Hypocrisy

^{Matthew 23:27}Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness. ²⁸Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

When we think of hypocrites, we think of someone who does not walk their talk; they judge others for what they themselves do. This is not what the Bible means when it uses the word, hypocrite; this was not what Jesus was talking about when he called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites.

The Greek word for hypocrite is hypocrites, pretender. A hypocrite is an actor. To the casual observer, an actor appears to be the real thing, but it only appears that way. The question is, what is the reality? And who is the hypocrite pretending to be?

A person loving another may be working in the flesh, or it may be the Spirit at work in him. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the two. For the point of view of the casual observer, it can be difficult to tell. The hypocrite is working in the flesh pretending that it is the Spirit at work in him.

The hypocrite has a beautiful outward appearance, but what is going on in the heart is sin leading to death.

This leads us to another word: sin. What is sin? The Greek word is hamartano. This word looks like it begins with an h, but there is no h in the Greek alphabet. The Greek word begins with an alpha. When a word begins with the letter a, that letter often acts as a negative particle, which serves to negate the remainder of the word. That being the case, you cannot appreciate what sin is until you know what it is not.

Martano means to be a constituent part of the whole. This may not seem helpful, but it makes perfect sense when you consider that sin is the opposite of righteousness, and when you consider what righteousness is. Righteousness is God working in you; it is the work of the Spirit to do of his good pleasure. Righteousness is God working with you: his strength, your resources, his purpose, credited to your account. You are one of participants, a constituent part of the whole.

Sin is when you are acting independently, not in conjunction with God. You are acting. You are a hypocrite.

We all have our moments of hypocrisy. Jesus was the only one who never acted apart from God. That is what made him one with God. By the Spirit Jesus was in the Father, and the Father was in him, One God, Father, Son, and Spirit.