Hypocrisy in the Church

Have you noticed that churches are full of hypocrites? In recent years, one of the top three reasons cited for why dechurched and unchurched people won’t consider attending church services is because they think church people, on the whole, are hypocrites.[1] I think the dominant observation is that church people are quick to call out the spec in everyone else’s eyes while failing to address, or even see, the log in their own eyes. This leads me to ask a few questions which I will attempt to answer in this article:

1. Are churches really full of hypocrites?
2. Is hypocrisy acceptable to God?
3. What do these conclusions mean specifically for the church, dechurched, and unchurched? 

Are Churches Full of Hypocrites?

Frankly, this is a silly question. Is the Pope Catholic? Is the Dali Lama Buddhist? Is a Rabbi Jewish? Does everyone crap in the toilet? Yes, churches are full of hypocrites; every single Christian is a hypocrite in some way or another.

How can I be so sure of this claim? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a hypocrite is “a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.”[2] Whether they intend to do it or not, all Christians act in contradiction to their stated beliefs or feelings on a daily basis, making all of them hypocrites.

Is Hypocrisy Acceptable to God?

Seeing as hypocrisy is so wide-spread among Christians, we may be quick to conclude that hypocrisy must be acceptable to God, or at least that God is willing to overlook it. But this is not actually the case at all.

During Jesus’s time on earth, he called out the Jewish leaders for being hypocrites: “So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”[3] If Jesus were here today, he would give the same appeal to all Christians. Outwardly, we may appear righteous to others, but on the inside, we are full of hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is by no means acceptable to God; hypocrisy is sin. As one biblical writer put it: “If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.”[4]

Does God overlook hypocrisy? God never overlooks sin, meaning that he doesn’t overlook hypocrisy either. Instead of overlooking it, God forgives the hypocrisy of his people because Jesus paid for it on the cross.

What Does This Mean for Churched People?

Without exception, we’re all hypocrites. Every single one of us acts contrarily to what we say we believe. The Bible says that it’s a sin to hate a fellow Christian, but most of us have a bone to pick with another Christian. The Bible says that it’s a sin to look at a woman lustfully, but every single guy, including me, has looked at a woman lustfully. All of us–you, me, your best friend, and your pastor–are hypocrites. Now, the question is: How are we going to respond to others out of this realization about ourselves?

I believe that the way we treat other people flows out of the way we feel treated by the authority figures in our lives. If we think our authority figures expect perfection out of us, then we’re naturally going to expect perfection out of other people. If we think our authority figures think we’re worthless, then we’re naturally going to treat other people like they’re worthless. If we think our authority figures show us mercy, then we’re naturally going to show mercy to other people. The way we view how God, the biggest authority figure in the life of a Christian, treats us is naturally going to inform the way we treat the people around us.

Personally, here’s how I understand the way God treats me. I was a worthless hypocritical sinner who could do absolutely nothing to bring myself into a relationship with God. No hand raising, prayer praying, aisle walking, or self-righteous acts on my part were able to earn favor with God such that he would forgive my sins which were piled sky-high. But God chose to give me value and favor, even though I did nothing to earn them.[5] I have nothing to boast about because I did absolutely nothing to earn God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Because God gave me grace, mercy, and forgiveness, even though I did nothing to deserve them, I in turn give grace, mercy, and forgiveness to other people, both to Christians and non-Christians alike, even though many of them do nothing to deserve it.

How does God treat you? How does this knowledge lead you to treat other people, especially people who have limited to no understanding of God?

What Does This Mean for Dechurched and Unchurched People?

Are churches the only places where we find hypocrites? Do we find hypocrites at the grocery store? Do we find hypocrites at the shopping mall? Do we find hypocrites at work? Of course we do. Hypocrites are everywhere. I know a lot of Christians and non-Christians alike who try to act consistently with their beliefs or feelings, but who fail to succeed at it 100 percent of the time. Even if a person is only a hypocrite on one occasion, he’s still a hypocrite in the same way that a person who rapes someone only once is labeled a rapist.

Do you stop going to the grocery store because it’s full of hypocrites? Do you stop going to the shopping mall because it’s full of hypocrites? Do you stop going to work because it’s full of hypocrites? Not at all. You continue going to those places regardless of whether they are full of hypocrites or not. So why do you let hypocritical church people cause you to stay away from church services?[6]

If all of us are hypocrites, what’s stopping us from demonstrating some grace, mercy, and forgiveness to one another, even to people who claim to have cornered the market in grace, mercy, and forgiveness? Whether Christians want to admit it or not, they need grace, mercy, and forgiveness just as much as everyone else. They’re not perfect and they’re never going to perfect in this life in the same way that you’re not perfect and you’re not going to be perfect in this life. When we condemn others as hypocrites, we’re in turn condemning ourselves since we are no different than them.[7]

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[1] According to Barna Research, 85 percent of millennials who don’t go to church say that Christians are hypocritical: Barna Group, “What Millennials Want When They Visit Church,” March 4, 2015, accessed July 3, 2017, https://www.barna.com/research/what-millennials-want-when-they-visit-church/.

[2] “Hypocrite,” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, n.d., accessed July 3, 2017, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrite.

[3] Matthew 23:28.

[4] Romans 14:23 (The Message).

[5] This is what grace is: It’s an unmerited favor. The beauty of God’s grace is that we’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve it. If we had done something to deserve God’s favor, then his favor would be our wages for good works rather than a free gift (Romans 11:6).

[6] I need to provide two clarifications here. (1) I’m not building a case that we need to attend church services in order to be Christians. Christians should want to gather together with other Christians on a regular basis. In our culture, church services are the most prominent way for Christians to gather together on a regular basis, but church services at church buildings aren’t the only way to make that happen. (2) If your logical excuse for not gathering together with other Christians is because they are all hypocrites, then you also must conclude that you can’t gather together with anyone else anywhere else because they’re all hypocrites too. To gather together with anyone would in turn make you a hypocrite since it would go against your beliefs.

[7] Unless I clarify this point, it can be easily misunderstood. Pointing out the fact that someone is a hypocrite isn’t the same as condemning the person for his hypocrisy. We have no authority to condemn anyone since none of us has been given that authority from God. Even if we had the authority to condemn other people, logically speaking, in condemning others for their hypocrisy, we’d be condemning ourselves since we are also guilty of hypocrisy.