The Sin of Hypocrisy

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Nobody’s perfect. That is not only true, but biblical (Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”), but must be taken in context of that passage of verses 22-24. In our natural sinful flesh, which we “miss the mark” of God’s commands, laws, standards, and teachings, nobody is perfect, except for Jesus, but that doesn’t make Christians a hypocrite; that make them a sinner. I read that though no Christian achieves the full measure of sanctification in this life, that we all struggle with ongoing sin, does not justly yield the verdict of hypocrisy. We must define words and terms for mutual understanding and use. We were just talking this morning at our church monthly Men’s breakfast how Christian definitions can differ from secular for the same word. Take for instance the word “righteous”: ruled by what is right, but who defines what is right & wrong? God or Rulers, society or self? What is the difference? We are all human. Why doesn’t everyone see the same? The Lord explains in John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Non-Believers miss the truth in spiritual matters, and see something different.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek and the term hypocrite comes from the world of the Greek drama. It was used to describe the masks that players used to dramatize certain roles. Today, the theater is symbolized by the twin masks of comedy and tragedy. So Two-faced / pretentious; acting one way on the outside, but actually another way on the inside. A hypocrite is someone who does things he claims that he or she does not do, and vice-versa. For a Christian simply to demonstrate that they are a sinner does not convict them of hypocrisy. If the world would simply change the charge from “the church is full of hypocrites” to “the church is full of sinners”, we would plead guilty (Romans 3:23 again). That’s not pretentious, but truth. The church is the place where sinners who confess their sins come to find redemption from their sins. How does the God-rejecting world deal with their guilt? All hypocrisy is sin, but not all sin is the sin of hypocrisy. A high standard of spiritual and righteous behavior has been set upon the Christian church. If we put on the mask of the hypocrite, we come under the judgment of God for that particular sin and must rush back to the cross and to Christ, understanding where our righteousness resides. The truth is that under the guise of the rightness of Christ, received by faith, that any of us can ever have a hope of standing before a just & holy God. To put our faith in Jesus Christ is not an act of hypocrisy. It is an act of redemption.  

Romans 3:24-25 “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.”

In Christ, Brian