Editorial September 8, 1923 Issue

No Self-justification

Albert F. Gilmore

The figure of the Pharisee standing in his pride and self-justification, as described in the gospel of Luke, is one that may well be carefully examined by all who are striving to live in accordance with the teachings of Christ Jesus, as interpreted and explained by Mary Baker Eddy. In his egotism and self-satisfaction, this self-righteous man thanked God for what he conceived to be his superior qualities. These qualities, however admirable outwardly they seem to be, upon close examination are seen in the case of the Pharisee to have been but the hypocritical sign of true religion, pertaining merely to the letter, to its formality and ritualism, but quite devoid of the Christian qualities of love, humility, and true obedience. The Pharisee boldly asserted his unlikeness to the unjust, to the adulterers, to the extortioners, even to the publican, whose example the Master used to emphasize the lesson of the parable.

The Pharisee believed himself to be a superior mortal because he obeyed the Levitical law to fast twice each week, and paid his tithes promptly. To his limited sense of religion and worship, these acts, and his keeping of the letter of the Decalogue, fulfilled his whole duty; and, in consequence, he thought himself just and righteous. Was not this an excellent type of that class of men whom the Master, in another parable, likened to the platter and the cup,—clean on the outside, but quite unwashed within?

In the verse of Luke's gospel following the description of the Pharisee and the publican, the Master drives home the application in a most convincing manner: "Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Here is the pith of the whole subject. He that believeth himself to be above his fellows, a superior human, is under the stern necessity of abasement; for only by such experience can he attain the mental attitude which is receptive of the true understanding which the spiritual vision really exalts. In this way only does a mortal learn the truth about man and his relationship with God.

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September 8, 1923
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