The Gospels make it clear that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, something that really infuriated Him was hypocrisy.
Of course, there is
no doubt that Jesus hated, and still hates, all sin with a passion. But
hypocrisy is one of the things that clearly made Him especially angry when He
was doing His earthly ministry.
What is a
hypocrite?
Before going any
further, I think it would be good for me to try to give an accurate definition
of what a hypocrite is, because a lot of people don’t get this quite right.
Many have the idea
that a hypocrite can be defined as someone who does the same thing that they
criticise others for doing.
It is true that very
often someone who does the same thing that they criticise others for doing is
being a hypocrite. But not always.
So, for example,
suppose I am driving my car and I make a minor mistake and another driver hoots
his horn at me. But suppose too that the next day I am driving again and this
time another driver makes a minor mistake and I hoot my horn at him.
So I am criticising
the other driver for a mistake that I myself occasionally make. Does that make
me a hypocrite? Surely not.
Or suppose that a
husband lets his wife down in some small way and she criticises him for what he
has done. But suppose too that the next day she lets him down in a small way
and this time he criticises her. Does that make him a hypocrite? Surely not.
Instead of defining a
hypocrite as someone who does the same thing that they criticise others for
doing, I would suggest the following as a definition:
A hypocrite is
someone who pretends to be good in a certain way that they know isn’t true.
In other words, a
hypocrite is essentially a fake, a fraud. This is unlike the two examples I
gave above, where there was no pretence on my part to be a better driver than I
am, and where there was no pretence on the part of the husband that he never
lets his wife down.
Hypocrisy, then, is
about fakery, about pretending to be good in some way, while knowing full well
that this is a lie.
Bible passages
on hypocrisy
As far as Bible
passages on this topic are concerned, Matthew 23 surely stands out. In Jesus’s strong
words against the scribes and Pharisees in this chapter, He uses the word
‘hypocrites’ (Greek: hupokritai) no less than six times, as well as the word
‘hypocrisy’ (Greek: hupokrisis) once. And just reading through the chapter, we
can feel the anger that Jesus clearly had for the hypocrites that He was
talking to.
The scribes and
Pharisees Jesus was addressing pretended to be morally upright citizens, but
they were a million miles from being that. And they knew it.
Jesus’s words in
verses 25-28 give a vivid description of what hypocrisy is and what He thinks
of it:
‘Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup
and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind
Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside
also may be clean.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are
full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear
righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.’
(ESV)
We can see clearly in this passage what Jesus made of
hypocrisy when His earthly ministry was in progress. And there is not a shadow
of a doubt that His attitude remains the same today.
The world is full of hypocrites
It seems to me that everywhere I look in the world today
there are huge numbers of monumental hypocrites.
For example, take those feminists who claim to be appalled
by sexism, but who will seize any chance they can to discriminate against men.
Or we could think of the protestors against the Israeli
actions in Gaza, who claim to be outraged at the deaths of civilians there, but
who would never dream of protesting against the regimes around the world that
kill far more civilians than the Israelis do.
Or again, take those political pundits who claim to be
horrified by the erosion of freedom of speech, but whose horror suddenly
disappears when people they disagree with are not allowed to speak.
And the list could go on. We live in a world that is
crammed full of people who are utter fakes, frauds and hypocrites.
Christians need
to be stunningly different
In this context, in
this dark world of ours that is full of fakery and deceit, Christians need to
be totally different, stunningly different. We need to be who we claim to be,
to the nth degree.
Where we have faults,
we need to acknowledge them. And where we have principles, we need to put them
into practice all the time and without favouritism. Basically, we need to be
sincere and without pretence.
In 2 Corinthians 1:12
the apostle Paul says something about this sort of attitude:
‘For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience,
that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by
earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.’ (ESV)
Similarly, in 2
Corinthians 4:2 he writes:
‘Instead,
we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or
distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s
conscience by an open display of the truth.’ (CSB)
And Joshua’s words in Joshua 24:14 are just as relevant
today as they were when they were first spoken over 3000 years ago:
‘Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity
and in faithfulness.’ (ESV)
Let all of us who are followers of Jesus, then, redouble
our efforts to avoid being hypocrites. The Lord requires this of us, and He deserves
nothing less.
See also:
The
Seriousness of the Sin of Pride
How
Serious a Sin Is Sex outside Marriage?
Some
Steps That Christians Can Take to Avoid Judging People
