The most common charge against religion is hypocrisy. Even unbelievers who care little for truth or righteousness know to denounce hypocrisy. Their problem, of course, is that they are hypocrites themselves. They accuse others of the very thing that defines them. Nevertheless, hypocrisy is real and dangerous, and the Bible denounces it in the strongest possible terms. It is not only a moral fault but a direct rejection of God’s word. Those who persist in it show that they do not belong to Christ, no matter what confession they make with their lips.
When people speak of hypocrisy, they usually mean one thing. They mean that a person praises the blessings of the gospel while denying God’s authority over him. This is indeed hypocrisy. A man who rejoices in forgiveness but refuses to repent, who praises grace while despising holiness, lives a lie. He wants the fruit of the tree without the root, the inheritance without the Son. This kind of hypocrisy is everywhere, and it leads multitudes to destruction.
But there is another kind of hypocrisy. A person may cling to obligations while rejecting the blessings. He may talk endlessly about self-denial, cross-bearing, or moral duties, while scorning healing, peace, joy, abundance, and power. He pretends to honor the commands while trampling the promises. He keeps his traditions and scruples, but despises the true gospel. He claims to believe in Christ, but only the Christ who demands. He has no interest in the Christ who gives. This hypocrisy is more subtle, and even more deadly. It mutilates the gospel by cutting faith and grace out of it. And then we see there is really nothing left.
Both kinds of hypocrisy commit the same essential crime: they change the word of God. Some distort his word to eliminate sin. They redefine terms until what God calls wicked is celebrated as righteous. They say they have no sin, not because they have been cleansed, but because they have manipulated language to excuse themselves. They change doctrine to match their desires, and then declare that God approves of what they love. The people enjoy their perversion, so they rewrite God’s word to call it holy. They even say that God applauds them. This is hypocrisy in its most shameless form.
Others change God’s word to excuse their weakness. Their experience is powerless, sickly, and barren. Instead of letting Scripture set their expectations, they let their lack define their theology. They say that miracles are gone, that power is no longer for today, that faith accomplishes little or nothing. In this way, they alter God’s word to match their failures. They even congratulate themselves for being realistic, mature, and biblical, when in fact they are faithless, hypocritical, and deceitful.
True faith does the opposite. It does not bend the word of God to experience. It bends experience to his word. Faith takes the promises of God as definition and standard. It insists that God’s word is true even when experience screams otherwise. Faith expects healing because God promised it. Faith expects abundance because God promised it. Faith expects deliverance, power, miracles, and victory because his word guarantees them. Faith is loyalty to the promises as well as to the commands.
Scripture says, “Do not be deceived: whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” If you sow unbelief, you will reap unbelief. If you sow the doctrine of sickness, you will reap sickness. If you replace God with the powers of this earth, he will replace you with another in heaven. Hypocrisy does not go unpunished. It brings its own judgment.
The hypocrisy of religionists illustrates this. They use God’s will as an excuse to avoid obedience. The Bible says to pray in faith for healing. The Bible says it will surely happen. But they answer with deceit: “Yes, God heals, if it is his will.” This is nothing more than unbelief and rebellion dressed in religious language. It is the same as saying, “I will believe it after it happens, but not before.” It is the exact opposite of faith. If healing comes, they say, “Praise God, it was his will.” If healing does not come, they say the same thing. In both cases they have refused to believe God’s word, and then congratulate themselves as if they had been spiritual. This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.
The cessationist commits the worst crime. He crucifies Christ again and again by rejecting the blessings that his blood purchased. Healing, miracles, and gifts of power are not side benefits but the gospel. Christ bore our sicknesses. Christ promised power from on high. To dismiss these things as unworthy of the gospel is to trample Christ himself. It is to treat his blood as worthless and his covenant as a lie. The cessationist takes the cross and rips out its meaning, then pretends to honor it. That is hypocrisy.
Some defend this hypocrisy with appeals to divine sovereignty. They say that God is in control, and if he wills healing, it will come. This sounds pious, but it contradicts Scripture. The same Bible that teaches God’s sovereignty also commands prayer, promises answers, and describes miracles as normal. If your doctrine of God’s sovereignty contradicts interaction with God as Scripture describes it, then you are wrong. True theology cannot pit God against his own word.
The Bible is in truth a massive rebuke to faithless religion. Every promise, every command to believe, every word that exalts faith over sight, stands as a divine insult to their hypocrisy. Scripture is God’s middle finger to the theologian who says, “It will only happen if God wills.” God already revealed his will. The only question is whether you will believe it.
Rhetoric against these errors must be strong, even offensive. Some say we should tone down our language. They say it is only a difference in tradition. They call it a denominational matter, as if it were only a matter of taste or clique. They have no idea what is at stake. This is about the gospel itself. To compromise on this is to reject the gospel. To excuse it is to betray Christ.
The hypocrite may say he loves Christ. He may parade his reverence for God’s sovereignty. He may wear his obligations like a badge of honor. But if he refuses the blessings, if he denies the promises, if he changes God’s word to match his failure, then his faith is a lie. The hypocrite who accepts the blessings but rejects God’s authority will perish. The hypocrite who accepts the obligations but rejects God’s blessings will perish as well, because he never believed God in the first place. Christ saves only those who embrace the gospel, and there is only one gospel.