Qualifications of a Hypocrite

What does God hate? Perhaps not the most pleasant of questions to open with. However, its uncomfortable connotation should not deter us from considering the answer. Think about this. God is an omnipotent entity. The issue is not just that God has more power than anyone or anything else. God is the source of all power that exists. His transcendent power defines the reality of all other powers, which are intrinsically lesser. God can shape and mold us like clay, if He so chooses. Therefore, we should approach our consideration of God with caution. We should not think too lightly or carelessly about our Creator. It behooves us to question not only the more pleasant aspects of God, such as His love, mercy, and grace but also His characteristics that may be less appealing to our human sensibilities, such as His hatred.

Several possible correct answers could be given to the opening question. A rather generic one would be: sin. The problem with this answer is that it is not specific enough. We humans are quite capable of glibly letting the word sin roll off our tongues and flit through our consciousness like a passing breeze on a windy day; ephemeral and transient. No, the question of what God hates demands a more thorough and nuanced answer. And, when we consider the scope of Scripture that speaks to this topic, I think one answer rises above the rest. That is, God hates hypocrisy and He hates hypocrites. Consider these examples.

In Revelation 2:1-7 Christ writes a letter, through the Apostle John, to the church in Ephesus. In this short missive, the Lord commends the believers for their staunch defense of truth. He lauds their hard work and steadfastness. He praises them for their intolerance of evil. This church was even known for testing people who claimed to be Apostles, to determine if they were false or not. In other words, the church in Ephesus was a strong body of Christians who were actively standing for truth. Yet, in this same letter, Christ threatens punishment against the church because they had lost their first love; namely, Him. Although the Ephesian church was standing strong for the truth of the gospel, they were doing so in a manner devoid of love. The gospel is the revelation of Jesus and He Himself is the embodiment of love, therefore by abandoning love the Ephesians were abandoning Christ as well, even though on the surface they were clean as a whistle. To put it another way, this church was being hypocritical with its application of the truth. And as a result, they very nearly lost their place.

Moving backward in time about 60 years, we come to the gospel accounts of Jesus’s life and ministry on earth. One of His principal opponents was the Pharisees; Jewish legalists who were more concerned with outward appearance and adherence to their oral laws than they were to genuine worship of God and obedience to His Law. What was Jesus’s response to this group of religious ritualists? He called them whitewashed tombs that were clean on the outside, but rotten and decrepit on the inside. The Lord said they worshiped Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. He likened the Pharisees to broken cisterns that could not hold any water; in other words, completely useless. Christ called these people a brood of vipers; they were full of poison. To say that Jesus was not impressed with Pharisaical hypocrisy would be an understatement.

Continuing to wind the clock back, this time about 800 years, we see the confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. In 1^st Kings 18:21 Elijah, frustrated with the Israelite tendency to want to worship all gods equally, thus playing the hypocrite with the Lord who demanded fealty to Himself alone, cries out: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” The blending of religions known as syncretism was so repulsive to God that He would prefer the Hebrews to not follow Him at all if they were going to dither back and forth between Him and false gods.

As if all that evidence was not enough, in Proverbs 6 God describes seven things that are particularly detestable to Him. Indeed, He uses the word hate to describe His opinion about these things. Two out of the seven have to do with lying, which is inherently a form of hypocrisy, because a lie is an attempt to communicate something other than what is true. This is the same pattern that a hypocrite engages in. And, it is this type of hypocrisy that the Apostle Paul had in mind as he came to the end of the second chapter of Romans. When I read what Paul had to say about hypocritical behavior I was chilled to the bone as I considered whether I myself was being described.

We will begin at verse 17: But if you bear the name “Jew.” Before we go any further, some context is necessary. It is best to think of the letter to the Romans in two parts. Chapters 1 to 11 contain Paul’s defense of the gospel, particularly justification by faith alone. Chapters 12 to 16, in response to that gospel presentation, provide us with Paul’s instructions for how to live in light of the gospel. So, here in chapter 2 we are right in the middle of the Apostle’s introductory arguments, which actually began in chapter 1 verse 18. He is in the process of systematically dismantling and stripping away any pretense of self-righteousness that his audience might have. He needs them to understand that, in the context of salvation, they bring absolutely nothing to the table. Humans have naught to offer God to earn His favor.

Furthermore, Paul knows well that Judaism is exerting a tremendous influence on followers of Jesus during the 1^st century in which he is writing. In fact, to both Jews and Romans, Christianity was nothing more than a sect of the Jewish religion for the first century or so of its existence. Paul himself had experienced this phenomenon in Antioch years previously. In Galatians 2 he wrote about how he had to confront Peter over hypocrisy. Apparently, some Jews came from Jerusalem and influenced even Peter to draw away from the uncircumcised Gentiles that he had formerly associated with. This confrontation took place long before Paul wrote Romans. So, this was a situation he was familiar with.

Thus, Paul is aware of the need to ensure that his Jewish audience, in particular, is confronted with their inadequacy. He wants to disabuse them of any preconceptions of superiority they might be hanging onto and lording over their Gentile brothers in the faith. This is the only way the equality of all men through the blood of Christ can become pre-eminent. So, when Paul writes: But if you bear the name “Jew” he is literally writing to Jewish Christians, in the church at Rome. He does not have in mind Gentiles like most of those who will read this. Yet, in spite of the audience difference, the point Paul is going to make is of paramount importance to us today. The reason is that, in some ways, we in the modern Christian church are the “Jews” of our day. In fact, I might even go so far as to whether we are sometimes the “Pharisees” of our day.

Consider the similarities between 1^st century Jews and 21^st century Christians in Paul’s descriptive phrases. He lists four characteristics plus a causal effect in verse 17b and 18: and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law.

Jews placed great confidence in the Law of Moses. This set of guidelines constituted the legally binding ratification of the special relationship with God that the Jews enjoyed. It was their birth certificate, of sorts, being born into the family lineage of Abraham as they were. God had given inviolable promises to the great patriarch centuries before. But now his offspring had those promises in written form, lending an air of certainty to the covenant.

It was because of this close bond with the Lord that the Jews felt confident enough to boast in Him. Their relationship with God was a special arrangement that was unique among all the people groups of the world. Furthermore, because they had access to God’s Law, they knew His will because it was explicitly spelled out for them in it. This Law delineated exactly what was pristine versus what was ignoble in life. It equipped the Jews to make wise decisions about how they should live. Naturally, all of these benefits were only possible if one was instructed by the Law itself.

This is not dissimilar from Christians today. We do not rely on the Law of Moses, but we do rely on the cross of Christ. Now that God has revealed Himself fully in the person of Jesus, we boast in Him as our Savior. By studying and obeying Christ’s commands, and being instructed in the gospel, we know what His will is for us and we are capable of giving approval to the things in life that are of great worth.

The parallels continue. In verse 19 and 20 Paul writes: and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.

These 1^st century Jews did indeed believe that they had the truth of spiritual awakening while the rest of the world languished in blindness and darkness. Because they were the covenant people of God, they knew that they had been entrusted with truth that could be used to correct foolish human behavior. The word translated as “corrector” above is paideuten in Greek. It does not just mean teacher. Certainly, the concept of instruction is present in it, but it also carries a nuance of admonishment or rebuke. The point Paul is trying to make is that these Jews considered themselves to be the ones responsible for correcting the course of wayward human society. Or, even better yet, they could fix the problem before the ship got off course by teaching the statutes of God to people when they were young.

Why could the Jews do this? The answer seems obvious – because they had the Law of God. However, the manner in which Paul expresses this in verse 20 is fascinating. He places the definite article in front of both gnoseos (knowledge) and aletheias (truth). The Greek article was a powerful tool for an ancient writer. He could use it to supply the equivalent of our English “the.” Or, it might be used in place of a personal pronoun such as “he” or “him.” At other times, the article might be completely ommitted, depending on the emphasis the writer wanted to provide.

The point here, as it relates to Romans 2:20, is that Paul did not have to use the article for gnoseos and aletheias. The fact that he did seems to indicate that he wanted to draw particular attention to those two words. He wanted to set them off and qualify them as not just being any knowledge or truth. Rather, what is contained in the Law of God, and by extension in the gospel of Jesus Christ, since it is built upon the Law, is “the” knowledge and “the” truth. Jesus Himself said that He was literally the truth, as opposed to merely knowing the truth (John 14:6).

Therefore, it is logical to assume that Paul is not describing a fantasy that existed only in the minds of his Jewish audience. They did not just imagine that they had a unique repository of knowledge and truth; they genuinely did possess such. This is what makes the next four verses so damning to anyone who is the target of Paul’s rhetoric. These were people who had the truth, had the knowledge, had the special relationship with God, and should have known better than to squander it with hypocritical conduct. Unfortunately, as we are about to see, they did not.

Verse 21 and 22a begins the litany of evidence that is leveled against the hypocrites: You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Paul uses a delightful grammatical technique here to make his point. He uses the same word twice for steal and for adultery, but he alters the case ending each time to produce a different emphasis. First, he writes klepto (steal) in the infinitive, pointing to a non-specific, generalized usage of the word. Then he writes it again in the indicative, connoting a specific act. He does the same thing with moicheuein (adultery). And, unlike in English, the Greek words are back to back, adding to the contrast. Paul literally wrote “kleptein klepteis” and “moicheuein moicheueis.”

The effect of this is to present a scenario in which theft is preached against in an overall sense, not referring to a specific act. Then, the preacher immediately turns around and steals. Adultery is condemned; not a particular instance of adultery but rather the concept in general. This proclamation is followed right behind by an act of adultery on the part of the teacher. The proximity of the teaching to the sinful act heightens and accentuates the heinous nature of the hypocrisy on display.

But, Paul is not done. With the last sentence of verse 22 he begins to build to a crescendo of piercing condemnation for those who engage in such behavior. Observe: You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? Notice that this time the Apostle does not say that the Jew is preaching or teaching. He is not proclaiming with his lips something that his actions then proceed to invalidate. No, this Jew genuinely does abhor idols. The word abhor could also be translated detest or loathe. There is a deep-seated revulsion that is felt toward these idols.

And, what are the idols themselves? The word is “eidolon” in Greek, and it is more accurately translated, in its biblical context, as image.  Image is a better translation because it gets more precisely at the problem behind idols. They were objects, crafted to look like something else, such as a man or an animal, and intended for worship. This was a flagrant violation of the 2^nd commandment, in which God said “You shall not make for yourself…any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them.” (Exodus 20:4-5a)

God is a spirit being with no physical form. Moses draws this point out in his commentary on Exodus 20, found in Deuteronomy 4. He says that the people saw no physical form on Mt. Sinai; they only heard a voice. Therefore, they should not make any kind of graven image of anything, because God is the only One who should be worshiped, and He has no physical form that can be duplicated.

Furthermore, everything that exists other than God is a product of His creative power. And, God is the only one in the universe that deserves human worship. Therefore, to create any kind of image of anything that exists in reality and then worship it, is to dishonor God by worshiping something that is less valuable than He is.

Moving back to Romans, the people Paul is describing seem to understand the prohibition against images. They do not merely preach against idolatry, but they actually do despise it themselves. This sounds great, right? Not so fast. Paul continues by accusing them of robbing temples. What does he mean by this? In the ancient world, temples were storehouses of treasure. The monetary gifts that worshipers brought, in an attempt to appease the gods, were collected and held by the temple priests. This was, in effect, dirty money. It had been consecrated to a pagan deity of wood, stone, or metal. It was in every way an affront to the honor of God, for the reasons discussed above. So, for a Jew who detested such idolatry to enter one of these temples and take the idolatrous wealth for himself was utterly despicable. The Jew who worshiped God and hated images wound up commiting idolatry in his own right by helping himself to the world’s goods and benefiting from them. Even without intending to be a hypocrite, the hypocrisy on display rises up like a foul stench before the Lord.

Now, having built his case, Paul is ready to deliver his closing arguments. And they are gut wrenching. Verse 23 reads: You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? Immediately we need to recognize an important point. Although in the Greek text there is indeed a question mark at the end of this sentence, Paul is not asking any question here other than a rhetorical one. He is making a statement of fact. He is pointing an accusatory finger at the Jews he is describing.

And what an accusation it is! These people, who boasted in their relationship with God and gloried in His Law, were themselves the very source of dishonor to God because they continually violated the Law. In fact, it is worse than that. Paul says that they personally insult God with their transgressions. They slander His name through their hypocrisy. They bring shame upon Him with their conduct.

We absolutely must stop at this point and ask a critical question. Does this describe us? We have already seen the many parallels that exist between 1^st century Jews and ourselves as modern Christians. They relied upon the Law while we rely upon the cross. They boasted in God while we boast in Christ. They knew God’s will through the Law while we know His will through our Bibles. They and we both strive to approve the important and excellent things of life. We are both instructed from the same source; God.

The Jews were placed in their land for the purpose of shining the light of God’s glory on the nations around them. They were to do this by guiding the spiritually blind into all truth. They were to provide the light of the glory of God to those who were in darkness. They were to correct and rebuke those who foolishly walked away from God. They were to bring up their children in the truth and knowledge of God. Is this really any different from us? We are called to go into all the world, guiding them through the gospel toward the light of Christ. We are to guard and support the truth by teaching it to the spiritually young and protecting it from subversion by the enemies of God. The mission of the church today is essentially the same as the mission of the nation of Israel was previously.

We dare not stop there with the similarities. We have to ask: are we guilty of the same hypocrisy these 1^st century Jews were guilty of? Do we teach our children one thing, and then do another? To use Paul’s examples, do we preach against theft but then steal time from our employer? Do we condemn adultery but then allow our eyes to linger lustfully on the opposite sex? Do we decry the secular atheistic humanist worldview that is pervading our planet but then take from and enjoy the proceeds of what this broken culture is offering? Do we exercise Bible based discernment about what we should and should not engage in both personally and as families?

We had better figure out the answers to these questions. Because the stakes are alarmingly high. Paul utters the unsettling analysis of such conduct in verse 24. Earlier I wrote that Paul’s words chilled me to the bone when I read them. It was this verse that did it. The Apostle writes: For “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. There are certain words, throughout the history of human language, that stand as such beacons of overwhelming impact that they make transitions from language to language relatively intact. They are words of such power that to do anything other than transliterate them verbatim, or as close as possible, into another tongue seems inappropriate. I believe the word blaspheme is such a word.

Even if you cannot read a lick of Greek you will probably recognize it – blasphemeo. It even sounds similar to our English pronunciation: blahs-fame-eh-oh. In both languages it means to slander. It is to deliberately speak falsehoods about someone else for the purpose of misrepresenting their character. But, it means even more than that. Blaspheme specifically means to slander God. It is to ascribe evil to the only source of pure goodness that exists; the Lord Himself. There is no greater obscenity that can be committed than to take God’s holy, righteous, and transcendent character and run it through the filthy stinking mud of our own depravity.

Paul says this is exactly what we cause to happen when we act like these Jews in the Roman church were acting. By acting like sinners we give cause to the world to question the integrity of God. Through our language, our financial practices, our work ethic, the way we speak to our family members, the attitude we have toward our government, our treatment of strangers, our focus and dedication to the church, how harsh our tongues are with people, our entertainment choices, and in many other ways we are to serve as windows through which the world can look and see the character of God on display. What are they seeing when they look through your window? Are they seeing God or are they seeing you? For that matter, can the world even see through your window or do you have the blinds drawn and the curtains pulled so they cannot see inside? Have you walled yourself off from the world so much that they might not even know you are a Christian?

If this sounds like living under a microscope, it is. As followers of Christ we do not merely represent ourselves. We represent Him. An employee’s conduct reflects on his or her employer. To a much greater degree, a Christian’s conduct reflects on his or her Savior. If you are a Christian, then your life is not your own any more. You have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus (1^st Corinthians 6:19-20).

Now then, what should we say to these things? If you are feeling a little beat up right now, I think that is exactly the place Paul wants you to be at. However, I am convinced he does not want you to stay there. As unintuitive as it might seem at first, I believe we should take this as a passage of encouragement rather than condemnation. Remember that this was a single letter that Paul wrote to a single church. He probably anticipated the whole thing being read, from start to finish, at one meeting. Paul’s expectation would have been for the people to receive his entire flow of thought from beginning to end rather than just a snippet out of the middle of chapter two. So, to do justice to Paul’s intent, we need to consider the text of Romans 2:17-24 in light of the context of the entire letter of Romans.

As mentioned before, Paul’s purpose in chapters 1 to 11 is to present and defend the gospel. He begins this in the first few chapters by tearing down human pride and boasting, so that his audience is prepared to accept the free gift of God’s grace in the person of Jesus. And then, beginning in chapter 12, Paul strongly argues that in light of all the mercies of God that have been revealed so far, we ought to live in a certain way. The very first verse of chapter 12 perfectly captures the switch in emphasis that Paul makes: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

It is precisely because we as humans are corrupt and hypocritical and have nothing to offer God that we ought to respond to His loving mercy, demonstrated in salvation, by living holy lives that are acceptable to God. So while this specific passage, 2:17-24, is definitely condemnatory, taken in light of the whole letter, it is merely the rebuke to tear us down and cause us to see ourselves as we really are, before we are built up and encouraged to press on.

Additionally, take another look at verse 24. Paul writes “just as it is written.” Any time you see language like that, it means that the writer is quoting the Old Testament. In this case, Paul is referring to Isaiah 52:5. That verse reads: “Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the LORD, “seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?” Again the LORD declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.” The prophet Isaiah is speaking about the captivity and exile of the Jews. Because they had disobeyed their God and had followed after false gods, He judged them. And, through that judgment, as the peoples of the world saw the low estate to which the Jews had been brought, it caused them to speak poorly of God Himself. The nations knew that Yahweh was the God of Israel. They knew that He was their protector. Therefore, because they were now in exile it must have meant that God was not capable of protecting them. He must have been weak and ineffectual. This would have been the mindset of the pagan nations the Jews were dispersed into.

But, having said all that, again, notice the context of the chapter. This is not a chapter of doom and gloom for the Jews. It is actually a triumphant chapter of promised future restoration. In verse 1 God says: Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion. He continues: the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer come into you. In verse 6 we see: “My people shall know My name.” And, in verse 9 we reach a climactic crescendo: the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.

This is a prophecy of joy, restoration, triumph, and redemption not devastation, degradation, and death. It is this passage that Paul chose to quote when he wanted to make his point in Romans 2:24. We can be sure that Paul knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Isaiah 52:5 to draw from. And, I think this stands as further evidence that he intended encouragement not despair, triumph rather than defeat, and laughter instead of wailing.

The question for us is: how will we respond? Will we recognize our hypocrisy? Will we be chilled to the bone at the horrifying thought that our actions might possibly bring reproach upon the name of our God? Will we take that conviction and turn it into resolve to press forward toward transformation into the likeness of Christ that is set before us as our goal?

There is only one correct response to these issues. That is to cling to Christ. It is through our union with Christ that we are empowered to rise above our sinful hypocritical tendencies. It is through Christ that we can be changed so that when the world looks at us they see Him. Run to Christ today, through the Scriptures, through prayer, through ministry. Take Paul’s terrible assessment of human nature and use it as a catalyst to propel you forward into righteous living.