What Is a Christian Hypocrite?

For this project, I had an interesting discussion about hypocrisy with Greg Koukl, co-author with Francis Beckwith of the book Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air. He said in our conversation that whenever someone throws around a loaded word like “tolerance” or “hypocrisy,” he asks for clarification. He says, “When somebody says, ‘Well, you’re intolerant. You’re a hypocrite,’ maybe I am, maybe I’m not. It kind of depends on what you mean. So I ask, ‘What is it that you’re seeing in my life that you think is an example of hypocrisy?’  That is, ‘What is your definition of hypocrisy that you’d think I’m one of those?’”

In the real-world setting of the New Testament, Jesus called out the religious leaders as fakers. Koukl explains, “On the outside, they were putting on a religious display, but on the inside, they were deeply corrupt and evil.”

There is no doubt that there were religious hypocrites in the New Testament. They have a sizable role in the unfolding drama as a foil to Jesus. But we are wondering about believers today. A sizeable chunk of people in our survey and focus group agreed with the statement “Most Christians are hypocrites.” But that raises a very big question: Does that shoe fit most Christians? Like Koukl says, “I actually don’t think so. The reason I can say that is because I know a lot of Christians. When someone makes the charge, ‘The church is filled with hypocrites,’ I have what I think is a fair question, ‘When was the last time you were in a church?’”

Koukl points out that many people who throw around that accusation never darken the doors of a church, but they still have no problem drawing conclusions about what the people inside are like. No surprise there. That is just human nature. But that does not make their accusations factually true. Koukl says, “Most of the Christians I know are real human beings deeply committed to their values, and they are not fakers. Are they perfect Christians? No. Nobody is. I’m not.  You’re not. The only perfect ‘Christian’ was Jesus. The rest of us are struggling.”

Everyone is a Sinner

I agree with Koukl when he concludes, “I think it’s fair to make a distinction between somebody who is inconsistent and someone who is a hypocrite.” As we try to answer whether Christians are by and large a bunch of hypocrites, I want to suggest we attempt to wrap our heads around three interrelated truths that grow out of biblical teaching:

All human beings are sinners.

All hypocrites are sinners.

Not all sinners are hypocrites.

One of the core convictions in Christianity is that everyone is a sinner who needs Jesus as their sinless Savior. The Bible is painfully honest as it exposes the sins of God’s people—Abraham commits adultery, Lot gets drunk and impregnates his daughters, Noah gets hammered and passes out naked in his tent like a hillbilly on vacation, David impregnates a married woman and then murders her husband, Solomon builds God’s house then builds himself an even bigger house where he could have sex with hundreds of women like a bad prequel to a Hugh Hefner biopic. Even the guys who were with Jesus for three years do not come off unscathed. Peter denies knowing Jesus not just once but three times. Thomas doubts that Jesus rose from the dead. Even though Peter undergoes a radical life change, later in life he still needs Paul to rebuke him to his face for being a racist.