What is Pharisaism ? It refers to the behaviour of the Pharisees, who were criticised for outwardly observing religious duties while lacking true devotion or morality. They lived a hypocrite life, Jesus condemned the Pharisees with very strong words for their behaviours, Jesus never used “woe to you” for the grave sins like adultery, murder, thieves etc.. but for hypocrisy he says “Woe to you” - Its a grave warning. hypocrisy is a grave sin which was hated by Jesus. Hypocrisy comes from Satan. Outside he shows off like God, but inside is filled with wickedness and filth. He is a masquerade of light.
Hypocrisy means contradiction - different thoughts and actions, different words spoken and opposite actions, a different person inside home and outside. Other alternate words for Hypocrisy are
Insincerity: Lack of honesty or genuineness in one's actions or expressions..
Deceit: The act of intentionally misleading or tricking others.
Dishonesty: Behaving in a way that involves deceit or untruthfulness.
Disingenuousness: Not candid or sincere, giving a false appearance of honesty.
Falsehood: The state or quality of being untrue or deceptive.
Two-facedness: The act of presenting a different appearance or attitude to different people.
Pharisaism: Referring to the behaviour of the Pharisees, who were criticised for outwardly observing religious duties while lacking true devotion or morality.
Cant: The use of hypocritically moralistic language or behaviour.
Pretense: The act of pretending or feigning, especially in a deceptive manner.
Duplicitousness: Involving deceit or double-dealing, similar to duplicity but with a focus on intentional deception.
How does hypocrisy arise
Find fault with others to justify themself - People who engage in this behaviour may criticise others as a way to divert attention from their own mistakes or inadequacies. By pointing out flaws in others, they seek to create a narrative that justifies or excuses their own behaviour. This strategy allows them to maintain a positive self-image while avoiding introspection or accountability. They find fault with others and justify themselves Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Simply act to satisfy the public / external applause - This is the Pharisaism behaviour, It refers to the behaviour of the Pharisees, who were criticised for outwardly observing religious duties while lacking true devotion or morality. Jesus explained on hypocrisy and warned the teachers of law and pharisees. The external view they are clean but internally they are rotten. Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. '
Undue importance to external and very little importance to internal cleanliness - This is the Duplicity or Two faced Behaviour, Duplicity generally refers to the state of being deceitful or having a double nature. People who engage in this behaviour from the outside they look very righteous but they are filled with lot of filth (full of hypocrisy, wickedness, deceit). Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. '
Overemphasis on minor things and neglecting righteous things - Focusing too much on small things while neglecting what's truly important can lead us astray. They neglect the righteousness of God and look for the outward things which satisfy the human praise Matthew 23:23-24 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. '
Impacts of Pharisaism in Christian Life
Hypocrisy is a grave sin, worse than Adultery, murder or any other sins that we can think of, since its from Satan. He deceives us to make us live in that sin without even recognising that its a grave Sin.
Hypocrisy was the first sin that was judged by the apostle against Ananias and Sapphira - Acts 5:1-11
Hypocrisy impedes us to grow spiritually, it’s like weed in our spiritual life - 1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. '
Hypocrisy impacts and dishonours God’s name and one who is a gentile who wants to come to Jesus is deterred by the actions of hypocrisy. that’s why God was so much angered on the hypocrisy of Pharisees. A person can be a angel in Sundays and devil in weekdays. The word goes to a great length to condemn our actions as blasphemed to God Romans 2:21-24 'you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ‘
Things to watch on Hypocrisy in Spiritual matters
Hypocrisy is so deceitful, it's very hard to recognise that we have this grave sin in us, the spiritual eyes are blinded to make always look self righteous. Unless we surrender and ask the Holy Spirit to examine us to help us fight this Sin in our life, it’s impossible to get rid of this grave Sin. All of us will have this sin in some form in our lives.. Few areas to self evaluate
We praise as mouth does but without the heart approving them - Many times we come to Pray, but our hearts and minds are not there in the prayer, instead it wanders on other things which we saw during the day or want to do etc.. but we say Amen or Praise God etc.. When we perform this act its a Hypocrisy. A ritualistic worship to do a worship at set time without your heart and mind involved fully is also a hypocrite act. Matthew 15:7-9 'You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ” '
Eager to listen to him, but not obey - We hear a lot of Sermons, we read the bible and are convinced to obey. Many times our obedience is postponed with reasons and justifications, and many times its valid.. The main difference between obedience and hypocrisy is - when we here the words from God and not act-its hypocrisy. Hearing and wilfully not to obey is disobedient (usually it follows with various justification reasons) Ezekiel 33:31-32 'My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. '
Some preaching to others but not looking internal to clean themselves - We do this quite often in our life’s to treat others to be so worst and make our life very pure. We have no power to condemn other’s sin when we are living a sinful life (may not be apples to apples Sin, but we live a sinful life). Jesus explained this when the Pharisees caught a woman who was in Adultery and got to Jesus. Jesus said “Let any one of you who is without Sin be the first to stone her” and when he checked again no one was left. It's that kind of Sin that we preach to others. John 8:1-11
Doing for world rather to the Father to see & bless - There are some who mostly show how religious you are in giving, praying & fasting to put the work in their social media, tell their office colleagues, college friends and brand well of what they do, Jesus hates this attitude, see the word on how Jesus described the rewards for that. Matthew 6:2,5,16 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. '
Act nice outside but filled with traps - some of them give a word to get them into a trap, a trap to gossip & slander about others.. 2 Thessalonians 3:11,13-15 'We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer. '
Hope and happiness does not last long with hypocrites - People who do things for the world, their hope and happiness does not last long, its a short run its the peace / joy and things they do will last only for a moment, it cannot sustain.. Job 8:13-15 'Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What they trust in is fragile ; what they rely on is a spider’s web. They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold. '
God’s expectation for us to wade of this hypocrisy
We must be Genuine to accept there is some form of hypocrisy in our life, acknowledging before God is the first step to cure this grave sin. Denying will lead to more grave sins and many unanswered prayers.. Once you acknowledge, The Holy Spirit will show areas of hypocrisy that exists in our life to change it.
We should have a Sincerity in Heart like Nathanael - where there is no deceit John 1:47 NIV ”When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”“
The call of Philip and Nathanael to discipleship is recorded in the John 1:43.
Jesus went to Galilee and found Philip first, who then went to Nathanael, his friend.
Philip told Nathanael that he had found Jesus John 1:45 '“We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” '
Nathanael was skeptical or you can say he had prejudice or bias attitude on Nazareth and said, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46).
This skepticism was at that time Nazareth was an obscure little hill town, remote and of no consequence. It was not sophisticated or glamorous, quite the opposite—it was not a place that anyone expected the Messiah to come from. Despite his skepticism, Nathanael followed Philip to meet Jesus.
When the Lord saw Nathanael coming toward Him, He said John 1:47 (b) “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit”
Nathanael accepted this description as true and wondered how Jesus knew his character, having never met him before. Jesus explained: John 1:47 (a) “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you”
We should have a heart that should be Conscience Stricken like David. 1 Samuel 24:5 'Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. ‘
David is being pursued by Saul and his men, he flees from place to place to escape. God allows Saul to come to a Cave where David and his men were hiding, David’s men saying 1 Samuel 24:4 , “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ”
David with a quick action goes and cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe.
How would we react if any of us were in this situation ?
We would want to kill that person with so much vengeance. or
We would have slurred many insults and words to vent out our anger.
How did David react ?
Conscious stricken - 1 Samuel 24:5 'Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. '
This “Conscious stricken” heart comes only if there is fear in God.
Why was he conscious stricken, because he had no power or authority to touch a God anointed men. Even though he was doing wrong, he had no authority to do any, it’s for God to avenge his anger.
1 Samuel 24:6 'He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord ’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord .” '
This is the kind of Purity of heart, God is looking for each of us to build to get rid of hypocrisy, the duplicity of our lives.