This six-week study walks through the full "Humility and Pride" teaching one section at a time, pairing an Old Testament and New Testament passage each week. Each week can stand alone for a full hour of group discussion, and each is built to print cleanly on its own page. Read the Expanded or Teaching version alongside this study for the complete picture, or work through this series on its own for a slower, group-paced walk through the same material.
Week 1: The Root of Pride
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
The very first temptation was a temptation toward self-sufficiency, toward being "like God" rather than depending on Him. Every act of pride since has echoed that same original shape. Pride is not primarily about arrogance on the surface — it is a refusal to acknowledge the source, taking credit for what was never ours to begin with. It can even wear humble-sounding clothes, saying the right words about depending on God while quietly crediting personal effort underneath. James 4:6 does not describe a mild preference; it describes active opposition on one side and active favor on the other, which makes this far more than a personality issue.
Discussion Questions
- What does it mean that pride is "a refusal to acknowledge the source" rather than simply arrogance?
- How does the temptation in Genesis 3 show the original shape that all later pride has followed?
- Why do you think God's opposition to pride is so strong, rather than a mild preference?
- Where in your own life is it easiest to quietly take credit for something God provided?
- What is the difference between confidence and pride?
- What would it look like this week to name one specific gift, out loud, and consciously thank God for its true source rather than your own effort?
Week 2: The Danger Pride Poses
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). Nebuchadnezzar and Uzziah both show this pattern playing out in real lives, not just as an abstract principle. Pride rarely announces itself as pride — it usually arrives disguised as confidence or simply enjoying the fruit of one's own labor. The mercy in both accounts is that neither downfall was final; Nebuchadnezzar's own reason was restored once his heart was humbled, and he ended his account praising "the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just" (Daniel 4:37).
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think Scripture records Nebuchadnezzar's exact words before his downfall?
- How does 2 Chronicles 26:16 describe the turning point in Uzziah's life?
- What makes pride difficult to recognize in ourselves compared to recognizing it in others?
- How is God's opposition to pride more like a Father correcting a child than an enemy trying to destroy?
- Luke 14:11 promises both a humbling and an exalting — what does that tell us about which posture is ultimately safer?
- Can you think of a time success made it harder, not easier, to stay humble?
Week 3: Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit and Pure in Heart
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Jesus opened His most famous sermon with a list that runs against how the world measures worth. Poor in spirit means recognizing spiritual bankruptcy apart from God. A pure heart has nothing left to protect, because it has surrendered the need to look good and simply wants to see God clearly. There is a quiet logic running through the Beatitudes as a whole: poverty of spirit leads to mourning over sin, which leads to meekness, which leads to hungering for righteousness, which leads to mercy, which finally leads to a pure heart that sees God. Each step depends on the one before it.
Discussion Questions
- What does "poor in spirit" mean, and how is it different from low self-esteem?
- How does Isaiah 66:2 echo the same posture Jesus describes in the Beatitudes?
- Why does Jesus place these Beatitudes first, before teaching on prayer, money, or enemies?
- What competes for space in a heart divided between wanting to see God and wanting to be admired?
- Walk through the order of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-8) — why might each step depend on the one before it?
- What would "trembling at God's word" look like practically in your week?
Week 4: Christ's Own Example
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
The deepest picture of humility in Scripture belongs to the one being who had every right to hold onto glory and refused to grasp it. Jesus made this concrete, not just theological, the night before His crucifixion by washing His disciples' feet and telling them to follow His example: "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you" (John 13:15). Nobody can look honestly at what humility cost the Son of God and still insist their own dignity is too important to set down.
Discussion Questions
- What does it mean that Christ "made himself nothing" though He was "in very nature God"?
- How does Isaiah's suffering servant prophecy connect to the humility Jesus displayed?
- Why do you think Jesus chose to demonstrate humility physically, by washing feet, rather than only teaching it?
- If the Son of God did not cling to His own status, what does that say about our right to cling to ours?
- What is one task in your life that feels "beneath you" that Christ's example might call you toward?
- How does the cross function as an argument against pride, not just a payment for sin?
- Peter initially objected when Jesus tried to wash his feet (John 13:6-8) — why might humility from someone else sometimes be hard to receive?
Week 5: A Son of Thunder, Transformed Over Time
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
John and his brother James were nicknamed "sons of thunder," a man who once wanted to call down fire on a village and who asked Jesus for the highest seats of honor. Jesus called him anyway, and years of correction and proximity slowly transformed him into the disciple identified only by love. Character rarely changes in a single moment — it is worn into a person over years, the way water wears down a stone rather than breaking it in a single strike, until the temper that once wanted fire from heaven became the tenderness of the disciple entrusted with Jesus's own mother.
Discussion Questions
- What does the nickname "sons of thunder" tell us about John's natural temperament?
- Why is it significant that Jesus called John knowing exactly what He was working with?
- How did Jesus respond each time the disciples argued about who was greatest (Mark 9:33-35, Luke 22:24-27)?
- Why does character transformation usually take years rather than happening instantly?
- At the cross, Jesus entrusted His mother to John rather than the boldest disciple — what does that say about what humility earns?
- Where do you see slow, patient transformation happening in your own walk with God right now?
Week 6: Moses, Clothed With Humility, and Gratitude
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Moses carried enormous power and authority and remained, at the same time, the most humble man on earth. When challenged, he did not defend himself — God defended him. Peter's picture of humility as clothing, something chosen daily and put on deliberately over whatever pride would otherwise leave exposed, brings the whole teaching to its close: humility is simply gratitude pointed in the right direction, an honest acknowledgment of where everything good actually came from, and "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:10).
Discussion Questions
- How is it possible for Moses to hold enormous power and still be described as the most humble man alive?
- What does Numbers 12:1-9 teach about how a humble person responds to being attacked or challenged?
- Why does Peter describe humility as something to "clothe yourselves with" rather than a trait a person simply has?
- What does "in due time" (1 Peter 5:6) teach about trusting God's timing rather than demanding recognition?
- How is humility ultimately connected to gratitude?
- Looking back across all six weeks, what is one specific way pride has shown up in your life, and one step you can take this week to set it down?
Closing Thought
Across these six weeks, one thread ties every single passage together — pride is a refusal to acknowledge the source, and humility is simply gratitude pointed in the right direction. From the garden, to a proud king on his rooftop, to a fisherman nicknamed for thunder, to a shepherd who spoke with God face to face, Scripture tells one consistent story: God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble, and He lifts up, in His own good time, everyone who is willing to set down what they never truly held on their own in the first place.
For deeper study on any week's theme, read the full Teaching or Expanded version of Humility and Pride.
Want to read these passages in their full setting? Browse every book of the Bible on BibleRef (opens in a new tab), a free site with plain-language commentary.