Psalm 26:4–5 ESV. I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.
A hypocrite is one who says one thing but does another. The word perhaps comes from the field of acting, as in those who bring characters to life in movies and plays. Actors speak and behave differently that the characters they portray, in ways that are not the same as their own characters when not acting. Jesus had difficulties with leaders in Israel whom He said were hypocrites. It is apparent that the reason for the label was teaching God’s Word from the Tanakh but not applying it in the ways God intended. Their applications would twist the Word in such a way as to give themselves permission to do what they wanted, while at the same time denying the true meaning. For instance, they taught that instead of honoring father and mother with financial help people could instead give that financial help “to God.”
Mark 7:9–13 ESV. And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus as quoting Isaiah 29:13, which further illuminates leader’s hypocrisy.
Matthew 15:7–9 ESV. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
Jesus likens the hypocrites of His time to plants that the Father did not plant. This is from a comparison of His parable in Matthew 13 about weeds planted by the enemy in a crop of wheat. There He explains that “the weeds are the sons of the evil one.” Then in Matthew 15, as He was responding to the false claim that eating with unwashed hands makes one unclean, He says of the Pharisees that “every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone, they are blind guides.” So we know that those who “make void the word of God by your tradition” are “sons of the evil one” and will be “rooted up.” By these verses, we can also see that modern teachers who make void the Word are also sons of the evil one.
Hypocrisy has been around for a long time, but perhaps never as popular as in modern times. “Rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition” is a full time occupation for most church leaders. False teachings abound, such as, we can’t do the Law, Jesus eliminated the Law on the cross, it’s old and for a different time, and Israel was replaced by the Church which was God’s goal all along.
Matthew 16:6 ESV. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
If you wonder why so many of this ministry’s articles (and books) are about the commandments of God, it’s because there are so many attacks against them by ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing wearing the mantle of a Pharisee or Sadducee. Their teachings are seductive because they cater to emotion and preach ear-tickling messages only loosely based on God’s Word. Over the centuries, they have slowly developed many traditions that bolster their authority and deny the Messiah that bought them. How do church leaders deny the Messiah? you might ask. By twisting His Words to support false traditions just like the leaders of Israel did so often. Like actors in a play, they say one thing (Bible verses) and do another. Ezekiel summarizes it well, which applies to hypocrites everywhere.
Ezekiel 22:6–12 ESV. “Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst. In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.
But don’t think this was just Israel. In most of the prophet’s recordings of God’s Words, you could easily substitute “princes of the Church” for princes or leaders of Israel. The Church (all of it, not just the Catholics) is full of hypocrites. Oh sure, there are some good teachings here and there, and many good works done. They’ve also preached a (partial) Jesus and gone to great lengths to share Him. The core problem is, though, their Jesus doesn’t do what the Father says to do. They mix truth with error or the error would be rejected out of hand. But mixing dilutes the Word and makes followers nutritionally deficient, unable to strengthen their faith to fend off the world’s attacks.
Jesus is recorded in Matthew 23 describing the behavior of hypocrites. Ask yourself if you see this behavior in Church leaders of today. They sit in a seat of authority, but don’t practice what they preach, and do their deeds to increase attendance and clicks. Leaders love places of honor and titles that feed egos. They focus on details of behavior that look holy on their flocks without actually teaching holiness from the Word. Outwardly, they appear beautiful and righteous, but within are full of corruption. As Jesus says, let them be. They are blind guides. Do what they say as long as it follows the recorded word. Don’t do what they do, just follow His Word. Shalom.