Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Hypocrite
Subjects in this Topic:
HYPOCRITE.—This word occurs in the NT only in the Synoptic Gospels; but ‘hypocrisy’ is used in the Epistles (Gal_2:13, 1Ti_4:2, 1Pe_2:1), and the verb ‘to play the hypocrite’ in Luk_20:20 (tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘feigned’). The hypocrisy of the Gospels is the ‘appearing before men what one ought to be, but is not, before God.’ At times it is a deliberately played part (e.g. Mat_6:2; Mat_6:5; Mat_6:16; Mat_22:18 etc.), at others it is a deception of which the actor himself is unconscious (e.g. Mar_7:6, Luk_6:42; Luk_12:56 etc.). Thus, according to Christ, all who play the part of religion, whether consciously or unconsciously, without being religious, are hypocrites; and so fall under His sternest denunciation (Mat_23:1-39). This meaning of the word has led some to give it the wider interpretation of ‘godlessness’ in some passages (e.g. Mat_24:51; cf. Luk_12:46); but as there may always be seen in the word the idea of a religious cloak over the godlessness, the ordinary sense should stand.
In the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] of OT (e.g. Job_8:13, Isa_9:17) ‘hypocrite’ is a mistranslation of the Heb. word chânçph. It passed into the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] from the Latin, which followed the Greek Versions. In RV [Note: Revised Version.] it is rendered ‘godless,’ ‘profane.’
Charles T. P. Grierson.