People who are not in the church complain about people who are all the time, most often calling them “hypocrites.” To be fair, those in the church complain about those outside the church as well, often citing their sin. We all complain, it’s just who and what we complain about that’s different.
Somehow, it seems to society that the complaints of church members about their lifestyle are invalid, as well as being an infringement on their freedom. As we have all seen through some major cases before the Supreme Court, some have taken the concept of freedom, as expressed in the founding documents, to mean that they have freedom to do whatever they want, regardless of what God or the Bible have to say. Quite often what they want to be able to do is called sin in the Bible.
Many of those same people who are demanding their right to sin are quick to point out what believers can and can’t do… or more correctly what they think believers can and can’t do, as they don’t really know. They all seem to have a picture in their minds of what “Christians” are supposed to be, without having studied the only authoritative source which defines what Christians are supposed to be.
At the same time, they don’t accept Christians saying anything about what they should be or do, often responding to any such statement by saying that Christians are trying to control their lives and calling them “hypocrites.” Some use this as their excuse for not going to church, because they don’t want to be there with a bunch of hypocrites. They seem to miss the irony of how well they’d fit in, as they are just as capable of displaying hypocrisy as those they complain about.
Just What is Hypocrisy?
Before going any further, it would be useful to define just exactly what it is we’re talking about. Like many other words, hypocrisy is one we can think we understand, without fully understanding its true meaning. According to Google, hypocrisy is:
The practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another.
The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.
The key word in both of these definitions is “practice.” In other words, the person who is being hypocritical has to be taking some sort of action, specifically expecting others to live up to a moral standard that they themselves aren’t living up to. This can either mean doing things that they say are wrong or expecting others to do things that they don’t do themselves. Based on that, it’s safe to say that everyone who has ever lived has practiced hypocrisy at some time or another, whether intentionally or accidentally.
The truth is that even the most moral of us still make mistakes. There’s no such thing as a perfect person, other than Jesus Christ and He is God (John 10:30).
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” – Romans 3:10
While “righteous” and “perfect” are not synonymous, they are close enough for our purposes, in this case. Both refer to how we live our lives before God and this world, and we have trouble living up to either one of them. The same mistakes and sins that keep us from being perfect, keep us from being righteous.
Hypocrisy can take on many forms, such as lying. Most people will say that they hate lying, while they themselves lie on a regular basis. Those probably aren’t big lies, but rather what people call “little white lies.” Even so, those are still lies. Telling people “I’m so glad to see you” when we’re not; “I didn’t get your call” when we saw who it was and chose not to answer; “I’m doing great” when we’re sad, discouraged or depressed; and “Let’s do lunch” as a way of putting the other person off are all common examples of the small lies that we use in our everyday lives.
This may not be what people think of, when they call others hypocrites, but that doesn’t change anything. It is saying one thing, while doing another; the very definition of hypocrisy. While I make no excuse for that, to call some people hypocrites and others not, is in itself a form of hypocrisy.
There’s a Huge Assumption Here
The hypocrisy in calling others hypocrites, is that those making those accusations are usually basing their judgment on assumptions they have made about the other person. They assume that the person they are accusing of being a hypocrite has either said something or would have said something that they quite possibly never have said. The accuser’s thoughts about what that person might have said or thought are enough to convict them, as they take the roles of judge, jury and executioner in their own minds.
This has become very common in modern society, with various groups of people accusing others of a host of “crimes,” based on nothing more than what they think that other group thinks. Those so accused aren’t even given the opportunity to defend themselves and anything they say is twisted into evidence supporting the verdict already decided against them.
Most people have an idea of what they think the Bible says, which is usually based upon their knowledge of the Ten Commandments, which may or may not be accurate. It’s not uncommon for people to add things to that list, thinking their additions really are there. Based on that, they assume that believers in the Bible accuse them of breaking those rules, whether they actually make those accusations or not.
There are a number of sins that the Bible speaks out about, rather clearly, such as adultery, fornication and homosexuality. Few Christians actually make those assertions, outside the pulpit and they are rarely even expounded upon from the pulpit. Nevertheless, they are widely known, so people who practice those types of sins assume that all Christians are saying them, even if they don’t. What that is, is their guilt speaking to them, rather than hearing anyone else say anything. To avoid accepting it, they those “Bible thumping hypocrites” for saying it.
Another Assumption to Add to the Mix
When you talk to unbelievers about believers, they tend to think that believers should be perfect; that’s what being a Christian means to them. Going along with that, they think that believers think they are perfect. But while I’ve known a few believers who act like they think they’re perfect, I haven’t actually met anyone who thinks that way.
The Bible doesn’t say anything about believers being perfect. Being a believer isn’t about being perfect, but about acknowledging that we aren’t perfect and that we need a Savior to make up for our imperfection, cleansing us from our sins. Once we do that, we enter into a process of becoming perfected. That’s a journey that we never finish; but it’s the one that we are supposed to be on.
Nevertheless, the world doesn’t know what the bible says, only their assumptions about it. The few things they do know about the Bible are usually mistaken and misrepresented; things that they have heard from someone else, who may not know any more about the Bible than they do. They are nothing more than man’s ideas about God and those who serve God. As such, they are more a reflection of the person who is saying them, than they are of God or those who serve Him.
There is no way for believers to live up to these expectations, mostly because they are fluid. People will change what they expect of believers to match the circumstances. Whatever it is they don’t like about believers in general or the believer they are dealing with, will become the thing that they blame believers for being hypocrites about at that time.
Are Believers Hypocrites?
If we are honest with ourselves, we realize that we are all sinners; not just that we were sinners who have been saved by grace; but that even though we have been saved by grace, we still have the sin nature within us. Because of that sin nature, no matter how hard we try to avoid sin in our lives, we all still end up falling into sin sometime or other.
The real problem with believers and sin isn’t that we fall into sin, but that we are capable of convincing ourselves that our own personal sin is acceptable and that we can continue living in that sin, without consequences. When that happens, we become the hypocrites that people say we are.
As believers, we often have trouble facing our own sins. This is where the root of any hypocrisy we have comes from. Yet a major part of the essence of being a believer has got to be seeing ourselves for who we are, especially seeing our sin and those things which tempt us to sin. It is this realization which makes it possible for us to face our sin head on and overcome it. But overcoming requires us facing that sin and sin’s potential in our lives. It is impossible to overcome without facing it.
God never expected us to be perfect and without sin. That’s why His plan included Jesus Christ dying on the cross, as payment for our sins. But He does expect us to be honest about our sin. Salvation requires admitting our sin, as does sanctification. When we admit our sin, we open ourselves up for the Holy Spirit to work in our heart and life, bringing about the changes that we need. As long as we don’t admit our sin, we cover it up, pretend it either isn’t there or isn’t sin and reject any efforts on the part of the Holy Spirit to remove that sin from our lives.
Is Hypocrisy the Right Accusation?
To call all believers hypocrites, is the same as painting any other demographic within our population with the same brush, saying that “they” (whoever they might be) are all the same, committing the same wrong. In another context, it would be called racism; but for some reason, those who define racism in our culture, don’t call a blanket indictment against Christians racism, although they do with Muslims. Hmm, sounds like hypocrisy.
It is fair to say that Christians don’t live up to the standards set forth for our lives in the Bible. Some of us work harder at accomplishing that than others and some are more successful than others. But there is nobody walking on the face of the Earth, who is succeeding in living up to those standards all the time. We’re just not there yet… and probably never will be, this side of the grave.
People who call Christians hypocrites are really saying that they don’t think that those Christians are living up to the standards set forth in the Bible, no matter how poorly they understand them. in that sense, they are absolutely right. Even the best amongst us struggle to come even close to living up to God’s standard for our lives. We know, even better than those unbelievers do, just how short we fall from the example given to us by the life of Jesus.
For all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23
It would be great if we could actually live up to those standards. But if we could, we wouldn’t need Jesus. He wouldn’t have had to go to the cross, and we wouldn’t have to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. So, when those people accuse us of hypocrisy, what we really need to do, rather than get upset, is to explain to them why we are Christians; because we know that we don’t live up to those standards and therefore recognize our need for a Savior.
After that, it would be a great time to ask them about themselves, whether they need a Savior too.