Hypocrisy and Its Answer
From TABLETALK
Recently, I met an old man who used to attend church when he was young. He told me how he had left his church because of hypocrisy. Church members who acted devoutly on Sunday but lived corruptly the rest of the week had caused this man to stumble. It pains me to say that I have heard many stories like this in my almost twenty-five years in the ministry. Indeed, hypocrisy has become one of the stumbling blocks in Christianity. Sadly, the church will continue to deal with this problem until Christ returns and “separates the sheep [true believers] from the goats [hypocrites].” The hypocrites, Jesus says, “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:32, 46). In this article, we will consider some characteristics of hypocrites and present the cure to hypocrisy.
characteristics of hypocrites
1. Hypocrites love pretending to be pious, while in reality, they are ungodly. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns His followers, “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others” (Matt. 6:16). The hypocrites put a mask on their faces and pretend to be something other than what they really are. In fact, in Greek, hypokritēs (the Greek word for hypocrisy) was used to refer to a stage performer who acted as someone he was not. Thus, a hypocrite is a dissembler, one who deceives not only himself but others through his disguise.
2. Hypocrites are concerned only with their outward religious appearance, with no regard for the inside of their hearts. Jesus addresses this issue in Matthew 23:25: “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.”
3. Hypocrites proudly parade their self-righteousness so that they are noticed and praised by others. Not wanting His disciples to be hypocritical in their giving and prayer, Jesus tells them:
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. . . .
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.” (Matt. 6:2, 5)
Hypocrites are show-offs who are egotistically preoccupied with their own glory.
4. Hypocrites render God lip service without heart service. They serve God on their own terms and with a heart not right with Him. Consequently, their service to God is useless. As Jesus says to the Pharisees and scribes: “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matt. 15:7–9; see Isa. 29:13). “To be lip-holy and heart-hollow,” wrote Edmund Calamy (1600–1666), “is a brief character of a hypocrite.”
Hypocrites are show-offs who are egotistically preoccupied with their own glory.
5. Hypocrites see the flaw in others but not their own flaw. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye,” Jesus asked, “but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? . . . You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:3–5). Their self-righteous and judgmental spirits have blinded them to their own sin.
6. Hypocrites profess Christian religion but do not try to live up to their profession. They say one thing and do another, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). That is, they know of Christ and talk about His gospel but have not experienced its saving and sanctifying power (1 Cor. 4:20; 1 Thess. 1:5). Thomas Watson (1620–86) put it this way:
The knowledge that hypocrites have of Christ hath no saving influence upon them; it doth not make them more holy. It is one thing to have a notion of Christ. Another thing to fetch virtue from Christ. The knowledge of hypocrites is a dead, barren knowledge. It brings not forth the child of obedience.
cure for hypocrisy
What is the solution to the problem of hypocrisy? The answer is Christ, who is the exact opposite of everything that constitutes hypocrisy. Jesus “remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). This means that He cannot be other than what He really is. He cannot act contrary to Himself as the truth (John 14:6). All that He says and does is truth, for He is full of truth (1:14). He is the truth that unmasks the hypocrites and exposes their pretense. In John 8:31–32, “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” This gospel truth is what the hypocrites need to know and believe, for it alone has the power to set them free from the slavery of sin, including the sin of hypocrisy in all its forms.
Yet lest we think the gospel is only for hypocrites, we believers in Christ also need it for our sanctification. If we fail to live by the gospel, we will increasingly become legalistic, just as the Pharisees did. This is because “gospel truth is the only root whereon gospel holiness will grow,” as John Owen (1616–83) explained. We must therefore daily conduct ourselves according to Christ’s gospel, putting “away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy” (1 Peter 2:1).
Dr. Brian G. Najapfour is pastor of Heritage Reformed Congregation in Jordan, Ontario. He has served as a pastor in the Philippines and the United States for more than twenty years. He is author of several books, including The Gospel-Driven Tongue and A Hearer of God’s Word.
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