In this article we teach you what is vanity according to the bible. A secular definition of vanity is having excessive pride in one’s appearance, status, or abilities in comparison to that of others.
Someone vain has the quality or character of being conceited, narcissistic (in love with himself) and sees himself as superior to everyone else, regardless of his actual status in life.
You see a lot of vanity in today’s professional athletes (not all of them) and those with high-paying jobs that wield a lot of power, prestige, and influence over others. You can see vanity walking down the sidewalk or in the way someone acts or talks to others, such as talking down to others.
What is vanity according to the bible?
God opposes those who are full of themselves (James 4:6) and act in vain toward anyone else. The biblical definition of vanity or the word vain is “empty, useless” or “nothing,” as evidenced by Jesus’ statement to the hypocritical worship of God’s religious leader.
What does the Bible say about vanity?
In the Bible we can find several fragments that speak of vanity:
solomon and vanity
Solomon wrote more about vanity than anyone else in the Bible, and the word vanity is found in more Ecclesiastes than in all the other books of the Bible combined.
Perhaps because Solomon had so much wisdom, had everything he ever wanted, and was at the height of power, he personally knew a lot about vanity from experience.
But apparently he humbled himself later (actually God did it for him) and so he knows as much about vanity as we will read of his many writings found in what is called the wisdom literature, mainly in Ecclesiastes, although it is found in other places.
Solomon describes vanity as jobs done here on earth and, in the end, basically good for nothing. As he writes, it’s like “fighting for the wind” or trying to catch the wind. He would say it like this; “It’s like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.”
Verses that talk about vanity
Below you will find two of the Bible verses that talk about vanity, with their respective explanations:
Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it will labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Selfishness and vanity are centered in the “I”. As Christians, our foundation and our trust must always be in the Lord. When we “build” our house, our appearance, our personal values, our relationships, our identity, it must be with the Lord as our master builder.
Only then can we make sure that our life is fruitful and successful. Relying on our own strength and wisdom will lead to disaster and it will be in vain, but when we follow God, our lives are safe.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this too is vanity.”
Money has often led people to a sense of arrogance and arrogance. These are synonymous with vanity, because anyone who thinks they are better than anyone else is setting themselves up for a downfall. Nothing, not looks, not money, can make a person truly happy.
Israel mission failed
He was supposed to be a light to the nations around him, as Isaiah wrote: “Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But when they fell into idolatry, Jeremiah wrote that “the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree of the forest is cut down and worked with an ax by the hands of a craftsman” (Jer 10: 3).
Some in the first-century church were also failing God when Paul wrote that “Certain people, straying from them, have wandered away in vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they are saying nor the things they are saying. about which they make sure statements” (1 Tim 1:6-7).
Worship God in Vain
Even Christians can worship God in vain, that is, in a useless and empty way. Without the worship of God and the fear of his magnificence, we are just going through the motions and it means nothing to God and as we have already read, empty or useless worship is all vanity.
Jesus told the woman at the well that the Father is seeking such to worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). That means in a humble, contrite, broken spirit, and in truth. Biblical truth and anything else besides this is vanity.
Remember that Jesus told the woman at the well “You worship what you don’t know” because she didn’t really know God and she didn’t know the Messiah (Jesus). The scribes and Pharisees worshiped God in vain because they had heaped up their own traditions (which is not true) and boasted of their own righteousness (not in the right spirit).
Their doctrines were not Biblical truth, they were the “traditions of men” and, what was even worse, they made their traditions at least equal as well but actually superior to God’s laws.
The laws were supposed to honor their father and mother, but they were obviously not doing that (Matthew 15:4), instead they were following their own traditions, superseding God’s laws (the fifth commandment) and neglecting their own parents (Matthew 15:5-6).
The vanity of riches
Vanity is an emptiness or uselessness of things and Solomon wrote more about vanity than any other author in the Bible and even more so in Ecclesiastes where vanity is mentioned 32 out of 35 times in the Bible.
Vanity is a grave evil” (Eccl 6:2) because “sometimes a person who has worked with wisdom, knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not work for it.
The teachings of mankind in vain
There is also something that is vanity or that is done in vain and that teaches man-made religious rules. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day saying “they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).
The commandments of humanity are imperfect, but the law of God is perfect and only this can convert the soul (Psalm 19: 7). This is Paul’s reason for “holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ he may be proud that he did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Philippians 2:16).
By learning what vanity is according to the Bible, surely you could have noticed that we all have vain beings in us and we are full of vanity. It is within our nature, but when it gives us a new heart, not of stone but of flesh (Ez. 36:26).
The Spirit of God changes our hearts. We receive a heart that is inclined to please God, obey him and worship him in spirit and in truth.