A few days before the Lord Jesus was
crucified, He delivered a damning indictment against the scribes and Pharisees
according to the record of Matthew 23.
The Pharisees were the so-called "separated ones" among the Jewish
people, but Jesus had a different title for them: hypocrites. Seven times in this chapter, Jesus described
the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites, and each time He explained that their
hollow words and meaningless actions would bring woe upon them. Soon, they would fill up the measure of the
guilt of their fathers who murdered the prophets when they themselves would
murder the Son of God and His messengers.
In
one of the woes given against the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus aptly compared
them to beautiful, white tombs that contain nothing but filth and
rottenness. Notice His words in Matthew
23:27-28:
"Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are
like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they
are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to
men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."
This comparison was especially appalling
for the Jews because the Law of Moses declared the uncleanness of anyone who
even touched a dead body. By using this
figure of the tombs, Jesus showed the utter corruption of the scribes and
Pharisees from the inside out. Their
form of righteousness was purely superficial, and it only served as a guise for
the true nature of their hearts.
Today, the scribes and the Pharisees are
long gone, but the scourge of hypocrisy remains. It is seen in every individual who pretends
to be righteous by his own merit and every group of individuals that uses a
bogus, superficial form of righteousness to promote their self-made agenda. Such individuals and groups presume to be
standard bearers of law and morality as they attempt to influence and
intimidate others to comply with their godless agenda.
The Pharisaic type of hypocrisy is now common
in the United States, but it is not commonly recognized. Most often, the term "Pharisee" gets thrown
around when someone attempts a strict application of God's word when others are
unwilling. The person who insists on
following God's law is labeled as a hypocritical, self-righteous Pharisee, but
this is not what the Pharisees were. The
Pharisees did not insist on God's law but on their own traditions (Matt.
15:1-9). They set their own standards
and laws, declared that they were the righteous ones, and condemned others who
did not comply with them.
Pharisaic
hypocrisy is now found in the many individuals and religious groups who claim
to be Christians while they set their own standards for morality and righteousness
while rejecting God's word. We see this type
of hypocrisy coming from churches and denominations, politicians, news media,
and entertainers. They make a claim on
Christ while at the same time practicing, condoning, and promoting many
behaviors and beliefs that are contrary to Christ's word. In 2Timothy 3:1-5, the apostle Paul warned
Timothy of a coming apostasy in which this type of hypocrisy would be in
style. Consider his words:
But realize this, that
in the last days difficult times will come.
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,
revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable,
malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous,
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a
form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as
these.
This prophecy is not specifically
describing events of our present time, but it does describe a category of
persons that still exist. Notice
carefully again all of the descriptions for these men and then focus on the
latter part, which says that they did not love God but held to a form (shape,
shell, or appearance) of godliness while denying its power. These were not irreligious people, but rather
they were immoral people who maintained a pretense of worthless, impotent
religion.
It is often said that the United States
is the most Christian nation in the world, but much of the modern brand of
so-called Christianity is nothing more than old, Pharisaic hypocrisy. Man makes the rules, declares that he is
righteous, and condemns others who won't follow. The truth of this hypocrisy is disguised in a
package that looks like Christianity with church buildings, preachers, and
religious traditions, but it is really just an appearance of godliness that
denies the power of true godliness.
Under this system, men claim to be Christians while practicing and
condoning immorality, homosexuality, divorce, abortion, gambling, drunkenness,
immodesty, greed, and many other vices. These
are accepted under man's new definitions of love and tolerance, which appear as
a form of godliness but have no power to save souls. Only the pure, uncompromised gospel of Christ
is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16).
This is the gospel of grace and faith that comes with the preaching of repentance
and baptism, and it is the powerful message the world needs today.
