Volume 11.1
Essays On Humility
Summer 2024

The Center for Pastor Theologians has recently concluded a three-year cycle reflecting on virtue formation. In the final year, our conversations centered on the virtue of humility.

The conversations about humility among our fellowship communities were among the richest that we’ve had. For Pastor Theologians, humility is essential to deepening our understanding of what it means to be a theological shepherd of the church who models the character of Christ. We explored a variety themes, including the difficulty of defining humility, the dangers of narcissism (both for pastors and in our congregations), and the challenge of cultivating a humble posture in a culture of self-aggrandizement and polarization where leadership is often confused with bravado.

Of course, the call to humility is central to following Jesus. Philippians 2, a foundational text on humility, centers the very nature of what it means to be the church as we emulate Christ’s humility. As such, Paul’s model of discipleship is patterned after Christ’s willingness to loosen his grip on glory and take the place of a humble slave. In doing so, Christ models the obedience of humility in his willingness to pursue the will of his Father, even to the point of death on the cross. Out of this self-renunciation, Christ is raised up to the place of honor. He is exalted to the name above all names, receiving the glory of God and the worship of all the creation.

Philippians 2 calls each one who would take up our cross to be willing to do what Christ did: we must release our sinful hold on self-glorifying projects and be willing to obey the Father all the way to the cross, humbling ourselves through that act of self-renouncing obedience. By doing so, we participate in the fullness of the story of Christ because through our humility we too are raised up into glory by God that we might share the eternal life of God the Father, Son, and Spirit, becoming partakers of their triune fellowship.

If Pastor Theologians are to shepherd our congregations toward humility, we must have a deep understanding of what the Scriptures reveal about humility and have a sense for how humility is actually formed in disciples. We must be equipped to humble ourselves in obedience to God and call the congregations entrusted to our care to that same humility. To put it bluntly: We must get humility right if we are to truly proclaim the gospel. This volume of the CPTJ seeks to push such conversations forward.

The articles that follow are excellent contributions to the call for Pastor Theologians and the church to walk humbly with our God. I’m grateful for the contributors, who themselves model humility in their learning and leadership of the church.

Essays