Jesus establishes the ethos that is to prevail among his followers in these terms: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” a verse that can be read to mean that the estimation in which one is held within the Christian community is the inverse of one’s claims or pretensions, and to mean at the same time that the divine tendency to cast down the proud and exalt the humble will be active in their case.
