Humility, the Root of Every Grace

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant. PHILIPPIANS 2:5–7

Of all Murray’s books, Humility is perhaps the one most often pressed into other people’s hands, and the one most often put down unfinished. It is short — twelve brief chapters — and it is merciless. It does not flatter the reader or let him hide. It asks him to look at Christ until his own pride becomes visible to him, and then to bring it to Christ to be dealt with. Many believers have found it the most uncomfortable book they have ever read, and one of the most healing.

More than a virtue

The book’s central claim comes in its first chapter, and it is worth quoting exactly. “Humility,” Murray writes, “the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.”

Notice what he does with the word. Most of us think of humility as one virtue among others — a pleasant modesty, a willingness not to boast. Murray defines it as a place: the place of entire dependence on God. It is the creature standing where a creature belongs, as the previous chapter described. That is why it is not one grace alongside others but the soil in which all of them grow. In his own words, “Humility is the only soil in which the graces root.” Love without it becomes patronage. Zeal without it becomes ambition. Knowledge without it puffs up. Prayer without it becomes a performance.

God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. JAMES 4:6

This means, Murray says, that a lack of humility is a sufficient explanation for every defect and failure. When a Christian struggles for years with impatience, or irritability, or envy, the problem may not be that he has not tried hard enough at patience or kindness. It may be that the root is diseased, and the fruit cannot be healthy until the root is healed.

The humility of Christ

The second chapter of Humility is called The Secret of Redemption, and it turns everything toward Christ. What is the incarnation, Murray asks, but His heavenly humility, His emptying of Himself to become man? What was His life but humility, the form of a servant? What was His death but humility, obedience unto death? And what is His exaltation but humility crowned? Christ is, in Murray’s phrase, the humility of God embodied in human nature.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. PHILIPPIANS 2:8

This is why Murray could write that “His humility is our salvation and His salvation is our humility.” He did not mean that we are saved by being humble. He meant that the salvation Christ gives is nothing less than the communication of His own life, and His life is humble to its core. To be saved is to have the mind of Christ planted in us. The humble Christian is not a person who has achieved a virtue but a person in whom Christ’s own disposition is taking shape.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. MATTHEW 11:29

Tested in daily life

The most practical chapter of the book is Humility in Daily Life, and it closes every escape route. It is easy, Murray observes, to think we humble ourselves before God. But humility towards men is the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. The humility that is really ours is not the posture we adopt on our knees but what we carry with us into ordinary conduct. And he adds a sentence worth pondering: “It is in our most unguarded moments that we really show and see what we are.”

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. PHILIPPIANS 2:3

That verse raises an honest question, and Murray faces it. How can I esteem others better than myself when I can plainly see that some are less wise or less gifted than I am? His answer is that the question itself shows how little we understand humility. The humble person is not constantly comparing himself with others, whether to his advantage or his disadvantage. He has seen himself as nothing before God and has stopped measuring. He meets others as one who seeks nothing for himself, and so is free to serve them.

Humility and sin

Murray made a distinction that many readers find freeing. Humility is often confused with penitence, he says, and so people try to grow humble by dwelling endlessly on their sins. But the angels are humble and have never sinned. Christ was humble and was without sin. Humility is not first a response to our sinfulness; it is the right posture of any creature before God. Sin deepens it — Paul never forgot that he had been a persecutor, and the memory kept him low — but sin is not its source.

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:9–10

This matters because a humility built on self-reproach can become a subtle form of self-absorption. The person is still looking at himself, only with disgust instead of admiration. Murray’s humility looks away from self altogether, toward God, and finds rest there.

Where the book needs a gentler reading

Humility is strong medicine, and it must be taken with care. Murray writes in places of the soul seeing itself as nothing and consenting to part with self altogether, and he appends passages from William Law that speak of pride with great intensity. A sensitive reader who already struggles with self-hatred can take this language as licence for more of the same. That would be a misreading. Murray’s humility is not self-contempt; it is self-forgetfulness in the presence of a loving God. It is also not passivity in the face of wrong. The humble Christ drove the traders from the temple and rebuked the Pharisees to their faces. Humility is compatible with strength, with conviction, and with saying no.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. JAMES 4:10

Murray’s last chapter is called Humility and Exaltation, and it ends not in the dust but in God’s lifting up. The way down is the way home.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Think of a sin or weakness you have long struggled with. Ask whether pride may be its root, and bring the root to Christ rather than only the fruit.

2. Notice this week how you behave in unguarded moments — interrupted, contradicted, overlooked. Write down what they reveal.

3. Do one hidden act of service for someone who cannot repay you, and tell no one.

4. When you catch yourself comparing yourself with others, stop and turn your attention to Christ instead.

5. If you tend to self-contempt, meditate on James 4:10. Humility ends in being lifted up by God.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You were meek and lowly in heart, and I am proud in ways I cannot even see.

Show me my pride, not to crush me but to free me. Take the root, and not only the fruit.

Plant Your own humility in me, so that I may serve others gladly and seek nothing for myself.

Keep me from mistaking self-contempt for lowliness. Let me forget myself in You, and in Your time lift me up. Amen.