Who is a Hypocrite?

Who is a Hypocrite? What is Hypocrisy?


Recently I was speaking with a friend about this subject. They were saying they felt like they could not encourage others about the reality of God in their lives because they were struggling in an area of surrendering something to God.

They said they felt like they would be a hypocrite to tell others about God when they were having difficulty fully surrendering to Him.

I think their struggle is the same for many of us.

As I pondered this problem I thought of how many times I have felt the same way. As someone who often preaches sermons I know well the pressure to live up to what I teach. And it should be so. We should never take a careless attitude about the responsibility we have to be living out the life of God in a direct and practical way if we are going to share with others about that life.

Yet the tension between Grace and Truth demands that we also demonstrate fundamental truths about God’s grace and our need of it in that proclamation.

One of those fundamental truths is that we are all in process. We are all on a journey towards becoming more like God wants us to be. The moment we deny that truth I believe we begin the journey towards true hypocrisy.

In fact I believe that no one is a hypocrite who is honest about their failings or their struggles.

Let’s look at the Bible to see what it says about hypocrisy.

Matthew hew 6:2 "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

This is the first time the word Hypocrite is used in the New Testament .

It is clear what makes this person a hypocrite. They want others to see them. They want to be thought of well by others.

Matthew hew 6:5 "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

I know this motive. I have seen in others. I have seen it mostly in myself.

It is interesting to me that this motive is found in the realm of what the Bible calls pride. It is one of the three roots from which all sinful activities grow - The Lust of the Flesh, The Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Yet pride is not always what it seems to be.

Yes there is the deceiving force of evil that wants to be the winner no matter what the cost to others. There is the heart that is so full of personal advantage that it only thinks about itself. The pride which leads to violence, subjection and control is a vicious force that will stop at nothing to get its own purpose fulfilled.

But sometimes biblical pride grows out of insecurity, woundedness, from death giving relationships or even thinking about ourselves from a perspective of worthlessness.

I have certainly wanted to have everyone think I was amazing. But it was not always out of thinking I really was amazing. It often came from feeling just the opposite.

Matthew 6:16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites {do,} for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Whatever the reason behind our desire to have others approve us, the end result is always the same. It never works out like we thought it would.

If we thought they should honor us because we deserved it their praise is never enough. We will continue to crave praise from a more important crowd.

If we thought we were worthless and their praise could make us feel differently we soon find the terrible truth that the empty hole inside is still empty even if everyone in the whole world poured their praise into us.

It is really quite simple. Only God can meet the need of our pride. Only God can fill the empty abyss from which is grows. Only God can show us that our worth never was what we did, how we looked, what our talents are, who are friends are or any other message our hearts or the world can dream up to say we are or are not of value.

We stop being this kind of hypocrite when we find our value in Him. We will never stop being it until we do. It will come out of us as naturally as the air we exhale from our lungs.

The void of value can never be overcome by anything but fully knowing God’s love.

His love is not based in us. That is why it can heal our narcissism. Our value to Him does not depend on us at all. He values us because He made us. That is the end of the story.

Those who want to fill the hole with the praise of others will never have enough. It is so because it is sought on the basis of what we are. What I am, what I have done, what I give to them, what I achieve, what I stand for or a million other things that I do that makes me valuable to others. Yet no matter how much esteem I gain from others it always leaves me insecure or wanting more. God silences this pride when He shows us that we are loved even when we were His enemies. We are loved because He loves us. He does not love us because we are lovely. The love resides in Him and not in us.

So how do we stop being this kind of hypocrite? By refusing to take our value from others and find it only in God.

We stop blowing trumpets and start accepting His valuation of us.

This not only sets us free from the tyranny of pride but it stops us from competing with others to their harm.

When we know our value lies in God and not ourselves then we no longer have anything to prove or show off. We are content to take the lowest seat without pointing it out either!

The second kind of hypocrite Jesus talks about is found in Matthew 7.

Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 "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.

This kind of hypocrite is the one who thinks they have no problems and from that lofty perspective see themselves as the one to fix everyone else.

This is linked to judgement.

The problem with the concept of judgement today is the most of the time it is used to hide from accountability. The cry don’t judge me most often comes from our lips when we want to not have to face the reality of our actions and what they have done to others. It is a way to silence others from sharing their experience of us. That is not biblical judgement. It is a huge mistake. We need to have people share with us our blind spots, our hurtful actions and our deceptions. We need not silence everyone.

Biblical judgement is found in this passage. It is when someone approaches life thinking that they have arrived and everyone else has not. It is when we believe that we are better than others and therefore have the right to throw the first stone to harm them.

Jesus never said we could not help each other get specks out of our eyes. He said we need to first take care of our own logs.

Matthew 23:25 "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.

The most touching image of this is found in the book of Luke:

Luke 18:9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' 13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' 14 "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

We see again the issue is pride - the pride that looks at someone else with contempt rather than love, respect and compassion.

What a wilderness it is to live in this kind of hypocrisy. It cuts us off from any help at all. It cuts us off from sweet relationships. It cuts us off from finding help from God. The stronghold of self-righteousness is a lonely citadel. I often remember a quote I once heard that sums this hypocrite perfectly. “It is just me and you and sometimes I worry about you.”

The cure for this kind of hypocrisy is found in this passage as well. It is to be ever in a place of humility before God. We know from the moment of our conception to our death we live in dependence on God. We are never self-made. We are always in process.

To be absolutely honest with God, especially ourselves and everyone else is the key to stay in a living relationship with God, ourselves and others.

The tax collector understood his true need and his true condition. God wants me to remember it as well.

I am not a Christian because I arrived at some pinnacle of righteousness.

I am a Christian because Jesus loved me and made a way for me to find his help. That fact will never cease. I will always needs his help. I will never arrive at any good in myself. It will only be attained through his love and transformation.

I have a part to play but it is akin to the part those who rolled away the stone from Lazarus’s tomb just before Jesus raised him from the dead. I doubt if anyone was bragging about how they rolled away the stone!

We can only help others when we understand our true need as being the same as theirs – always! And this is what cures us from hypocrisy. We honestly admit we are still in need of grace and will be forever.

When we fully know this it will keep us from pointing our bony finger of judgement at others. It will keep us approachable. It will keep us able to help them find their way as we are finding ours. We will not cease to point to the way of healing but we will do so as one who is still being healed.

The third kind of hypocrite is the religious one.

Matthew 15:7 "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 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.'"

So what is the problem here? Its twofold.

The first is communicating something outwardly when our hearts are somewhere else.

This is not just in the religious enterprise. It does its evil work in every area of life. In some situations today we might call it disassociation. It is saying or doing things on the outside while our inner being is disconnected.

It is more than just lying, though it is certainly that. It is a state of deception. It is thinking that doing something is enough. It is believing that our thoughts and emotions about something we do are not important. It is a splitting of ourselves into what we do and who we are. And when they are not consistent we are hypocrites.


The greatest act of hypocrisy is when we think that it is enough for us to do something that God asks without having the heart He desires in doing it.

When we simply go through the motions in our religious observances we are the same toward God.
This kind of hypocrisy will always leave us angry and/or bitter.

Angry because we feel we have to perform for someone else to keep them in our lives.

Bitter because it costs far too much to do so and we get so little in return.

It can only be overcome by ceasing our disassociation. Jesus would far rather we admit we are without any feeling at all toward him than to make a pretense. To start with the reality of our souls regardless of what it is is the only way to ever grow to love him. That is true not only of God but of anyone else in our lives that we are acting like we love but inside we feel something else.

The second aspect of this kind of hypocrisy is to substitute the truth that God wants to show to the world for a set of man-made rules.

This can take many forms but I think the heart of it is to build a maze of teachings that exclude all except a select few. It is not about inclusion. It is exclusion personified.

Matthew 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Jesus commented on another aspect of hypocrisy which is closely aligned with this one.

Matthew 23:14 ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

It is using an outward appearance to cover over an evil intention.

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.

This is when we have a purpose in our hearts to harm but make it appear that we are doing good.

Imagine if you were married and your spouse did everything you could ever dream of. And what was even more wonderful was that they told you how much they loved you. Yet one day you found that it was nothing but words and disassociated acts when you caught them in the arms of another. Would anything they did for you be enough to mask the truth of their hearts?

I knew a man like that once. Outwardly he seemed to be the perfect husband. He provided everything his wife could desire. He spoke well of her to everyone. He did all the Bible said to do as a husband. What a shock it was when I heard that he had arranged for his wife to be murdered so he could marry his secret lover.

It was interesting that he might have gotten away with it except the officers who were investigating her murder at a paid assassin’s hand noticed that he was not grieving for his wife at the scene. He was acting like nothing had happened. We would call him a psychopath. The Bible calls him a hypocrite. An evil one for sure but the archetype of all of us who put on shows to hide our true intentions.

Judas is the clearest personification of this in the scripture. He even made a show of love when he betrayed him.

Luke 22:47 While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd {came,} and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. 48 But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"

It is when we have done wrong to someone in private but in public we act as if we cared for them.

Another kind of hypocrisy is seen when we do some of the things which are asked of us by God but leave out the most important ones.

Matthew 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.

It is using religion to mask the real purpose of our faith.

For those who used their religion for purposes he did not intend or for their converts, Jesus had no kind words 

Matthew 23:15 ¶ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around 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.

Twice as much a son of hell?

That is because religious hypocrisy in the first generation is usually known to be hypocrisy. The second generation no longer sees it as hypocrisy but as the truth. They no longer know that it is a lie. They accept it as the truth. In this the full deception occurs.

The word hypocrite simply means an actor. It is someone who plays a part. It is someone who is not who they appear to be. It is someone who acts out of a proscribed script. They may be very good at it but their identity in the play is not their real one.

In the dramas of the Greco-Roman world all the players wore a mask.

As hard as it may be to lay down all our masks. As hard as it may be to lay down all our roles we try so hard to play well. As hard as it may be to admit the truth of who we really are. As hard as it may be to accept that we may not be loved by the whole world, or even a small part of it. The only way to stop being a hypocrite is to take off everything that misrepresents us.

It is perhaps the most vulnerable thing on earth to do. And that is why we must have our identity firmly rooted in Jesus. He is the first we take our masks off with. And as we find our acceptance in him we find that we can do so with others, no matter how they respond.

So I told my friend, “The very fact that you are being honest about your struggles. The very fact that you are concerned that you not misrepresent yourself or God to others makes you the ideal candidate to encourage them. Hypocrisy is when we hide. Humility is when we disclose the truth. You are not a hypocrite you are a person continuing to admit you are in need of grace. Just like the rest of us.

I will leave you with the rest of the times Jesus spoke about hypocrisy to meditate on. I

t is notable to me that as far as I have found it is only Jesus who called people hypocrites. Nowhere else in the Bible is the word used except from Jesus’ mouth. Perhaps that is because only he was free from this particular problem.

I expect all of us could say we have been a hypocrite at some point in our lives.

As I have heard people decry the hypocrisy of the church I have found it an interesting thought that sometimes today it is the publican who points at the Pharisee and denounces him while asserting his own righteousness…….

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.

Matthew 23:29 ¶ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

Matthew 24:51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mark 7:6 And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

Luke 6:42 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see 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 out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

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 13:15 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?}

Matthew 22:18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?