Hypocrite

Hypocrisy is pretense to being what one really is not, especially the pretense of being a better person than one really is. The word is a Greek word originally meaning "to give an answer." A hypocrite in classical Greek could be an interpreter of dreams, an orator, a reciter of poetry, or an actor. Originally a neutral term, "hypocrite" gained the negative connotation of pretense, or insincerity.

In the Bible the negative meaning prevails. Often hypocrisy refers to evil or sin in general, not pretense in particular. In the Old Testament, "hypocrite" was used by the KJV whereas later translations often use "godless" or "ungodly". This "godless" person was totally opposed to God or forgetful of God. The Hebrew word often translated "hypocrite" referred to pollution or corruption. Although the Hebrews were concerned about pretense or insincerity, there is no one Hebrew word equivalent to "hypocrisy."

Isa 29:13, Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, 14 Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed." 15, Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?" 16, You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made should say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

Mat 6:16, "And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Thus speaketh Christ our Lord to us:

You call Me master and obey Me not.

You call Me light and see Me not.

You call Me the Way and walk Me not.

You call Me life and live Me not.

You call Me wise and follow Me not.

You call Me fair and love Me not.

You call Me rich and ask Me not.

You call Me eternal and seek Me not.

If I condemn thee, blame Me not.

Mat 6:2, "When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3, "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4, that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 5, "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6, "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

They were more interested in human praise when they gave alms, prayed, and fasted than in God's reward.

I knelt to pray when day was done,

And prayed, "Lord, bless everyone;

Lift from each heart the pain,

And let the sick be well again."

And then I woke again one day,

And carelessly went on my way;

The whole day long I did not try

To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load

Of any brother on the road;

I did not even go to see

the sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when every day was done,

I prayed, "Lord, bless everyone."

But as I prayed to my ear

Came a voice that whispered dear,

'Pause, hypocrite, before you pray;

Whom have you tried to bless today?

God's sweetest blessings always go,

By hands that serve Him here below.'"

And then I hid my face and cried,

"Forgive me Lord, for I have lied;

Let me but live another day,

And I will live the way I pray."

Mat 7:2, "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3, "And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4, "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5, "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.

Mat 15:3, And He answered and said to them, "And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4, "For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, LET HIM BE PUT TO DEATH.' 5, "But you say, 'Whoever shall say to his father or mother, "Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God," 6, he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7, "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8, 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 9, 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

Luke 12:1, Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all," Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2, "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. 3, "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

We sing Sweet Hour of Prayer and are content with 5-10 minutes a day.

We sing Onward Christian Soldiers and wait to be drafted into His service.

We sing O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing and don't use the one we have.

We sing There Shall be Showers of Blessing but do not come when it rains.

We sing Blest Be the Tie That Binds and let the least little offense sever it.

We sing Serve the Lord With Gladness and gripe about all we have to do.

We sing I Love To Tell the Story and never mention it at all.

We sing We're Marching to Zion but fail to march to worship or school.

We sing Cast Thy Burden on the Lord and worry ourselves into a nervous breakdown.

We sing The Whole Wide World for Jesus and never invite our next-door neighbor.

Luke 12:56, "You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

Luke 13:10, And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11, And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12, And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness." 13, And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God. 14, And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, "There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day." 15, But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him? 16, "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

Religious leaders pretended to be sincere when they asked Jesus about paying tribute to Caesar.

Mat 22:17, "Tell us therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?" 18, But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19, "Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius. 20, And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21, They said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said^ to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."

Mat 23:2, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3, therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.

Mat 23:13, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation. 15, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Compared to dishes clean on the outside and dirty on the inside & whitewashed tombs

Mat 23:23, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24, "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26, "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 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. 28, "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

Hypocrisy was part of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Paul accused Peter of hypocrisy for refusing to eat with Gentile Christians in Antioch.

Gal 2:11, But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12, For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13, And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

Paul warned Timothy OF Hypocritical False Teachers

1 Tim 4:1, But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

1 Pet 2:1, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

NT writers stress that sincerity (without hypocrisy) should characterize the Christian.

1 Pet 1:22, Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.

1 Tim 1:5, But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

James 3:17, But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

The expression "face the music" is said to have originated in Japan. According to the story, one man in the imperial orchestra couldn't play a note. Being a person of great influence and wealth, he had demanded that he be given a place in the group because he wanted to "perform" before the emperor. The conductor agreed to let him sit in the second row of the orchestra, even though he couldn't read music. He was given a flute, and when a concert would begin, he'd raise his instrument, pucker his lips, and move his fingers. He would go through all the motions of playing, but he never made a sound. This deception continued for two years.

Then a new conductor took over. He told the orchestra that he wanted to audition each player personally. One by one they performed in his presence. Then came the flutist's turn. He was frantic with worry, so he pretended to be sick. However, the doctor who was ordered to examine him declared that he was perfectly well. The conductor insisted that the man appear and demonstrate his skill. Shamefacedly he had to confess that he was a fake. He was unable to "face the music."

In the realm of Christian service, many professing believers go through the motions, but they are only pretenders. Someday they will be called upon to stand before the Judge of heaven and earth, and their deception will be revealed. God will then separate the "phonies" from the real Christians. No one will be able to hide in the crowd. Each will be made to "face the music."