Hypocrisy

[B-A-C]

Often we picture Jesus loving, forgiving and compassionate. But yet it seems there was one subject He spoke on frequently
that He was less forgiving about. Hypocrisy - this is simply saying one thing, and doing another thing.
Jesus is speaking in all of the verses below. 13 times in Matthew alone.

Matt 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.
Matt 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.
Matt 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.
Matt 15:7 "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
Matt 22:18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?
Matt 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.
Matt 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.]
Matt 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.
Matt 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.
Matt 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.
Matt 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.
Matt 23:29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
Matt 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.
Matt 23:28; "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
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 12:1; Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people 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.
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?

Yet it seems to me I have met many "Christian" hypocrites. They say one thing, and do another thing.
They teach love, living in the Spirit, and living pure lives... but they themselves are full of hate, argumentism, strife, anger, (fruits of the flesh)
and lying, cheating, and practicing adultery (pornography).

I wonder if Jesus has changed? I wonder if He is more forgiving of hypocrites now?
One of the sad things is, many of these people don't even realize it's themselves. "That's other Christians, not me!"
There is a thread about hardening your hearts. One verse says our conscience gets seared over. We no longer listen to the
Holy Spirit, we no longer feel conviction. And even when we do hear His voice... we continue down the road of sin anyway.

1Tim 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,
1Tim 4:2; by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
1Tim 4:3; 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.

Acts 7:51; "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

The signs are easy to see. Often these things are plainly written in posts here in TalkJesus, and the people writing them don't even see it.

 

[Br. Bear]

@B-A-C

Greetings,

thank you for sharing this.
Over the last day or two since first reading it, i have been wanting to write to say that i often am aware of my hypocrisy and never at all proud about it.

It is often little things and what one might see as having two standards.
Then there are the things like not liking pollution, not driving a petrol guzzling machine [any more] and then how i don't mind the postman delivering goods to me or eating things from a shop or even a farmer who has used fuels to produce.

I do search myself as much as sanely possible to see if i am being a hypocrite with my take or position regarding my faith and that of others and i do find i need someone to help me see things like that. I don't want to be a hypocrite and i am sure most folk don't.
We do need each other to help out on these matters.

so i thank you again for your words. They have been an encouragement to me to re-examine myself before God and man.


Bless you ....><>

 

[Bill]

@B-A-C

Greetings,

thank you for sharing this.
Over the last day or two since first reading it, i have been wanting to write to say that i often am aware of my hypocrisy and never at all proud about it.

It is often little things and what one might see as having two standards.
Then there are the things like not liking pollution, not driving a petrol guzzling machine [any more] and then how i don't mind the postman delivering goods to me or eating things from a shop or even a farmer who has used fuels to produce.

I do search myself as much as sanely possible to see if i am being a hypocrite with my take or position regarding my faith and that of others and i do find i need someone to help me see things like that. I don't want to be a hypocrite and i am sure most folk don't.
We do need each other to help out on these matters.

so i thank you again for your words. They have been an encouragement to me to re-examine myself before God and man.


Bless you ....><>

I may not always agree with you . But i have never seen any failure in you of your Sincerety and Christianity .

I once knew a lady who always conplained that her artwork was terrible . But when i saw it, it was beautiful .

We often become our own worst critics , in some ways it is good , humbling . Our only failure is not seeing ourselves as God sees us - His beautiful children .

 

[Enxu]

The hypocrisy and double standards is so evident. I post a thread that tells people to open their ears to messages that make them self introspect and get falsely accused as unloving and insulting, with my thread deleted. A thread that openly slanders China as the culprit of spreading covid without ANY proof gets moved to the water cooler without any thread deletion and the OP of that thread was never called unloving or insulting even once by any one person on here except for me.

Hypocrisy at its finest.

 

[Enxu]

Just like I keep repeating myself, it’s all about looking good on the outside and feeling good now. Any words that cut to the heart automatically is insulting and unloving and then you get bible quotes from so called Christians that point out how unloving and hypocritical you are for daring to expose their hidden sins. They disdain you on the inside for this but on the outside they still want to maintain a godly image.

You are right there is no conviction left in the hearts of many and they harden their hearts to any cutting messages just like the Pharisees did to Jesus’ “unloving” criticism of them.

I thank God though that there is a small group of Christians who are still willing to inspect their own selves. They are at least honest that they are not perfect and God will give them understanding. Then perhaps they will stop finding me unloving and insulting and get what I’m trying to say.

But woe to those who think they are correct and despises anyone else who dares to have a view that doesn’t fit into their feel good theology. They have the same feel good mentality as the Pharisees and want to think they’re alright and itch for messages of flattery, self affirmation and assurance.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

The prophecy above has happened to them and they refuse to acknowledge it.

I hope I could think better of them but they keep proving me right by their double standards and hypocrisy they so desperately try to hide under a veneer of nice and graceful words. To them, I am the unloving and insulting one for bringing in tough love but the ones who actually spread slander and false news is a true brother. It’s disgusting.

 

[Enxu]

Yet it seems to me I have met many "Christian" hypocrites. They say one thing, and do another thing.
They teach love, living in the Spirit, and living pure lives... but they themselves are full of hate, argumentism, strife, anger, (fruits of the flesh)
and lying, cheating, and practicing adultery (pornography).

Just so you know OP, saying nice sounding words at all times does not make one a true Christian and saying harsh and critical words (if it is true) does not make one an argumentative and angry hypocrite. You yourself quoted many of Jesus’ criticism against the Pharisees didn’t you? Some of the words Jesus used include:

Hypocrites
Sons of vipers
Blind guides
Whitewashed tombs

Jesus Himself was angry and disgusted with the Pharisees and so were many of His apostles with the fake apostles and false teachers in their time. There was nothing hypocritical or argumentative about what they said. The situation called for this level of anger and disgust and they reacted with truth.

The Pharisees were all people who spoke gracefully and had nice words coming from their mouth at all times. I don’t see them ever using the “angry” words Jesus used against them yet they were downright hypocrites. So you shouldn’t apply this false standard to every thing you deem as argumentative and angry. You should be examining whether their words are true or not.

 

[Enxu]

If you people find others hypocritical, argumentative, strife, unloving and insulting because they speak harsh words that are true and react with disgust and anger when the situation calls for this kind of response, what then do you do with verses in the Bible that show disgust and anger and speak way more ugly words against make-believe Christians and church leadership? Throw those verses into the garbage can? Pretend they dont exist? Shall I quote them for you?

Jude 1 NIV
4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

2 Peter 2 NLT
1But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

12These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 13Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 14They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 15They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.
17These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption.

In your view, only if people are saying how good you are, and soothing you with graceful words are they your brothers and sisters. How foolish because the Bible itself marks false teachers and prophets as sweet talkers and they appear as ministers of righteousness and wolves in sheep's clothing!

 

[Enxu]

In your view, only if people are saying how good you are, and soothing you with graceful words are they your brothers and sisters. How foolish because the Bible itself marks false teachers and prophets as sweet talkers, they prophesy false peace, appear as ministers of righteousness and are wolves in sheep's clothing!

Matthew 7 KJV
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Jeremiah 14 NLT
13Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, their prophets are telling them, ‘All is well—no war or famine will come. The LORD will surely send you peace.’” 14Then the LORD said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts. 15Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine!

Ezekiel 13 NLT
9I will raise my fist against all the prophets who see false visions and make lying predictions, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel’s record books, and they will never again set foot in their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.
10“This will happen because these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash! 11Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. 12And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘What happened to your whitewash?’ 13“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury. 14I will break down your wall right to its foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 15At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you: ‘The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone. 16They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!’

Romans 16 NLT
17And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. 18Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

2 Corinthians 11 NLT
13These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. 14But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

 

[Enxu]

Do you really suppose God is pleased with you when you take comfort in your feel good theologies and your seeking of anything that is nice sounding? This is what the LORD said:

Isaiah 30 NLT
8Now go and write down these words.
Write them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time as a witness
9that these people are stubborn rebels
who refuse to pay attention to the LORD’s instructions.
10They tell the seers,
“Stop seeing visions!”
They tell the prophets,
“Don’t tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.
11Forget all this gloom.
Get off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your
‘Holy One of Israel.’”
12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise what I tell you
and trust instead in oppression and lies,
13calamity will come upon you suddenly—
like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
and come crashing down.
14You will be smashed like a piece of pottery—
shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
to carry coals from a fireplace
or a little water from the well.”

 

[Ivan Chamurliev]

I don't know if what I am going to say will fit into this discussion, but my opinion is that of course harsh words or calm speech don't define someone as a hypocrite, but the intention of his heart. Important is to say the truth, no matter how sometimes. All of us believers have different gifts, different qualities. Someone might be using soft words and calm speech ( because this is what he's been given by God ), but yet he can speak the truth.

" For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerned of the thoughts and intents of the heart. " Hebrews 4:12

Important is for that person to express this kind of word to the others. And obviously I know persons and pastors and leaders that are harsh in their speech, but with the right intent and guided by His Spirit. This is also speaking the truth.
And on the other side we can see the other group of people that no matter how they speak, harshly or softly, no matter what kind of words are they using, it is not in favour of the truth. Some people might be doing this intentionally, some others, maybe because don't know the truth personally. We know as well that the truth is person and this person is Jesus Christ.

" A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. " Luke 6:45

So, what I think is fondamental is to be led by His Spirit and his truth.

 

[Enxu]

I don't know if what I am going to say will fit into this discussion, but my opinion is that of course harsh words or calm speech don't define someone as a hypocrite, but the intention of his heart. Important is to say the truth, no matter how sometimes. All of us believers have different gifts, different qualities. Someone might be using soft words and calm speech ( because this is what he's been given by God ), but yet he can speak the truth.

" For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerned of the thoughts and intents of the heart. " Hebrews 4:12

Important is for that person to express this kind of word to the others. And obviously I know persons and pastors and leaders that are harsh in their speech, but with the right intent and guided by His Spirit. This is also speaking the truth.
And on the other side we can see the other group of people that no matter how they speak, harshly or softly, no matter what kind of words are they using, it is not in favour of the truth. Some people might be doing this intentionally, some others, maybe because don't know the truth personally. We know as well that the truth is person and this person is Jesus Christ.

" A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. " Luke 6:45

So, what I think is fondamental is to be led by His Spirit and his truth.

You share my sentiment that the truth must be said, even if it sounds unpleasant. Unfortunately, this forum doesn't share this sentiment and my threads have been deleted twice for speaking unpleasant things about the church. But those things were from Bible verses and plain as day as to predicting the unpleasant reality of the church yet they get deleted because people get offended by the truth. I am falsely labelled or considered secretly as unloving, hypocritical, false Christian holding false doctrines (even when my doctrines were not proven wrong) and was insulting but when the same issues come from another poster, they don't receive such judgment. Its nothing but double standards and hypocrisy.

God's prophets were never well liked because they do the same thing by provoking people with their unpleasant messages. They almost never (if ever?) preach any pleasant sounding messages to their audience. Whenever God sends them to preach it was mostly about repentance, exposing sins, God's judgment. People hated them for telling the truth and killed them. Many of the people today who claim to have faith reacted in the same disdainful way but never want to examine the truthfulness of whatever message they hear/see or take a deep look at themselves. Anything that disturbs them or makes them feel unpleasant is automatically rejected and filtered as false. That is why Jesus said:

"When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith?" Luke 18:8

 

[Bill]

You share my sentiment that the truth must be said, even if it sounds unpleasant. Unfortunately, this forum doesn't share this sentiment and my threads have been deleted twice for speaking unpleasant things about the church. But those things were from Bible verses and plain as day as to predicting the unpleasant reality of the church yet they get deleted because people get offended by the truth. I am falsely labelled or considered secretly as unloving, hypocritical, false Christian holding false doctrines (even when my doctrines were not proven wrong) and was insulting but when the same issues come from another poster, they don't receive such judgment. Its nothing but double standards and hypocrisy.

God's prophets were never well liked because they do the same thing by provoking people with their unpleasant messages. They almost never (if ever?) preach any pleasant sounding messages to their audience. Whenever God sends them to preach it was mostly about repentance, exposing sins, God's judgment. People hated them for telling the truth and killed them. Many of the people today who claim to have faith reacted in the same disdainful way but never want to examine the truthfulness of whatever message they hear/see or take a deep look at themselves. Anything that disturbs them or makes them feel unpleasant is automatically rejected and filtered as false. That is why Jesus said:

"When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith?" Luke 18:8

If i may speak . It isnt the message . But the way inwhich a message is presented .

Pointing fingers , as judging a person will never be accepted on a forum as this

. God works are always in the focus of His love, even if it is discipline.

There are pleanty here who fully disagree with me . But i still see everyone as my sisters and brothers in Christ.

 

[Enxu]

If i may speak . It isnt the message . But the way inwhich a message is presented .

Pointing fingers , as judging a person will never be accepted on a forum as this

. God works are always in the focus of His love, even if it is discipline.

There are pleanty here who fully disagree with me . But i still see everyone as my sisters and brothers in Christ.

That depends on what you mean by pointing fingers. In my view I never pointed fingers because I never named any names unless it was about addressing a particular post from someone. I always spoke in general terms about people being this way or that. No one is pinpointed.

If I see hypocrisy in a person I will call it out. If that is pointing fingers I am not the only one to do so. Jesus told the Pharisees to their face they are “hypocrites”, “sons of vipers”, “whitewashed tombs”. Jesus’ apostles pointed fingers too at false apostles and teachers and called them condemned. Obviously this forum don’t agree with what they are doing either.

This is exactly what I mean by the church is all about feel good and look good. The truth is put aside as unpleasant and compromise is the norm because no one should be judging others even if there is truth to be spoken. You’ve just proven my point.