True Christianity: Imperfect People Striving for Perfection

Hypocrisy vs. humanity

In its most literal form, the Greek word for hypocrisy, hypokrisis, simply means acting. Theater productions in the time of Christ depended on the skill of the play’s hypocrites, or actors—the better the hypocrite, the more convincing the show. When Jesus accused religious leaders of hypocrisy, He was basically accusing them of being actors—playing a certain character, putting on an entire performance for the sake of the audience, while in their hearts they were someone completely different. Their piety was a performance, not a genuine action.

GOD KNOWS HE’S CALLED HIS PEOPLE TO DO SOME HARD THINGS, AND HE DOESN’T EXPECT THEM TO MAKE IT THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT PICKING UP SOME SCRATCHES AND DINGS ALONG THE WAY.

Two thousand years later, hypocrisy is a word we tend to throw around with a little less restraint. Rather than a word for clear cases of intentional deception, hypocrite is a label we apply to anyone who visibly fails to live up his or her own values.

That’s not always hypocrisy. Sometimes, that’s just called humanity. All human beings have trouble living up to a set of standards that don’t come naturally—the thing is, some of us just handle it differently.