Hypocrisy: Its Definition, Deceit, and Defeat

Credo Magazine’s new issue has arrived: Holiness. The following is an excerpt from Kyle Borg’s article, Hypocrisy: Its Definition, Deceit, and Defeat. Kyle Borg is Senior Pastor of Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church in Winchester, KS.

An expression the Puritans used to use in writing, and one that is worth reclaiming in our own day is the sinfulness of sin. Using that phrase, we might explore a little the sinfulness of hypocrisy. In a general sense, hypocrisy is sinful because it is deception. But this deception has several angles to it, each of which unmasks for us the depth of hypocrisy’s sin.

First, hypocrisy deceives self. Again, we are given such an example in those whom Jesus will cast out: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (Matt. 7:22). Notice their argument. They come so far–calling Jesus “Lord” and heaping up external and miraculous evidences that they belong to him. But Jesus’ response melts away the façade: “I never knew you.” This is one of the greatest hidden tragedies of hypocrisy: a hypocrite does not always know that they are a hypocrite. Their own appearances persuade and blind them to the reality of who they are. The sentence will be passed by the discerner of hearts and, though a bit speculative, perhaps their deception will stretch into all eternity always crying as those cast out from the presence of Jesus, “Lord, Lord, did we not?”

Second, hypocrisy deceives others. In teaching his disciples how to give to the needy and to pray, Jesus cautions us to not do these things as the hypocrites do (see Matt. 6:1–5). For, he says, when they give they do so to be praised by others, and when they pray they do so that they may be seen by others. Is that not terrible? Merciful giving and heavenward prayer are good and necessary things, but in the hands of a hypocrite, they become the means of deluding others to attract attention and adulation. Merciful giving and heavenward prayer are good and necessary things, but in the hands of a hypocrite, they become the means of deluding others to attract attention and adulation. Click To Tweet

Finally, hypocrisy deceives God. Of course, God cannot be deceived. We are told, “The LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). It is a divine attribute that God knows all, and nothing can be hidden from his sight. But the mischief of hypocrisy is that it would if it could deceive God himself. In a stinging indictment, Israel was accused of this very thing in Isaiah 58. The Spirit declared through the Prophet: “They seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgments of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God” (v 2). But God did not see and he did not take knowledge of their drawing near (v 3). Why? Because when they did so, they sought their own pleasure; they quarreled and fought; they did not repent, and they did not humble themselves. Even before the very face of God, they feigned to delight in him. But it was all hypocrisy.

Read Kyle Borg’s entire article in the new issue of Credo Magazine.