13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” (Matthew 23:13–14 (ESV)
In the context of Matthew 23:13-36, Jesus heralded seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees. Luke 11:37-54 records an earlier lamentation of six woes. Rather than an oracle from a prophet of God, these woes are an oracle from the God of the prophets.
“This series of seven woes is a prophetic pronouncement, for it brings God’s lawsuit against His people and announces the imminent realization of the covenant curses (Isaiah 5:8-23; Hab. 2:6-20), especially against Israel’s unfaithful shepherds (Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ezekiel 34),” states Dr. R.C. Sproul. “Leaders of the covenant community are judged more strictly because their words and example influence so many others, for good or ill (James 3:1).”
Jesus began His oracle against the scribes and Pharisees with a recurring phrase; Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! The Lord invoked this phrase of lament six out of seven times against these religious leaders in this immediate context. In those six of the seven statements, Jesus called them hypocrites. What did He mean?
Hypocrites (ὑποκριταί; hypokritai) are individuals who pretends to be someone other than what they are. They are pretenders, duplicitous and insincere people. They say one thing but do the exact opposite. They make promises they don’t keep, and vows they don’t fulfill.
“The hypocrite is the man who pretends to be better than he really is. He is a fraud, a deceiver, a phony, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a snake in the grass,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
“The term hypocrite came from the world of Greek drama. It was used to describe the masks that the players used to dramatize certain roles. Even today, the theatre is symbolized by the twin masks of comedy and tragedy. In antiquity, certain players played more than one role, and they indicated their role by holding a mask in front of their face. That’s the origin of the concept of hypocrisy,” states Dr. Sproul.
If we are brutally honest with ourselves, all of us could, and should, confess our hypocrisy before the Lord and others. Even on our best days of walking with the Lord, we can be woefully inconsistent and filled with self-importance. We may pretend to be better than we really are. As I write this blog, the Holy Spirit is convicting me of my instances of hypocrisy. On the one hand, I am ashamed. On the other, I am grateful for God’s grace and forgiveness. It is bad enough when an individual is guilty of hypocrisy. But what about a church? Dr. Sproul shares the following story regarding hypocrisy in the church.
“About thirty years ago, my close friend and colleague, Archie Parrish, who at that time led the Evangelism Explosion (EE) program in Fort Lauderdale, came to me with a request. He indicated that on the thousands of evangelistic visits the EE teams made, they kept a record of responses people made to discussions of the gospel. They collated the most frequent questions and objections people raised about the Christian faith and grouped these inquiries or objections into the ten most frequently encountered. Dr. Parrish asked if I would write a book answering those objections for evangelists to use in their outreach. That effort resulted in my book Objections Answered, now called Reason to Believe. Among the top ten objections raised was the objection that the church is filled with hypocrites. At that point in time, Dr. D. James Kennedy, pastor of the church, responded to this objection by replying, “Well, there’s always room for one more.” He cautioned people that if they found a perfect church, they ought not to join it, since that would ruin it.”
No believer in Christ is guiltless of hypocrisy. All of us falter and fail from time to time. The encouragement is the Lord continues to use us for His honor and His glory as He also continues to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let us confess our hypocrisy to the Lord and resolve to be faithful in thought, speech and behavior. I encourage you to read Philippians 3:12-16. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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