“Do Not Be Overly Righteous”— A Reflection
Quote from Philip Yancey
As I think about Individual Christians I know, I see some people made incomparably better by their faith, and some made measurably worse. For every gracious, kind-spirited, forgiving Christian, I can point to a proud, mean-spirited, judgmental one. In my own experience, those who strive the hardest and believe the more fervently are sometimes the least attractive persons. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, they get caught up in competition and end up self-righteous rather than righteous. Politicians tell me their nastiest letters come from people who quote the Bible and claim to speak for God— which I easily believe since my mailbox shows the same pattern. How do I resolve the tension between the ideals of the Gospel and the actuality of those who profess it?
The church I grew up in included a perfect woman. At least that’s what she claimed, insisting she had not sinned in twelve years. I can remember as a child, all too aware of my own sins, marveling at her state of perfection. I never doubted her sincerity, for how could a perfect person lie? During church services I sometimes stared longingly at her, wishing I knew her secret. Now, however, I look back with pity on that woman. The apostle John could not have been more direct: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ Although this woman may have managed to avoid overt and obvious sins, I doubt tha tshe consistently obeyed what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And her smugly superior attitude betrayed that she had probably fallen victim to the sin of pride as well.
-Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor: How my Faith Survived the Church (PVM Harvest Resources, 2003), 116-117.
The writer of Ecclesiastes says it well, “Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?” (Ecclesiastes 7:16) I remember when I was young and people told me that Ecclesiastes was a work that is to be interpreted as human wisdom over its majority with a bit of divine wisdom at the end. This was one of those verses the pushed people in my denomination toward that assessment. After all, how could being “overly righteous” be bad? Certainly, the “golden mean” can’t be godly, right? I am not an accomplished expositor. Some may suggest that because the broader passage is about wisdom, perhaps the term righteous (in Hebrew, “saddiq”) is not really the correct term here. However, in ancient Jewish literature, wisdom seems always to have a moral component to it. Also parts of the broader passage seem to support the term righteous, such as in verse 20 where righteous is tied to doing good and not sinning.
In fact, the broader passage seems to suggest at least three reasons by being (or at least seeking to be) overly righteous is problematic. One reason is very practical, one is very theological, and one seems to be a bit of both practical and theological.
Practical reason— Verse 15 speaks of a righteous person dying in his righteous state, and a wicked man living a long life in his wickedness. So on a practical level, being overly righteous does not necessarily give you tangible improvements to one’s life. Psalms 1 is not necessarily a hard and fast rule— sometimes the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. Perhaps that is even the norm, at least in our daily experiences.
Theological reason— Verse 20 states that no one on earth always does good and never sins. This suggests that there is no finish line. Striving after perfection is a hopeless quest— like creating the perpetual motion machine. Just as the perpetual motion machine appears to violate the laws underpinning the universe (in this case, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics), sinless perfection violates our design. While I would not describe myself as Reformed in my theological outlook, I see great wisdom in the understanding of salvation being unmerited (unearned, unachievable on our part) favor. I think there is also wisdom in rejecting the “perfectability of the saints.” However, the question might still be broached, “Is sinless perfection a worthy goal, even if it is not truly achievable?”
Practical/Theological reason— Verse 16 suggests that excessive quest for righteousness or wisdom may destroy oneself. The Hebrew term is pretty strong— suggesting ruining, or creating desolation. But maybe the term “quest” is key here. It is good to be wise and it is good to be righteous. But what happens when searching for either becomes one’s all-consuming passion? Perhaps there is a point where one departs from “wanting to be godly” and shifts into the problematic “wanting to be God.”
The quote above by Yancey is in a chapter about the lives of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Both had a remarkable coming to faith as adults. Tolstoy tried immensely to be perfect… sinless. The quest did lead him to do many things that were certainly good— highly commendable in fact. In other ways, it sort of destroyed him. His wife noted that his quest kind of ruined his family and she felt that Tolstoy was so focused on his self-perfecting that he had no love left for his children. Is this true? The fact that this was her perception suggests on some level there is a problem. The attempt to be perfect can drive one towards hubris if one decides one has somehow achieved it, or despair if one feels (correctly) that one has ultimately failed. Dostoyevsky never sought such perfection— but perhaps that is why his writings show a deeper understanding of grace. Perhaps the one who desires perfection, seeks God with greater intensity, but the one who recognizes his need for God’s forgiveness understands God with greater depth.
Blaise Pascal has a well-known quote credited to him: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” I have hear that this is a dubious translation from the original French. Additional it has been suggested that a religious person such as Pascal certainly would not have believed this. I can’t speak to the issue of translation, but the second part? I think Pascal certainly must have seen horrible evils done justified by “God said” (or “Allah decreed” or whatever religious body or deity is invoked). The statement provides its own absolution, and that is quite dangerous.
If our connection to God is one of dependence and loving relationship rather than on sinlessness, we avoid the problem in Ecclesiastes 7:16.
I have heard it said that the most doctrinally sound song ever written (in recent centuries at least) is:
“Jesus loves me, this I know.,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak, but He is strong.”
Of course, anything that has been turned into words can be ripped apart, and this verse from the song “Jesus Loves Me” is no exception. One word is wrong. In the last line, “They” should be turned to “We.” Little ones to Him belong, we are weak, but He is strong. When we throw away any idea of our own strength or perfection, we are dependent on Jesus and His love.
I feel as if Ecclesiastes 7:16 (or the broader section, verses 15-20) should not be overlooked or explained away. It is something to be taught and taken to heart.