“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt” (Romans 4:1-4).
Pride is humanity’s besetting sin.
It manifests itself in many ways. Adding to God’s word because I think the omniscient God forgot something. Subtracting from God’s word because I think I really am that special and thus qualified to make an exception where God has not. Rejecting God’s word because it offends me. Twisting God’s word because it does not say what I want it to say. Ignoring God’s word because of a conflict between His will and my own.
Human pride does not like a religion which justifies its adherents by works of obedience instead of works of merit. Doing everything you ought to do and still being called an unprofitable servant (Luke 17:10) is brutal on the ego. Human arrogance wants a religion where I am a glamorous superstar, not an unprofitable servant.
Human pride does not like a religion in which I am indebted to God with an unpayable balance; it prefers God being in debt to me. Christ expects His disciples to do good because it is the only right and logical thing to do (Ephesians 2:10). My ego prefers a religion which views good works as acts for which God issues an I.O.U. and eventually has to pay me for what He owes me.
Unlike all the man-made religions which cater to human pride, Christianity is about obediently believing and boasting only in Christ.
