The Seduction of Self-Righteousness: Part 1
Picture this: A thin, tall man with a face locked in a perpetual scowl; a man dressed in black robes with piercing eyes casting judgment on every person he meets; a man full of spite, stalking the streets, just waiting for someone to step out of line and break his hypocritical sense of superior morality so he could throw them in prison, or more enjoyable, hang them and rid the world of their vile existence. And to top it off, this man has the authority of both the church and state as a powerful priest—ready to both legally and spiritually condemn you!
Pretty scary, huh?
This is none other than Disney’s portrayal of Archdeacon Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
But contrary to the thoroughly rotten villain that haunted the dreams of every 90s kid, Frollo was not always the self-righteous, manipulative, villain that stalked the streets of Paris that Disney painted him to be.
Rather, in Hugo’s novel, Frollo descended into the villain we love to hate.
When Frollo was a young man, he was compassionate and had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. He was the model student and a reserved and thoughtful child. At the age of 19, Frollo lost both of his parents to plague, leaving the young man to take care of his younger brother, Jehan. Through caring for Jehan, not only does Frollo develop an intense bond with his brother but he also learns how to passionately love and care for other human beings. Frollo, his entire being filled with compassion and a thirst for knowledge, became him a natural idealist. All of this led Frollo to the priesthood where he excelled. So much so that he became the youngest chaplain of Notre Dame in history. And when he saw people mocking an orphaned baby boy who was abandoned at the cathedral—mocked for having what is described as grotesque physical deformities—Frollo’s fierce compassion took over. He appointed himself the child’s guardian and named him Quasimodo.
However, over time, Frollo grew frustrated and bitter at his inability to influence Jehan to live a righteous life and follow in his older brother’s footsteps. Frollo was frequently embarrassed by his brother’s very public sinful lifestyle. To escape from his embarrassment, Frollo began to withdraw more and more from society and into seclusion. As a result, bitterness and a kind of fatalistic attitude took root in the priest’s heart. In his seclusion, Frollo comforted himself by turning all of his attention to his first love: knowledge. Over time, Frollo developed an obsessive personality and turned towards alchemy and the sciences in an attempt to understand God, the universe, and why he could not influence or control Jehan’s behavior. Eventually, Frollo became discouraged as he slowly came to realize that all of the knowledge and understanding he sought was beyond his reach—so discouraged, in fact, that he began to secretly practice sorcery in the tower chambers of Notre Dame.
The previously compassionate priest became a cold, harsh man who viewed and treated people with contempt—especially women. Ironically, when he crossed paths with the beautiful gypsy woman, Esmerelda, he became obsessed with her, longing to seduce her. Drowning in his lust for Esmerelda, Frollo rationalized that the only possible explanation for a righteous man to be so consumed with lust as he was must be because the gypsy woman had cast a spell on him to bewitch him.
Throughout the rest of the novel, Frollo tried to kidnap Esmerelda, seduce her, kill her, and kill the man she loved. And in doing so, Frollo became a terror to Notre Dame and the people of Paris. Frollo abused his authority and his relationship with Quasimodo to manipulate his ward into being Frollo’s lackey to carry out his villainous will.
And all the while, Frollo continued to justify his actions as good and righteous. In his mind, Frollo was innocent of any and all wrongdoing. It was everyone else who were in the wrong! And only Frollo could make things right! In the end, Frollo is killed by the one thing that symbolized all of his self-righteousness: Quasimodo, who threw Frollo from the heights Notre Dame.
Claude Frollo is a warning of what happens when good and compassionate people, who start off with the best intentions, but allow self-righteousness to fester and grow in their hearts until it completely transforms them into unsuspecting villains.
The famous preacher and scholar, Charles Spurgeon, said,
“The black devil of licentiousness [immorality] destroys his hundreds, but the white devil of self-righteousness destroys his thousands.”
“It is easier to save us from our sins than from our righteousness.”
C.S. Lewis said,
“Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.”
Self-righteousness is seductive. It is seductive because it never seems obviously evil to us. The temptation to be self-righteous doesn’t come to us dressed in red with horns and a pitchfork—it comes dressed in a three-piece suit, welcoming us to sit at its table, and promising a delicious meal. Self-righteousness looks good! Its inviting! It comforts us by blinding us to our failures, sin, and shortcomings. It affirms us by blaming others. It feeds us by massaging our egos.
And self-righteousness does all of this under the guise of righteousness! What follower of Jesus doesn’t want to be righteous?!
And that’s exactly the problem! Self-righteousness is so seductive because it promises us that we can be righteous through our own actions—that we can be good enough and do enough good that we can earn the status of righteous.
But nothing could be further from the truth! The apostle Paul wrote,
“For our sake, he [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin [Jesus], so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)
This is why Paul could later say about the worthlessness of his works,
“For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…” (Phil. 3:8-9)
Self-righteousness tries to completely invert what the apostle Paul had discovered. It wants to convince you that your right standing before God in this world is completely dependent on you! You have the strength to make yourself right with God. You are right and everyone else is wrong. You are the most spiritual, knowledgable, holy, and important person in every room. You are your own savior!
And if we believe the lie and allow ourselves to become seduced by self-righteousness, we will no doubt meet a similar fate as that of Claude Frollo: death. Spiritual death.
The temptation to be self-righteous doesn’t come to us dressed in red with horns and a pitchfork—it comes dressed in a three-piece suit, welcoming us to sit at its table, promising a delicious meal.
Friends—do not allow life to harden your heart towards God and his work in your life. Everything we believe about God must come from (1) how he has revealed himself to us through the person of Jesus Christ, (2) how he progressively revealed himself to us throughout all of Scripture, and (3) how we personally experience him in the present in alignment with the Word. We do not develop theology about God based on our experiences in life. Rather, our biblical understanding of God should shape how we understand life.
And if the Bible states anything with clarity, it is this:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith [in Christ]. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)
You were not good enough. You could never be good enough. You have not done and will never do enough good to “balance the scales” of your life.
But Jesus is. And because he is good enough, he says that you are good enough. And that’s a very good thing! When he shares his life with you, you become born again—re-created as a new creation that is righteous and holy in God’s eyes (2 Cor. 5:17-19).
Let me be clear: You don’t have the power to become righteous because of Jesus. You are already righteous because of Jesus! You just need to awaken to that truth and start living it out!
So stop trying to earn your self-righteousness. And instead…be righteous—as Jesus has re-created you to be!
Be Free!
