Hypocrite.
What a stinging indictment! In the letter to the Galatians, Paul charged some people with hypocrisy. Ouch!
No doubt you’ve seen the masks ancient Greek actors wore on the stage: a smiling mask for when they recited lines of comedy, and a frowning mask for when they spoke of tragedy. The actors who wore these masks had their true identity hidden so that they might better play their parts. They came to be called hypocrites, since they interpreted, or acted, from underneath their masks.
Over time, the word moved off the stage and into everyday life. It stood for anyone who played a part that didn’t represent the truth. Pretenders. People who outwardly looked one way, but inwardly were something completely different.
Jesus had scathing words for the Pharisees whom He repeatedly denounced as hypocrites. By all appearances they were very religious, but inwardly they were full of greed, selfish indulgence, and even murder.
In Galatians Paul says Peter, Barnabas, and the Jewish Christians in Antioch had been caught up in hypocrisy. Harsh words! He said they were living one way when around certain people and another way when with others. They weren’t being consistent with the truth they well knew.
I’ve been wondering: If Peter and Barnabas—no spiritual lightweights themselves—could be swept up in hypocrisy, couldn’t we as well? And if so, what might our hypocrisy look like? What would be the danger signs? How would we recognize it? Who would alert us to it so we could mend our ways?
The answers come a little later on in Galatians. “Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). Because if you’re attentive to the Spirit of God, He will alert you to the signs of duplicity. He’ll bring it to your attention if you’re living counter to His truth. If necessary, He’ll even send a messenger to warn you.
So if we’re sincere about avoiding hypocrisy, here’s how: adopt a posture of sensitivity and submission to the Holy Spirit’s voice. Because as Jesus said, “the Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).