Hypocrisy Fools Only Ourselves

"Those that boast most of the religion may be suspected of partiality and hypocrisy in it." - Matthew Henry

Hypocrisy. Webster's Dictionary defines it as: a feigning to be what one is not; a concealment of one's real character or motives. More generally, hypocrisy is simulation, or the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of a good character, in morals or religion; a counterfeiting of religion.

Here's a harsh question: "Are you a hypocrite when it comes to following Christ?" I hate to be blunt, but I believe that's a fair question to ask ourselves. How do we stack up? It's not that difficult to put on airs, point our fingers at others, and slip into a comfortable and righteous state of mind.

According to the Bible "hypocrisy" is a sin (Hosea 10:13; James 5:12). As mentioned, hypocrisy comes in a couple of different flavors. First, it might come in the form of proclaiming belief in something and then acting in a totally, contradictory way to that, and then, the  more familiar, looking down at others as if we were all that ourselves.

Hypocrisy rubbed a lot of the big, biblical people the wrong way. Isiah the prophet condemned it (Isaiah 29:13). John the Baptist didn't care for it either, and made had no qualms about letting everyone know (Luke 3:8; Matthew 7:15; 23:27; 23:33). Even Jesus Christ referred to Isaiah while rebuking the religious leaders of his day (Matthew 15:8-9).

Christ, in his teachings, also conveyed the importance of not following the examples of hypocrites (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16). The Pharisees were one of a group of Jews who thought they did a pretty good job of keeping all of God's rules. They thought that their viewpoints about religion were always right. It was no surprise that they didn't like what Jesus was teaching.

Granted, not all of the Pharisees felt this way, but enough of them did that we still use them as examples of hypocrites today. They weren't "bad" people. Being sticklers about Old Testament, they tried to carry out all of God's laws. It was impossible for anyone then to follow God's Laws literally by the letter; and it still is.

So, they looked for ways to get around some of the stickier parts of it. To make matters worse, they had even added some of their own amendments to God's Law over the years. This, of course, is forbidden (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18)!

In addition to this, they weren't very compassionate towards others. And, they loved to flaunt their religious superiority in order to gather praise and admiration (Matthew 23:5-7; Luke 18:11). It was this same pride, or feeling of superiority that prevented the Pharisees from being receptive to Jesus. Of course, this caused Jesus and the Pharisees to butt heads on more than one occasion!

Jesus called them out on their behavior. He pointed out that justice, mercy, and faithfulness were much more important than chasing after some kind of religious or spiritual perfection that was based on flawed principles (Matthew 23:23). Jesus expounded that the problem wasn't with the Law, but rather in the way in which they applied it (Matthew 23:2-3).

If you add all of this up, the Pharisees were hypocrites because they would present themselves in a way that was not a true picture of themselves. They liked to think of themselves as holier than others, while ignoring their own shortcomings (Matthew 7:3-5). Similar to an apple, what looks good on the outside isn't necessarily a reflection of what is going on inside.

In conclusion, none of us as Christians can ever live up to the standards taught in the Bible; at least not the way we are now. There's no way that we could ever be like Christ. Perfection just isn't in the cards for us in this life. It wasn't so for the Pharisees, nor is it for you or I. Trying to live and act as though we are is a mistake. We're only fooling ourselves.

Even though we have been saved from the eternal penalty of sin by the blood of Jesus and the Cross (Romans 5:1; 6:23). we aren't out of the woods yet. We still need to be saved and delivered from "sin in our lives" (1 John 1:8-9). This includes the "sin of hypocrisy."

But, by way of our living faith in Christ, we will unceasingly prevail over sin's power until that time in which you and I are finally delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 5:4-5).

Scripture: Luke 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:5; Psalm 101:7; Galatians 6:3; Titus 1:16

Prayer: Jesus, my prayer to You is simple but from the heart; May I always live my life in faith to You, and in what You have instructed us to do. Amen

May God bless you!

Brandi