While reading a book about B.B. Warfield last night (10/23/19) I came across the concept of self in his discussion on Philippians 2:3-8...
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Warfield points out that self deprecation is still at the end of the day about the self. The end goal of deprecating the self is to please, ironically, the self -- in other words, the reason you're running yourself down or setting yourself aside is to assuage your self. But because it deprecates the self, it doesn't read as selfish or prideful. It reads as humble.
This, however, is not what Jesus did. He emptied Himself for others. This is not self deprecation, but self abnegation.
2 Corinthians 9:7
God loves a cheerful giver
Self deprecation is anything but cheerful. It's mopey, dopey, gloomy and doomy. It is glum and drum. It is willing to give things up, but not willing to be cheerful about the endeavor. In fact, the whole point of giving things up may be to draw attention to how difficult and miserable it is in doing so.
Self abnegation, by contrast, is for the sake of others and it is fueled by joy. It doesn't mean that the giving away is always fun or filled with rainbow-colored unicorn-powered confetti, but it does mean that the point of denying one's self is for the joy of others, beginning with God.
Self deprecation says, "No," as it looks inward as an end in itself.
Self abnegation says, "Yes," as it looks up and a result says, "No" when it looks inward.
Self abnegation is in essence a "Yes" whereas self deprecation is in its seed form a "No." And up from each grow the fruit corresponding to its seed. Self abnegation grows joy and hope and a giving away that is for the benefit of others. Self deprecation grows bitter resentment and self interest in insisting everyone else see how very selfless it has become.
The heart of self deprecation looks in and says, "No, thank you."
The heart of self abnegation looks up and says, "Yes, thank You"
Jesus set Himself aside for the sake of others, not to address a guilty conscience or to demonstrate His mastery over Himself, but for the benefit of others. His going without was for our going with.
"And thus it is not mere self-denial that Christ calls us to, but specifically to self-sacrifice not to unselfing ourselves, but to unselfishing ourselves." ― B.B. Warfield
This reminds me of what C.S. Lewis says at the beginning of The Weight of Glory...
“If you asked twenty good men to-day what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love - You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance.
The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point.”
Lewis, again, made note of this in The Screwtape Letters...
“Note, once again, the admirable work of our Philological Arm in substituting the negative unselfishness for [God’s] positive Charity. Thanks to this you can, from the very outset, teach a man to surrender benefits not the that others may be happy in having them but that he may be unselfish in forgoing them. That is a great point gained.”
Jesus said it this way and apparently it left a large impression on His followers since all of His biographers mention it and several of them more than once...
Matthew 10:39, 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, 17:33, John 12:25
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
You do not gain your self by looking for it or to it. You find your self by losing it for the sake of Jesus Christ. In emptying yourself for His glory and the good of your neighbors, you truly find your self.
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