To Be Carefully Guarded Against. King David, who was granted many favors and great authority by God, realized that, nonetheless, he could be guilty of presumptuousness. He prayed: “Mistakes​—who can discern? From concealed sins pronounce me innocent. Also from presumptuous acts hold your servant back; do not let them dominate me. In that case I shall be complete, and I shall have remained innocent from much transgression.” (Ps 19:12, 13) The danger is great, therefore, and something to be closely guarded against. A presumptuous act is a much more serious sin than a mistake. Whether one is in a high position or a low one, the taking of liberties is a detestable thing in God’s sight.

Disrespect for God’s Sovereignty. When a person acts presumptuously toward God he is showing disrespect for Jehovah’s sovereignty and Godship. Those claiming to be his servants and misrepresenting him are most reprehensible. Of the false prophets, Jehovah said: “The prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak . . . that prophet must die. . . . When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, . . . with presumptuousness the prophet spoke it.”​—De 18:20-22.

Also, disrespect for Jehovah is shown by disrespect for his appointed servants, which can be caused by presumptuousness. In Israel, difficult cases were brought to ‘the place Jehovah chose’ (which, from David’s day onward, was Jerusalem). Anyone who flouted the judgment rendered was to be put to death, for in standing up against God’s representatives he was acting in defiance of God. The law read: “In accordance with the law that they will point out to you, and according to the judicial decision that they will say to you, you should do. . . . And the man who will behave with presumptuousness in not listening to the priest who is standing to minister there to Jehovah your God or to the judge, that man must die; and you must clear out what is bad from Israel. And all the people will hear and become afraid, and they will not act presumptuously anymore.” (De 17:8-13; compare Nu 15:30.) The apostle Peter speaks of some who show great disrespect for God and his anointed servants, describing them as “daring [from Greek tol·me·tesʹ, “presumptuous,” KJ], self-willed, they do not tremble at glorious ones but speak abusively.” Such men, Peter says, “suffer destruction in their own course of destruction.”​—2Pe 2:10, 12.

Presuming on fleshly connections can be a snare. John the Baptizer discerned the Jews’ thinking when they approached him. He warned them: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘As a father we have Abraham.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” (Mt 3:9) The Greek word here rendered “presume” is doʹxe·te, from do·keʹo, which, basically, means “think; form an opinion (right or wrong).”