“Woe to You, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites!”

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matthew 23:14-14 ESV).

I could only imagine the anger these Jewish leaders felt toward Jesus after he confronted them seven times in this passage, calling them hypocrites! Remember the confrontation that has been building between Jesus and the leadership of the Jewish synagogue? In multiple places, we read that they set theological traps for Jesus, to try to catch Him so “they could seize Him and do Him harm”. Jesus was trying to warn the Jewish followers of the Law to be on the watch for hypocrites.

Now, as we know, Jesus was warning Jews who were following the 613 Mosaic Laws about their leaders; however, today we are no longer under the Old Covenant Laws but under the New Covenant that was brought about by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We no longer must follow the Mosaic Laws to please God, but hypocrites are still among us. The Greek word that is translated hypocrite has a much richer meaning than our single word. This word is a compound word and literally means “under judge,” or, as Strong’s Lexicon states, “an actor under an assumed character, figuratively a dissembler, a hypocrite.” Similar to a performer acting under a mask. It describes a two-faced person whose words do not align with their actions.  

To ‘underjudge’ someone is to hold them to a standard that you yourself are not willing to be held to, and there you have it. Over the years, I have, and you may have, heard this also: “The Church is full of hypocrites”. We all know that the church in general is NOT full of hypocrites, but as the adage says, “It doesn’t take too many bad apples to spoil the whole barrel.” Anytime you have people together, you will always have hypocrites. Church, social clubs, workplaces, families, your neighbors, you name it, anytime you have people together, you will have those folks that want to hold others to standards that they themselves are not willing to be held to.

It’s so aggravating when we are accosted by someone holding themselves out to be the model employee, spouse, committee member, or follower of Jesus, all the while knowing that they are anything but what they claim to be; they are “acting under a mask”. But usually, we just shrug it off and chalk it up to “that’s just Mary or Marty; they are always like that.” However, when it comes to finding hypocrites in the local church, that takes it to an entirely new level. I think the reason for such a strong reaction from hypocrites in the local church is that we are dealing with things that have eternal consequences. Like Jesus said, “Woe to you, … you hypocrites, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” You see, in the church, we deal with eternal matters, we deal with heaven and hell, with eternal salvation or eternal damnation, so what goes on in the church really does matter.

What are we to do with hypocrites in the local church, or even worse, the church leadership? We need to do what Jesus did, call it for what it is, hypocrisy. We cannot and should not turn a blind eye to hypocrisy in the local church. God’s people need to hold one another and church leadership to Biblical Standards. We need to know God’s Word, what it does and does not say, and what it tells us about living our lives to bring honor and glory to our Savior. We need to be able to tell the difference between God’s standards and man’s standards.

I’ve often stated that we can disagree on our “method” of worship, but not on our “Message” from God’s Word. Hypocrites will always be with us, so don’t let an earthly unholy person keep you away from a holy and righteous God.

Don’t let the few hypocrites that you encounter keep you away from where God wants you to be. Remember Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” We need to be the ones that go to church and see who we can encourage in the faith and how we can “stir up one another to love and good works”. Let’s be the ones who live what we say we believe, let’s show the love of Christ to all we meet.

Let’s live by God’s Word, not man’s opinion about God’s Word, and let’s not put on that mask that shows the world something that is not true; everyone will see it for what it is: a hypocrite.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"