Hypocrisy

by Mike Ratliff

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 6:1 (NASB) 

In this post we will look a something that all Christiaans need to take care to tourn from not only because not only are they “evil,” they are actually markers of a heart that is following hard after the flesh rather than God as a living sacrifice. This is, of course, hypocrisy. Our Lord gave us two good examples of this in Matthew 6:1-6 which is part of His Sermon on the Mount. 

The first example is found in vv1-4 in which our Lord uses the example of charitable giving that some exploit as a means to draw attention to themselves. Here are these verses from the NASB:

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
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. 3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:1-4 (NASB)

Here are vv1-4 from the NA28 Greek text:

1 Προσέχετε [δὲ] τὴν δικαιοσύνην ὑμῶν μὴ ποιεῖν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι αὐτοῖς· εἰ δὲ μή γε, μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχετε παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν τῷ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. 2 Ὅταν οὖν ποιῇς ἐλεημοσύνην, μὴ σαλπίσῃς ἔμπροσθέν σου, ὥσπερ οἱ ὑποκριταὶ ποιοῦσιν ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ ἐν ταῖς ῥύμαις, ὅπως δοξασθῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀπέχουσιν τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν. 3 σοῦ δὲ ποιοῦντος ἐλεημοσύνην μὴ γνώτω ἡ ἀριστερά σου τί ποιεῖ ἡ δεξιά σου, 4 ὅπως ᾖ σου ἡ ἐλεημοσύνη ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ· καὶ ὁ πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ ἀποδώσει σοι . Matthew 6:1-4 (NA28)

1 “But be careful to not demonstrate your righteousness before men with the aim to be seen by them otherwise you have no reward with your Father in Heaven.”
2 “Therefore, when upi dp gove alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they might be glorifed by the men; amen I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But you giving alms do not let your left hand know what your right hand does, 4 so that might be giving your alms in secret; and your Father the one who sees what is hidden will repay you.” Matthew 6:1-4 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The word translated here as “hypocrites” is ὑποκριταὶ the nominative, plural form of ὑποκριτής (hupokritēs), which originally referred to Greek actors who wore different masks to play various roles. Jesus’ criticism here is for those whose hypocrisy is that of doing right to draw attention to self. He used giving as the example, but the emphasis here is motive isn’t it? I have been accused by some defenders of certain religious leaders of imputing motives to them as if I am omniscient like God. Well, I don’t claim that. Only God is omniscient. However, God’s Word is clear and when these mens’ ministries are marked by certain things, motive is also apparent.

Instead of that “look at me” type of “ministry” here is what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6:5-6:

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. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:5-6 (NASB)

My brethren, the focus for us in these passages is to do righteously, but keep it between us and God. God knows that the temptation is to take pride in these things and that leads to self-righteousness and a form of watered-down law-keeping that is very essence of all false forms of Christianity because they are based in pragmatism. This would include the Seeker movment, Social Justice, NAR, and any other false form of Christianity that nulifies the Cross and the work of Christ while elevating man and his works.  Fortunately, some have escaped these evil false religions and have become refugees in real churches, and having heard the Law and Real Gospel, have been saved by God according to His mercy and and grace. We must never stop telling the truth in this Truth War.

Soli Deo Gloria!