Selfish Ambition

P. G. Mathew, M.A., M.Div., Th.M. | Sunday, February 1, 1998 2 Samuel 15:1-12, 18:9-18 Copyright 1998 by P.G. Mathew Share on googleShare on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailMore Sharing Services19 What is selfish ambition? It means to be self-seeking and always looking out for ones own interests above the interests of anyone else. The Greek word for selfish ambition is eritheia, and the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle defined selfishly ambitious people as those who want to achieve political office by making themselves look bigger and better before others through trickery. In other words, selfishly ambitious people are those who will electioneer for office and court popular applause by deceit. They are always putting themselves forward without reference to truth. They are full of such slogans as, Make way for me! I am better than all of you. Vote for me, and I will be your savior. The Antichrist is an example of such a politician. When he comes, he will be characterized by eritheia, selfish ambition, and he will use deceit and trickery to promote himself.

The Bitter Fruit of Selfish Ambition

In todays world selfishly ambitious behavior is greatly applauded. Havent we all been told we need to look out for number one, meaning ourselves? But the Bible considers selfish ambition as evil. It is one of the works of the flesh that we read about in Galatians 5:20, and in Romans 2:8 we read that the wrath of God awaits those who are selfishly ambitious. In James 3:14-16 we read that the wisdom of a selfishly ambitious person comes from the devil, not from above, and in his letter to the Philippians Paul warns us that even ministers of the gospel can be self-seeking and vainglorious (Phil. 1:17). So Paul warns us in Philippians 2:3-5, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. A man characterized by this vice of eritheia is full of himself. Such a person lives to glorify himself, but there is a problem in doing that. In the process of seeking his own interests first and seeking to glorify himself rather than others, a selfishly ambitious person will destroy himself. Selfish ambition yields bitter fruit, in other words. In this study I want to examine several examples from the Bible of people whose lives illustrate selfish ambition and its bitter fruit.