Feb 19 – Don’t Be A Hypocrite

“¹⁷ Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law, ¹⁹ and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law —  ²¹ you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal” — do you steal? ²² You who say, “You must not commit adultery” — do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

In the previous devotional, we discussed how Jesus died for both the Jew and the Gentile, and how even though the Law of God (The Mosaic Law) was not given to the Gentiles, they are still able to know God and to serve Him and keep His commandments because the law (knowledge of good and evil) is written on their hearts. God has given us all, both Jews and Gentiles, the knowledge and the tools necessary to obey Him. 

Paul’s criticism here is of the Jewish community in particular. He says, if you are a Jew, and you boast about keeping the law and knowing God and His will, how can you be found doing the same evil things as those you are condemning? We can imagine how a similar criticism might be true of Gentiles guilty of the same hypocritical behavior. If you are a Gentile, and you do not have the Mosaic Law but prove that you have the law of God written on your heart when you make judgments about others’ sinful lifestyles, are you being hypocritical, are you also living in sin?  

It’s clear from the text that Paul is addressing the Jewish community in the Roman church in this paragraph, and he explains why. His largest concern about this hypocritical behavior is that it harms the witness of God’s people: “For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (v. 24) (See ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭20‬-‭23) It’s not hard to see how the same can be true of Gentile Christians who claim faith in Jesus, yet continue to practice all sorts of evil and sin. To have this hypocritical nature is to drag Jesus’ name through the mud. 

How can we deal with this? This is a sticking point for those who are outside the church. It’s common to hear people say that those in the church or that all Christians are hypocrites. How do Christians respond to this? Well in one sense, any who wields this accusation are absolutely correct! Every Christian is a hypocrite, and partially, that’s the point. Christianity embraces the fact that every single human being, except for Jesus, is a sinner. Every single one of us is damned to hell and there is nothing that WE can do on our own to change that. That is why our salvation has to come from one who is more than human. That is why our salvation has to come from Jesus, the Son of God! That is why Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, died a substitutionary death upon the cross, was raised from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Every Christian should be willing to say that they are a hypocrite. Each one of us has sinned and does occasionally still sin. Yet, each one of us has repented of that sin and has faith in Jesus Christ who died to save us. 

Now, let’s say something else, and Paul will address this later in Romans 12. We are saved and forgiven through faith in Jesus, and now that we have been saved, we should want to live our lives in service to God and to His people. If we don’t do that, and we claim a “Christian” status but continue in our sin, something is seriously wrong. It is true that Christians will still struggle with temptation and will fall into sin, but are we even fighting against it? We should want to remove every ounce of sinful tendency from our bodies and minds so that we can better serve God! Jesus did the work of providing a way for us to be saved. Now it is time for us to do the work of living a life worthy of that calling, not because it will save us, we know it won’t, but because it glorifies God.