Hypocrisy

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:7-9 ESV)

We do not have the ability to see into the heart of a man. Therefore, the character of most people is measured by their words and deeds. Many will measure the Christianity of their neighbors by such things as church attendance, participating in Bible classes, or taking part in church activities. If they don’t do these things, their Christianity is probably questioned; particularly if the person measuring these things is faithful in these activities. Don’t be fooled by participation in church activities; hypocrites do a lot of religious acts they say are for Jesus, but inside these people are spiritually dead.

It is prudent to withhold your judgment in deciding who is a hypocrite. People love to compare themselves to other people to measure their own righteousness. If they can judge themselves to be better than their neighbors, they believe they are worthy of heaven. Unfortunately, they forget that only God sets the standard of truth and the gate is narrow. How then are we to determine if a man is a Christian or simply a hypocrite posing as a Christian? The verses below give us some wisdom for this problem: