In the words of St Augustine, “If you ask me, what is the first precept of the Christian religion, I will answer, first, second, and third, Humility.”[i] Jesus said, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt 18:4). Why is humility of such value in God’s eyes? It is because humility describes dependence on God as opposed to independence from God.
The humble admit their inability to do anything of value apart from God. Humility is “aptness for grace” according to Luther. It is a result of seeing sin as God sees it, acknowledging its ever-present deceit and power, and realizing that only He can deliver us from it. When the mind of Christ controls us (Phil. 2:5) we walk in a loving humility: we love and value others above ourselves. Paul describes this to the Corinthians, “We no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us” (2 Cor. 5:15). John explains, “We know love by this that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1John 3:16).