“Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy’” (Luke 12:1).

That is to say, “Beware of the thing that puffs you up–for that is what leave does.” Or, “Beware of pretending.” Or, “Be warned against being a hypocrite.”

Webster, in his 1828 Dictionary, defines hypocrisy as follows,

“Simulation; a feigning to be what one is not; or dissimulation, a concealment of one’s real character or motives. More generally, hypocrisy is simulation, or the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of good character, in morals or religion; a counterfeiting of religion.”

Similarly, the definition of a hypocrite is, “One who feigns to be what he is not; one who has the form of godliness without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, when he is destitute of true religion.”

In other words, you pretend to be someone or something that you are far from being, and this intentionally in order to deceive.

Hypocrisy is not, in the words of the apostle Paul, the ‘putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ,’ as in acting contrary to one’s natural self in an attempt to be like Jesus. Instead, it is doing so for show, to make others think you are some sort of saint–when you are not. The bottom line is this, the moral of the story: be yourself, be whom God made you to be. Don’t try to come off as something you aren’t; instead, just be you.

I am not saying ‘let it all hang out’. No, God has called us to be self-controlled, disciplined in speech and actions, but not so as to hide who you are. As Jesus goes on to say in the next verse, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” In other words, if you are pretending it will eventually come out; your true colors will be made known. Better to be who you are now for all to see, than to be who you are not, whom others will see anyway. You cannot hide forever.

A common complaint by non-Christians or Christians who don’t or won’t attend a church is that it is filled with hypocrites. Meaning, they come off as acting holy on Sunday morning, but hardly so the rest of the week.  If we care at all about how the world views our faith, then we must live that faith seven days a week.  

Hypocrites say things they don’t mean and don’t intend to back up with their actions. They act in ways to be seen and approved by others, but are far from their behavior in the attitude of their hearts. The prophet Isaiah describes such as these,

“Because this people draw near to Me with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote” (29:13).

Which is why, by the way, Jesus tells us, “An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).  That is, in honesty and integrity.  From the heart.  

The Lord Jesus had some pretty strong words for the hypocrites of His day, which I shall not record here. Suffice it to say, He is not pleased with the person who feigns religiosity, nor the one who pretends to be something he is not.

There is a huge difference, however, between a hypocrite and a person who sincerely wants to be like Jesus. After all, that is the goal, is it not–to be like the Lord? Indeed, it is.

The Bible teaches that Christians have two natures–unbelievers have one, a sinful nature; they cannot help but sin, sin has the mastery over them; they are slaves to sin. Christians, however, have two: the old, sinful nature, and the new, Christlike nature. By virtue of having been born again, they are no longer bound to the old; they can live a new life. This comes about by considering themselves dead to sin, and alive to God. Again, we are told by the apostle, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, in regards to its lusts” (Romans 13:13). We can do this by virtue of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, who broke the power of sin and gave us eternal life.

There are those who pretend to be what they are not–this is what the Lord warns us about.

On the other hand, Scripture tells us to be who we truly are in Christ.

In my opinion, there is no better advice given us in this regard than the apostle Paul in Romans chapter twelve. There he says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (verse 2).

You may ask, “What does this have to do with hypocrisy?” It has everything to do with it, because here Paul is telling us to be on the outside who we really are on the inside.

This truth is known when you understand that this word, “transformed,” is the same Greek word rendered “transfigured” elsewhere, as when Jesus was transfigured before His three disciples on the mountain. There His true ‘colors’ were revealed; He was shown to be who He really was. He showed up on the outside what He was really like on the inside: the holy, pure, radiant Son of God.

Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest in his translation of this passage brings out this meaning. He renders very 2 of Romans 12 like this,

“And stop assuming an outward expression that does not come from within you and is not representative of what you are in your inner being but is patterned after this age; but change your outward expression to one that comes from within and is representative of your inner being, by the renewing of your mind, resulting in your putting to the test what is the will of God, the good and well-pleasing and complete will, and having found that it meets specifications, place your approval upon it” (italics mine).  

You see, hypocrisy is being on the outside who you are not on the inside; this was the case with Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and is now with many religious folk in our time. Christianity, on the other hand, is being on the outside who you really are on the inside; Paul here is urging this.

That is to say, Christians are sons and daughters of the living God. They have the Spirit of God inhabiting them. They are righteous in the sight of God. Their new nature–theirs by reason of the new birth (being born again)–does not and cannot sin. Paul is saying, “This be the case, then act like it! Be the royalty that you are! Don’t cave to the old nature, you don’t have to do that any longer. Be who you really are!” And then he tells us how this can come about: this kind of transformation comes about by learning to think differently.

I shall not go into mind renewal at this time. Suffice it to say, we are warned by the Lord about having or demonstrating a form of godliness without the power to accompany it. About pretending to be religious. Against being something we are not. Against appearances only. On the other hand, and to sum up, we are encouraged to be who we really are on the inside, outside, to whatever degree of maturity we have attained to, without faking a maturity we have not attained to. God is quite happy for us to be as we are, while we allow Him to make us what we are not. That is the point.