Humility and Arrogance: The Pharisee and Tax Collector

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Humility &  Arrogance: the Pharisee and Tax Collector

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – 8/31/2025

Luke 18:9–14

Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer

                That portion from God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke in the eighteenth chapter, with special emphasis on verse fourteen which reads as follows:

[Jesus said,] “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”[1]

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus today tells a parable that strikes at the very heart of our spiritual life, our faith, and even how we view the church’s confession of truth. He tells of two men who went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee; the other was a tax collector. And Jesus’s shocking conclusion is that the outwardly respectable Pharisee goes home unforgiven, while the despised tax collector goes home justified.

Now, you and I have heard this parable many times, but today let’s use it to analyze an issue that’s very pressing for us as Lutherans. That is to say, this parable shows us the difference between humbly confessing biblical doctrine and arrogantly going beyond, or apart from, the Word of God. Because just like the Pharisee, there’s a kind of “religious arrogance” that looks holy, that sounds pious, but because it is not rooted in the Word of God or in humble repentance, it is anything but. And just like the tax collector, there’s a kind of faith that looks weak, that looks unimpressive, but clings to nothing but the mercy of God in Christ, and that alone is where salvation is found.

The Pharisee: Arrogance in the Guise of Piety

The Pharisee prays: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”[2] He goes on to boast about his fasting, his tithing, his pious deeds. Notice something peculiar about this prayer, the Pharisee uses the word “God,” but his prayer is really all about himself. In fact, the Greek here gives a nuance that is easy to miss in English. A very literal translation of verse eleven would begin  “The Pharisee, having stood thusly, was praying to himself.” This is more than just standing apart from others, his heart is turned inward, his confidence rests on his own works, and he places himself above others.

This is arrogance, not merely arrogance against people, but arrogance against God and His  very Word. Why? Because God says through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans that  “None is righteous, no not one”.[3] And again, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[4] To stand before God and declare yourself righteous by your own strength is to call God a liar. What greater arrogance could there be than this?

                But here’s the key, arrogance isn’t only when someone boasts of their own works. Arrogance is also when someone treats their own opinions, traditions, or speculations as though they were equal to God’s Word. That’s what the Pharisees so often did. They took man-made rules about washing, fasting, and external purity, and treated them as though God Himself had commanded them. In other words, they went beyond the Word of God. They made their own ideas into doctrine, and in doing so they exalted themselves above God.

                Besides elevating human traditions to divine commands, there is also a false humility that downplays what the Scriptures say in order to make wiggle room for personal opinion and theological conjecture. Such an attitude has more in common with Pontius Pilate who said, “what is truth?”[5] than with the saints, prophets, and Apostles we read about in the Scriptures. In other words, what God says is not open for us to do with as we please. We are bound by it, stuck to it, under it.

                This false humility, which is really the arrogance of calling God a liar, is so attractive because it gives the illusion of agency and power to our sinful selves. It makes us theological judges able to really decide what God said. It makes us feel powerful and wise. But in truth it is foolishness that leads away from Christ deprives us of comfort and seeks to rob us of the certainty and clarity that comes by knowing Christ and Him crucified.

The Tax Collector: Humble Confession

Now look at the tax collector. He won’t even lift his eyes to heaven. He beats his breast. He says simply, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” There’s no arrogance here. No boasting. Not even a defense. He doesn’t try to say, “Yes, I’ve cheated people, but I’ve also done some good things.” No, he simply confesses what God’s Word says about him, namely, that he is a sinner. And then he clings to God’s mercy alone. And this confession is no mere lip service, this is the true confession of the faithful Christian. He does not look for righteousness in himself, instead, he appeals to his God to provide his righteousness and salvation. His humility leads him to going exactly where salvation is found, that is, to God.

And Jesus says: this man, not the Pharisee, went down to his house justified. Why? Because to confess your sins and trust in God’s mercy in Christ is nothing other than confessing God’s Word as true. It’s saying, “Lord, I agree with Your judgment. I agree with Your Law. I deserve nothing but wrath. But even more I also agree with Your Gospel. I believe You are merciful for the sake of Christ.”

That’s the difference: the Pharisee trusted in himself and in words not from God, while the tax collector humbled himself before God’s Word and trusted in Him for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Confessing Biblical Doctrine vs. Arrogance

So let’s draw the line clearly here: Confessing biblical doctrine is repeating what God has already said in His Word. To confess is to say the same thing God says about sin, about grace, about Christ, about the Sacraments, and about everything else He has said. In other words, true doctrine is Christ, our knowledge of Christ, the words of Christ, and the deeds of Christ. There is no division between our Lord and the teachings He gives about Himself. For example, when we say, “This is My body” means exactly what Jesus said it means, that is a true confession. When we say, “Baptism now saves you” as St. Peter says, that is true confession. When we say, “We are saved by grace through faith, not by works,” that is true confession. Confession is always humble, because it does not invent. It simply repeats what God has spoken.

Arrogance, by contrast, is when we go beyond or apart from the Word of God. When we add our own rules, our own human reason, our own spiritual imagination, and treat them as though they were God’s truth we are being arrogant. Sometimes this arrogance looks very religious, like the Pharisee. Sometimes it looks rebellious, like the world that says, “The Bible is outdated; we know better now.” Sometimes it seems very humble and pious by saying, “we don’t know” when God has spoken definitively about the thing. All are the same sin of pride that puts human thought above God’s Word.

This is why our Lutheran Confessions are so careful to say that we do not teach anything beyond Scripture. They constantly say, “We believe, teach, and confess… because God’s Word says so.” That’s what distinguishes true confession from arrogance. And this is a problem for us today because in a world so skeptical of religion in general and religious and spiritual truths in particular, confidence in God’s Word often sounds like making arrogant and definitive truth claims about things that cannot be known. But this could not be further from the truth. One of the central claims of the Christian faith is at stake here: Christ became a knowable, real, particular man who did real, specific things and said actual, real words. This means that we not only can speak definitively of God because Christ has revealed the Father in Himself,[6] but that apart from Him we have precious little that we can say for certain. Or, as Jesus Himself puts it, “no one comes to the Father except through Me.”[7]

Why This Matters for Us

Now, dear friends, this isn’t just a theoretical issue. This strikes right into our daily life as Christians. Firstly, it cuts against a temptation in confessional Lutheranism to twist our love of Christ and His pure Word of truth into a parody that is more about the smartness we have who hold to that truth. There is an arrogance that twists God’s Word such that we spend more time trying to show that we really understand it than simply submitting ourselves under it. I will speak for myself here is saying that I have fallen victim to this sin from time to time. Secondly, it also reminds us of how our sinful selves, our Old Adams can misuse any of God’s good gifts to try and self-justify. Even religion and prayer can be misused when we make them about ourselves and what we offer to God rather than letting them be about what God gives to us. Thirdly, it reminds us that there will be people who see confidence in Christ as a form of arrogance and see speculation and self-focus as humility both in and outside of the Christian Church. We should not let ourselves be discouraged by this, as even Jesus Himself was rejected by the world.

The Cross: Where Confession and Mercy Meet

But even more than this, this passage shows us where humility leads us, namely, to Christ our Savior. The tax collector’s prayer, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” shows the depth of His faith and understanding. God is a stern judge who gives us an exacting Law, this is true. But even more He is rich in mercy and grace even at the cost of giving His own Son into death for you and your salvation. In fact, the word we translate as  mercy here is even richer in meaning than that, it points to propitiation, that is, to God covering sin through an atoning sacrifice. That sacrifice is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself even to the point of death on the cross. And this was not done for random people or only for those whose piety is a certain amount or who pray the right way, no, it was done for you and your redemption. We must never doubt that the whole point of Christ’s coming was to save you dear and precious sinners. We must never second guess that Christ only desires that we look to Him, trust Him, have faith in Him for our salvation. And this, then is the humility of the Christian. That is to say, that we trust in Christ and His work and lean not on our own understanding.

The Pharisee’s arrogance could not stand before God, but the tax collector’s plea for mercy is answered in Christ crucified. There, God justifies the ungodly. There, He declares sinners righteous, not because of their works, but because of Christ’s blood.

And that is why confession of biblical doctrine is so vital. Because at its heart, confessing God’s Word always points us back to Christ and His cross. Arrogance leads us away from Christ, either into our own works or into human inventions. But true confession always says: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.”

Conclusion

Dear friends, learn from this parable. Be wary of arrogance, whether the arrogance of adding to God’s Word like the Pharisee, or the arrogance of rejecting God’s Word like the world. And instead, take up the prayer of the tax collector: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” That is the center of a right and pleasing confession, agreeing with God’s Word, humbly, faithfully, and always holding fast to Christ.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. And in Christ Jesus, you are justified, forgiven, exalted, and given eternal life not by your pious works, but by His.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Luke 18:9-14 English Standard Version. All further quotations from the Scriptures are from the ESV.

[2] Luke 18:11

[3] Romans 3:10

[4] Romans 3:23

[5] John 18:38

[6] John 14:9

[7] John 14:6