What Is Worse Than Being a Hypocrite?

Hypocrisy isn’t the only sin, but it’s a particularly destructive kind of evil. Truth is the Christian’s currency; counterfeit faith degrades its value.

Ask a non-churchgoer why he doesn’t attend, and his list of objections will likely include, “There are too many hypocrites in the church.” Inconsistent believers and ugly church splits have caused many to say, “ABC—Anything But Church!” To be fair, Christians don’t have a corner on the market when it comes to hypocrisy. Phoniness abounds in the secular marketplace of politics and public relations.

But there’s something especially damaging about religious phoniness. Sheldon Vanauken wrote, “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians—when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug . . . , when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”

Hypocrisy Exposed

Jesus reserved some of his strongest rebukes for the Pharisees, whose very name has become synonymous with hypocrisy. Matthew chapter 23 paints a vivid portrait of religious phoniness. Hypocrites:

Hypocrisy Expelled

There is something worse than being a hypocrite, though, and that’s being an unrepentant and unforgiven hypocrite. Phoniness is repugnant to the Lord of truth, but he loves sinners of all kinds, including hypocrites. He calls all sinners to repentance and spiritual transformation. The people who heard Jesus’ stinging rebukes in Matthew 23 also heard him say, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (v. 37).

The cure for hypocrisy is to humbly acknowledge our weaknesses and shortcomings, laying our flaws in all their naked ugliness at the Savior’s feet. There is nothing phony about God’s grace. If we are willing, he will take us under his wings and drag our fearful souls out of the darkness of deception into the light of his truth. When we walk with him in authenticity, we will experience the sweet reality of forgiveness and peace.

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