Holier than Thou

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; ...
Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

-- Isaiah 65: 2-3, 5 (KJV)

"Holier than thou": sanctimonious, arrogant, superior, smug -- for once, we use a biblical phrase to express the same attitude as the Bible.

What angers God is the hypocrisy of claiming to be holy while abusing holy rites. Not only do some self-styled seekers flirt with strange gods, sacrifice in profane places, burn incense on bad altars, seek prophecies from the dead, eat swine's flesh, and so forth, they also feel superior for doing so and sneer at humble but true believers for not joining in their rituals. All this is as "smoke" in Yahweh's nose, and it doesn't smell very good at all. He vows to "recompense, even recompense into their bosom" (verse 6) -- in other words, do some serious smiting.

Even today, "holier than thou" still seethes with God's sarcasm. You might think it would have come in handy during the contentious early days of the Reformation, but in fact it wasn't quoted in writing until this century. The American novelist Theodore Dreiser referred in The Financier (1912) to the "'holier than thou' attitude" as "quite the last and most deadly offense within prison walls," where nobody likes a wise guy. Sanctimony isn't popular anywhere, of course, so be careful not to let reading this book make you too much holier.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!