in sharp judgments and unkind words, that they did not each reckon others better than themselves, and that their holiness has but little in it of the meekness of the saints?

Followers of Jesus must keep in mind that “Jesus the Holy One is the humble One: the holiest will ever be the humblest.” True holiness removes self from the center of one’s focus, for “humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all.” Yet fighting self-righteous pride is hard, especially for teachers and preachers. So, Murray prays instructively, “May God teach us that our thoughts and words and feelings concerning our fellow-men are His test of our humility towards Him, and that our humility before Him is the only power that can enable us to be always humble with our fellow-men.”

Chapter 8 – Humility and Sin

People often mistake humility with feeling sorry for one’s sins, as though the only way to keep from thinking too highly of oneself is to continuously think lowly of oneself. “Humility is often identified with penitence and contrition [showing repentance and guilt over sin]. As a consequence, there appears to be no way of fostering humility but by keeping the soul occupied with its sin.” However, feeling guilty about sin cannot be an essential element of humility for Christ was perfectly sinless yet perfectly humble. True humility is the self submitted to God. “It is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God. Where God is all, self is nothing.”

Certainly, though, sin adds reason to be humble. “I need scarce say what new depth and intensity man’s sin and God’s grace give to the humility of the saints.” The apostle Paul is the classic example. He called himself “the least of the apostles,” “the very least of all saints,” and “the chief of sinners” (1 Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8; 1 Timothy 1:15), for he understood both the depths of his own sin and the corresponding depths of God’s grace. He models how the memory of forgiven sin enhances the humble praise of the redeemed.

Never, never, even in glory, can they be other than ransomed sinners; never for a moment in this life can God’s child live in the full light of His love, but as he feels that the sin, out of which he has been saved, is his one only right and title to all that grace has promised to do. The humility with which first he came as a sinner, acquires a new meaning when he learns how it becomes him as a creature. And then ever again, the humility, in which he was born as a creature, has its deepest, richest tones of adoration, in the memory of what it is to be a monument of God’s wondrous redeeming love.

Sinners are saved when they humble themselves before God. Once saved they live in the restored humility that is the proper posture of beings created by God. Their humility comes as a result of Christ’s humiliating death for their pride as sinners. Grace adds richness to the song of the redeemed.

Christians are entirely dependent upon grace to deliver them not only from sins past but also sins present and future. There is never a time when a child of Adam can address the penalty or power of sin apart from the grace of God, and this humbling reality should subdue pride. An awareness of grace, not of sin, is what promotes true humility.

In order to grow in humility, therefore, one must focus on God and grace, not on self and sin. “Being occupied with self, even amid the deepest self-abhorrence [self-hatred], can never free us from self. It is the revelation of God, not only by the law condemning sin but also by His grace delivering from it, that will make us humble. The law may break the heart with fear; it is only grace that works that sweet humility which becomes a joy to the soul as its second nature.”

Chapter 9 – Humility and Faith

Murray ties humility closely to faith and asserts that just as pride and faith are opposed to one another, so also “faith and humility are at root one, and that we never can have more of true faith than we have of true humility.” This close relationship is apparent from their very definitions.

Is it [faith] not the confession of nothingness and helplessness, the surrender and the waiting to let God work? Is it not in itself the most humbling thing there can be, the acceptance of our place as dependents, who can claim or get or do nothing but what grace bestows?

Faith is the organ or sense for the perception and apprehension [understanding] of the heavenly world and its blessings. Faith seeks the glory that comes from God, that only comes where God is All.

Humility is simply the disposition [character quality] which prepares the soul for living on trust.

Thus faith and humility are both expressions of trust in and dependence on God that necessarily prioritize and exalt God. Pride, on the other hand, “renders faith impossible” for it is a trust in and dependence on self that necessarily prioritizes and exalts self. “And every, even the most secret breathing of pride, in self-seeking, self-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation, is just the strengthening of that self which cannot enter the kingdom, or possess the things of the kingdom, because it refuses to allow God to be what He is and must be there—the All in All.”

The connection between faith and humility can be seen in Jesus’ healing of the centurion’s servant and the Canaanite’s daughter (Matthew 8:5–13; 15:21–28). Both the officer and mother approached Jesus in absolute dependence and trust, desperately needing His intervention and fervently believing He could grant their request. In both instances Jesus honored the faith that accompanied their humble hearts. Such humble faith pleased Christ and pleases God because “it is the humility that brings a soul to be nothing before God, that also removes every hindrance to faith, and makes it only fear lest it should dishonor Him by not trusting Him wholly.”

The lack of such humble faith is the cause of many shortcomings in the Christian life. “We might as well attempt to see without eyes, live without breath, as believe or draw nigh to God or dwell in His love, without an all-pervading humility and lowliness of heart.” Believers should therefore earnestly pursue humility. “Let our one desire and our fervent prayer be, to be humbled with Him and like Him; let us accept gladly whatever can humble us before God or men; this alone is the path to the glory of God.”

Though the proud sometimes seem blessed, “the blessing is often superficial and transitory [shallow and short-lived]” and certainly not as deep and full as a deeper, fuller humility would have produced. The only way to achieve true freedom, faith, and success is to fight pride and pursue humility.

Brother! nothing can cure you of the desire of receiving glory from men, or of the sensitiveness and pain and anger which come when it is not given, but giving yourself to seek only the glory that comes from God. Let the glory of the All-glorious God be everything to you. You will be freed from the glory of men and of self, and be content and glad to be nothing. Out of this nothingness you will grow strong in faith, giving glory to God, and you will find that the deeper you sink in humility before Him, the nearer He is to fulfill the every desire of your faith.

Chapter 10 – Humility and Death to Self

Pride is the exaltation of self over God. Humility is the exaltation of God over self. Therefore to vanquish pride and achieve humility the self must die, just as Christ taught and modeled.

Humility is the blossom of which death to self is the perfect fruit. Jesus humbled Himself unto death, and opened the path in which we too must walk. As there was no way for Him to prove His surrender to God to the very uttermost, or to give up and rise out of fallen human nature to the glory of the Father but through death, so with us too. Humility must lead us to die to self: so we prove how wholly we have given ourselves up to it and to God; so alone we are freed from fallen nature, and find the path that leads to life in God, to that full birth of the new nature, of which humility is the breath and the joy.

Jesus died to give a resurrection life, and the marks of His death are as much evidence of His indwelling presence as the marks of His resurrection life. “The first and chief of the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus, of the death-marks that show the true follower of Jesus, is humility. For these two reasons: Only humility leads to perfect death; Only death perfects humility.”

So how does one die to self? “The death to self is not your work, it is God’s work.” It is God who makes His adopted children dead to sin when He unites them with His one and only Son who died to sin (Romans 6). The Spirit then gradually allows this reality to reveal itself more fully in the lives of those whom He indwells. This is where the believer’s part comes in.

If you would enter into full fellowship with Christ in His death, and know the full deliverance from self, humble yourself. This is your one duty. Place yourself before God in your utter helplessness; consent heartily to the fact of your impotence [inability] to slay or make alive yourself; sink down into your own nothingness, in the spirit of meek and patient and trustful surrender to God. Accept every humiliation, look upon every fellow-man who tries or vexes [irritates] you, as a means of grace to humble you. Use every opportunity of humbling yourself before your fellow-men as a help to abide humble before God.

And how does death lead to perfect humility? Dying completely humbles completely. The imitation of Christ’s self-denying humility must be total and sacrificial. The identification with Christ’s death and resurrection must be earnest and daily.

Believer, claim in faith the death and the life of Jesus as thine. Enter in His grave into the rest from self and its work—the rest of God. With Christ, who committed His spirit into the Father’s hands, humble thyself and descend each day into that perfect, helpless dependence upon God. God will raise thee up and exalt thee. Sink every morning in deep, deep nothingness into the grave of Jesus; every day the life of Jesus will be manifest [displayed] in thee. Let a willing, loving, restful, happy humility be the mark that thou hast indeed claimed thy birthright—the baptism into the death of Christ. “By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). The souls that enter into His humiliation will find in Him the power to see and count self dead, and, as those who have learned and received of Him, to walk with all lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love. The death-life is seen in a meekness and lowliness like that of Christ.

Jesus taught, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). This principle of dying to live was the theme of His life, the heart of His gospel, and the path that alone leads to the full and abundant life God intends.

Chapter 11 – Humility and Happiness

In defending his apostolic authority to the Corinthian Christians, Paul recounted how God had caught him up to Paradise where he “heard unspeakable words” (2 Corinthians 12:1–4). After granting him this privilege God assigned His faithful servant a more challenging blessing.

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7–10)

Three times Paul pleaded for deliverance. Three times the Lord declined. And Paul knew why, for he stated it twice: “lest I should be exalted” (v. 7). Paul wanted to be pain-free; God wanted him to be reliant. Eventually Paul came to appreciate the trial for what it produced. “He had learned that the place of humiliation is the place of blessing, of power, of joy.”

Though Paul’s experience was in many ways unique, the pattern itself is familiar.

Every Christian virtually passes through these two stages in his pursuit of humility. In the first he fears and flees and seeks deliverance from all that can humble him. He has not yet learned to seek humility at any cost. He has accepted the command to be humble, and seeks to obey it, though only to find how utterly he fails. He prays for humility, at times very earnestly; but in his secret heart he prays more, if not in word, then in wish, to be kept from the very things that will make him humble.

In the second stage one comes to appreciate the painful, humbling, even humiliating trials for the joyful dependence they produce. Then, like Paul, one can boast in weaknesses because they display the power of God. One moves from the first stage to the second the same way Paul did: by receiving a deeper insight into Jesus. “Nothing but the presence of God can reveal and expel self.… Our humiliations lead us, in the experience of the presence and power of Jesus, to choose humility as our highest blessing.”

In applying these lessons from Paul’s experience, Murray returns to two recurring themes. First, “The danger of pride is greater and nearer than we think.” Regarding the peril of pride, the author observes that this threat can be most dangerous “especially at the time of our highest experiences.” Success in ministry makes ministers susceptible to pride, so God is often kind to humble them for their own protection. This teaches them the second lesson, “the grace for humility is greater and nearer, too, than we think.” Jesus will graciously strengthen and sustain His servants through the trials God sends to make and keep them humble. No one knows better than Christ the pain and the joy of walking humbly with God. “Christ humbled Himself, therefore God exalted Him. Christ will humble us, and keep us humble; let us heartily consent, let us trustfully and joyfully accept all that humbles; the power of Christ will rest upon us. We shall find that the deepest humility is the secret of the truest happiness, of a joy that nothing can destroy.”

Chapter 12 – Humility and Exaltation

Scripture clearly teaches that humility is the only path to honor.

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 14:11)

For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:14)

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. (James 4:10)

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. (1 Peter 5:6)

These verses reveal two guidelines for conquering pride: “Do what God says is your work: humble yourself. Trust Him to do what He says is His work: He will exalt you.”

The first part means to “take every opportunity of humbling yourself before God and man.”

Accept with gratitude everything that God allows from within or without, from friend or enemy, in nature or in grace, to remind you of your need of humbling, and to help you to it. Reckon [consider] humility to be indeed the mother-virtue, your very first duty before God, the one perpetual safeguard of the soul, and set your heart upon it as the source of all blessing.

Initial efforts will expose the impossibility of doing anything without God, but persistence will prove that all things are possible with God.

The second part is to trust in God for exaltation.

And wherein does the exaltation consist? The highest glory of the creature is in being only a vessel, to receive and enjoy and show forth the glory of God. It can do this only as it is willing to be nothing in itself, that God may be all. Water always fills first the lowest places. The lower, the emptier a man lies before God, the speedier and the fuller will be the inflow of the divine glory. The exaltation God promises is not, cannot be, any external thing apart from Himself: all that He has to give or can give is only more of Himself, Himself to take more complete possession. The exaltation is not, like an earthly prize, something arbitrary, in no necessary connection with the conduct to be rewarded. No, but it is in its very nature the effect and result of the humbling of ourselves. It is nothing but the gift of such a divine indwelling humility, such a conformity to and possession of the humility of the Lamb of God, as fits us for receiving fully the indwelling of God.

As we take up Christ’s yoke we will realize that “we never knew that humility, absolute, abiding, Christlike humility and self-effacement [minimizing oneself], pervading [completely filling] and marking our whole life with God and man, was the most essential element of the life of the holiness we sought for. It is only in the possession of God that I lose myself. As it is in the height and breadth and glory of the sunshine that the littleness of the mote [speck] playing in its beams is seen, even so humility is the taking our place in God’s presence to be nothing but a mote [speck] dwelling in the sunlight of His love.”

Appraisal

Humility is essential to the Christian life but sadly lacking in most Christians. We despise pride in others but are often blind to it in ourselves. Therefore Andrew Murray’s Biblical presentation of this virtue is all the more needed today. In clear, concise chapters he highlights the centrality of humility in creation, the fall, and redemption. Humility lies at the heart of the gospel and of God’s creation and redemption purposes. Man was made for humility. Mankind was condemned and corrupted when it abandoned humility. Christ came to humbly die in order to save the humble, and His Spirit imparts His humble character to the lives of His redeemed. Humility is the soil from which the fruit of the Spirit grows, and Murray outlines in wonderful and Scriptural detail how humility is the secret to true freedom, godliness, and joy. This small but powerful work carries within it the seeds of revival if readers will just let it take root in their hearts and lives.

Connection to Be United in Christ

The Bible teaches that “he that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife” (Proverbs 28:25). Proud people are divisive, for their enlarged egos insist on being honored and accommodated. They punish those who refuse or resist their demands. They are hypersensitive to imagined insults. They cause conflict, spread strife, and drive people away and apart. An arrogant man does indeed stir up strife.

The humble, however, promote unity and peace. They prioritize God and others above themselves. They seek to serve rather than to be served. They honor and accommodate others. Because they are content with what they have, they are not demanding or controlling. The humble overcome conflict, spread unity, and draw people close together. They empty themselves so that Christ can transform them into vessels of love, encouragement, and peace. The humble do not seek personal satisfaction because, in Christ, they are satisfied and free to love with His love. They forgive because they are forgiven. Humility, then, provides the foundation for Christians to Be United in Christ.

Key Quotations

“And now the salvation He imparts is nothing less and nothing else than a communication of His own life and death, His own disposition [character] and spirit, His own humility, as the ground and root of His relation to God and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.” (13)

“The hopeless struggle against the workings of self and pride within us may indeed become still more hopeless as we think of the power of darkness behind it all; the utter despair will fit us the better for realizing and accepting a power and a life outside of ourselves too, even the humility of Heaven as brought down and brought nigh [near] by the Lamb of God, to cast out Satan and his pride.” (19)

“If this be the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every branch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus, if humility be the secret of His atonement, then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else.” (21)

“If we long for this, let us, meantime, above everything, seek the holy secret of the knowledge of the nature of God, as He every moment works all in all; the secret, of which all nature and every creature, and above all, every child of God, is to be the witness, that it is nothing but a vessel, a channel, through which the living God can manifest [reveal] the riches of His wisdom, power, and goodness. The root of all virtue and grace, of all faith and acceptable worship, is that we know that we have nothing but what we receive, and bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it.” (28)

“Brethren, here is the path to the higher life. Down, lower down!” (35)

“To whichever class we belong, may I urge the pressing need there is for our all seeking a still deeper conviction of the unique place that humility holds in the religion of Christ, and the utter impossibility of the Church or the believer being what Christ would have them be, as long as His humility is not recognized as His chief glory, His first command, and our highest blessedness. Let us consider deeply how far the disciples were advanced while this grace was still so terribly lacking, and let us pray to God that other gifts may not so satisfy us, that we never grasp the fact that the absence of this grace is the secret cause why the power of God cannot do its mighty work. It is only where we, like the Son, truly know and show that we can do nothing of ourselves, that God will do all.” (43)

“In striving after the higher experiences of the Christian life, the believer is often in danger of aiming at and rejoicing in what one might call the more human, the manly, virtues, such as boldness, joy, contempt of the world, zeal, self-sacrifice, even the old Stoics [philosophers] taught and practiced these, while the deeper and gentler, the diviner and more heavenly graces, those which Jesus first taught upon earth, because He brought them from Heaven; those which are more distinctly connected with His cross and the death of self—poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, lowliness—are scarcely thought of or valued. Therefore, let us put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; and let us prove our Christlikeness, not only in our zeal for saving the lost, but before all in our intercourse [interactions] with the brethren, forbearing [tolerating] and forgiving one another, even as the Lord forgave us.” (48–49)

“Where this love enters, there God enters. And where God has entered in His power, and reveals Himself as All, there the creature becomes nothing. And where the creature becomes nothing before God, it cannot be anything but humble towards the fellow-creature. The presence of God becomes not a thing of times and seasons, but the covering under which the soul ever dwells, and its deep abasement before God becomes the holy place of His presence whence all its words and works proceed.” (56–57)

“Never, never, even in glory, can they be other than ransomed sinners; never for a moment in this life can God’s child live in the full light of His love, but as he feels that the sin, out of which he has been saved, is his one only right and title to all that grace has promised to do. The humility with which first he came as a sinner, acquires a new meaning when he learns how it becomes him as a creature. And then ever again, the humility, in which he was born as a creature, has its deepest, richest tones of adoration, in the memory of what it is to be a monument of God’s wondrous redeeming love.” (61)

“The very fact of the absence of such confession of sinning only gives the more force to the truth that it is not in daily sinning that the secret of the deeper humility will be found, but in the habitual, never for a moment to be forgotten position, which just the more abundant grace will keep more distinctly alive, that our only place, the only place of blessing, our one abiding position before God, must be that of those whose highest joy it is to confess that they are sinners saved by grace.” (63)

“Humility is simply the disposition [character quality] which prepares the soul for living on trust.” (68)

“Humility is the blossom of which death to self is the perfect fruit. Jesus humbled Himself unto death, and opened the path in which we too must walk. As there was no way for Him to prove His surrender to God to the very uttermost, or to give up and rise out of fallen human nature to the glory of the Father but through death, so with us too. Humility must lead us to die to self: so we prove how wholly we have given ourselves up to it and to God; so alone we are freed from fallen nature, and find the path that leads to life in God, to that full birth of the new nature, of which humility is the breath and the joy.” (73)

“The highest lesson a believer has to learn is humility. Oh that every Christian who seeks to advance in holiness may remember this well! There may be intense consecration [devotion], and fervent zeal and heavenly experience, and yet, if it is not prevented by very special dealings of the Lord, there may be an unconscious self-exaltation with it all. Let us learn the lesson—the highest holiness is the deepest humility; and let us remember that it comes not of itself, but only as it is made a matter of special dealing on the part of our faithful Lord and His faithful servant.” (82–83)

“If we are but willing to stoop to Him, as He has stooped to us, He will yet stoop to each one of us again, and we shall find ourselves not unequally yoked with Him. As we enter deeper into the fellowship of His humiliation, and either humble ourselves or bear the humbling of men, we can count upon it that the Spirit of His exaltation, ‘the Spirit of God and of glory,’ will rest upon us.” (91–92)

Key Bible Passages (ESV)

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29)

“And whoever would be first among you must be your slave.” (Matthew 20:27)

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

“For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” (Luke 22:27)

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.” (Philippians 2:5–9)

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10)

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.” (1 Peter 5:6)

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

“Worthy are You, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things,
and by Your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

“For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)

“Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life— is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:16)

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH GOD’S GRACE?

God sees you. He loves you. And He wants you to experience a full and blessed life. In the 365-day devotional, Grace for Everyday Living, some of Christianity’s most respected voices cast light on topics such as how to maintain a peaceful spirit, love others, and freely enjoy God’s grace and mercy. Your life will be transformed as you discover the excitement of pleasing God and obeying His Word.

Our Premium Collection of books may be purchased from the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry at www.beunitedinchrist.com.

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BELIEVE IN GOD? READY TO DO HIS WILL?

The theme of Christian unity is found throughout the Bible. God’s Will for Christian Unity clearly reveals, in thirty Bible passages, our Lord’s passion and instruction on the meaning, importance, and manifestation of Christian unity. Understanding this collection of Bible passages will help you to know how you should think, feel, and act in relation to other believers in accordance with God’s will.

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UNITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR GOD’S PEOPLE.

The Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry has written Essentials of Unity from a great sense of conviction … to better understand God’s will for the unity of His people, how He achieves it, and what He asks of each of us in preserving it. Essentials of Unity explains significant Biblical themes for understanding Christian unity and how these Biblical themes connect to one another in the storyline of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

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FEEL THE PASSION OF CHRIST FOR UNITY.

In John 17:20–23, Jesus prayed for His disciples to be one … united with Him and each other. In His prayer, we hear the passion of Jesus Christ for the union of His people to God and to one another. One: The Passion and Prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ was written to help God’s people understand the nature of this unity as well as how it is to be accomplished in the body of Christ.

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HOW WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?

In the history of Christianity, no one has written as vividly on the subjects of Heaven and Hell as Jonathan Edwards. Heaven Is a World of Love combines Edwards’ most powerful sermons and presents them in modern-day language. Be encouraged with the hope of Heaven, sobered by the horrors of Hell, and assured that you can spend eternity enjoying God’s love.

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BRING HARMONY TO YOUR CHRISTIAN FAMILY.

What if your church could be conflict-free? Drawn from the wisdom of respected Puritan preacher Jeremiah Burroughs, Peace and Healing reveals the sources and dangers of conflict within God’s family and recommends God’s solutions. Get to the root of disunity and bring love and harmony to the most important relationships in your life.

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YOU CAN LOVE LIKE JESUS.

Imagine how the world could be transformed if Christians loved each other the way Jesus asked them to. Jesus’ life is the greatest example of love that the world has ever seen. He told His disciples to love one another as He loved them. When believers live in visible love and unity as Christ lived—unity based on Biblical truth—we will begin to experience a taste of what Heaven will be like.

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LEARN WHAT JESUS PRAYED FOR YOU.

In the hours just before He was crucified, Jesus prayed for you. But what did He pray? And why does it matter? With the John 17:20–26 Exegetical Guide, you will see through Jesus’ eyes and be moved by what He prayed for you at this critical time. You will find where you belong. And your desire to draw closer to God and to other believers will grow as you read this inspiring guide.

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DEVELOP A RICH CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.

Blessing. Peace. Eternal life. How can you experience them for yourself? Explore Psalm 133 and learn King David’s song of the goodness and pleasantness of God’s children living in harmony. You will discover that unity is not only God’s desire but also His design to lead you into the satisfying life He desires for you to experience.

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UNCOVER YOUR PURPOSE IN GOD’S PLAN.

All of us want to belong, to feel connected, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. For the Christian, these desires find their fulfillment in Christ and in the life He has designed for His church. The 1 Corinthians 12 Exegetical Guide will show you how God intends to fulfill your deep need to belong. You have a reserved position in His plan. You have a unique place, and you have a vital role.

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A THIRD GREAT LOVE COMMANDMENT.

Within every human heart is the desire to be loved and to show love. It is the mark of God on our lives—a God who embodies love, who IS love, according to the Bible. In His Word, God gives us three great commandments, rules for operating in love with Him, with others, and with our Christian family. These commands should provide the foundation for everything we say and do.

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ENJOY THE LIFE CHRIST INTENDS FOR YOU.

The most prominent preacher of the 19th century, Charles Spurgeon pastored the world’s largest mega-church and spoke to millions. Considered one of the greatest preachers in church history, his messages are as inspiring today as when they were first preached. Spurgeon On Unity lets you slip into the pew of this “Prince of Preachers” as he applies God’s Word to one of your greatest needs.

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JOIN THE BE UNITED IN CHRIST OUTREACH MINISTRY

We encourage you to reproduce, distribute, and share the materials of the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry and to unite with other brothers and sisters in Christ in the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry.

This book summary was developed and distributed by the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry for use in your personal life and ministry. It is our desire for you to use, reproduce, and distribute this material free of charge. Our only restrictions are that you do not alter the book summary content in any way, that you do not sell the book summary content for profit, and that you attribute the work to the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry.

The desire of the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry is to glorify our Lord by helping our brothers and sisters in Christ to have a better understanding of our Lord’s passion and prayer for His people to “Be United in Christ.”

Please join us in the Be United in Christ Outreach Ministry as we await the glorious return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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[1] All quotations are taken from the second edition published in 1896 in London by James Nisbet & Co. This public domain copy is hosted by the HathiTrust Digital Library (hathitrust.org).