Articles
What is a Hypocrite?
The word “hypocrite” is derived from a Greek term hupocritēs. It originally meant “actor,” but by the time of Jesus the word had a decisively negative connotation. It is one thing to be a role-playing actor on the stage while entertaining others. It is quite another thing to be a role-playing actor in real life, where one is outright trying to fool others.
As children of God, we must be ever watchful against hypocrisy in our own lives. Are you a hypocrite? Am I one? These are signs of hypocrisy:
A hypocrite is a person who says one thing and does another.
While criticizing the Pharisees, Jesus said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matt 23:2-3). Interestingly, the fact that the Pharisees did not practice what they preach did not negate the validity of what they were teaching. Rather, it simply condemned them because they did not practice the things they taught. They might have done a few of the things they taught (like keeping tithes), but they neglected weightier matters like justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt 23:23-24). The stuff they could count and keep track of was easy for them. Showing justice and mercy was too difficult. For them, love and mercy were words for their pulpit instead of works for their person.
A hypocrite is a person who acts differently when people are watching.
While criticizing the Pharisees, Jesus said, “So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt 23:28). In the sermon on the mount, Jesus warned not to practice righteousness before men just to be seen of them (Matt 6:1), whether it be giving to the poor like hypocrites (Matt 6:2), praying like hypocrites (Matt 6:5), or fasting like hypocrites (Matt 6:16). If one practices piety and godliness just to be seen by others, Jesus says, “They have their reward in full.” Elsewhere, he said, “They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others” (Matt 23:5-7).
It’s not just practice good things in front of men either. Sometimes they do wicked things when no one else is watching. “But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 24:48-51). The servant in this illustration acted differently when his master wasn’t watching. He mistreated his fellow servants. But when his master showed up unexpectedly and caught him in the act, he assigned him a place with the “hypocrites.”
A hypocrite is a person who has a different standard for himself than he has for others.
Yet again while criticizing the Pharisees, Jesus said, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matt 23:4). Jesus’ famous warning not to “judge” is contextually a warning against such double standards: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matt 7:1-2). Such inconsistent behavior not only spits in God’s face, but also causes others to blaspheme him as well! “You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’” (Rom 2:21-24).
The lesson is simple. Don’t be a hypocrite! Practice what you preach. Be the same person regardless of who you think is watching. Have the same standard for yourself that you have for others. May God help us in this regard!
