IS HYPOCRISY A PLAGUE AMONG CHRISTIANS ?

Hypocrites are not content to be wicked like the rest of the ungodly; they still want to be seen as good, and make, by their false virtue, that men no longer dare to trust the true"(Fénelon). Introduction I was once asked a question: "Why are all Christians  hypocrites?" It was an embarrassing, relevant and provocative question. Are all Christians hypocrites? Not sure. But, unfortunately, some feel comforted in this point of view by saying that all Christians are hypocrites. Certainly, the term "hypocrite" has a rich legacy, but it is better to understand its semantic dimension to better talk about it. What is hypocrisy or hypocrite?

Hypocrisy and hypocrite are two Greek words hupokrisis, hupokritès that first mean, literally, "role played" and "actor"; but the Bible uses them only figuratively. The translation of the LXX (A.T. into Greek) has "hypocrites" in Job 34:30 36:13, for the Hebrew khâneph, which designates the ungodly (Job 8:13,Pr 11:9,Esa 9:16 etc.); the Verse, Syn. has "hypocrisy" in Da 11:34, for the Hebrew khâlaq, which designates flattery; these two Hebrew terms are united in Da 11:32 for "seduction out of flattery". But without possessing a particular word for this vice, the A. T, characterizes very clearly the hypocrite: hidden pervert (Ps 26:4,Pr 10:18 26:23,27 etc.), double heart, false tongue (Ps 12:3-5), he seeks to deceive God (Ps 78:36 and following), but vainly (Job 5:12 15:31,34); all the prophets had to rise up against him (Hos 10:2 etc.), and false prophets are hypocrites in their eyes, flatterers when they proclaim the message that pleases instead of proclaiming the truth (Jeremiah 6:13ff., Ezekiel 13, etc.); as for hypocrisy in worship, it is denounced by Isaiah in Isaiah 1:10ff.

The apocrypha condemn it  in Sir 32:15, and in the heroic refusal of the old man Eleazar to "pretend" to eat the impure meat: "It is not appropriate, at my age, to make the hypocrite and to mislead the youth..." (2Ma 6:21,24). The Talmud is also severe: "God hates him whose mouth speaks in one way and the heart in another... A society that has hypocrites within it is abominable and ends up in exile, etc."

This sin of hypocrisy was therefore not new in the time of Jesus; even the leaders of the Jewish religion held to it. Indeed, it was not surprising that the uprightness of Christ, unassailable in character, should raise against him all the resources of duplicity and threats. (cf. Luke 20:20 etc.) . That is to say, hypocrisy represents the deepest degree of sin: it consists essentially in concealing one's inner being and deceiving one's neighbor about it, and to combat it one must first bring it to light (Luke 12:1ff. ); it takes its stand in lying, deliberately and progressively, as logical in its efforts against the truth as faith is consistent in its search for the truth, and this is why the condemnations pronounced by Jesus on the religious leaders, according to the Gospels (Mt 23:1 ff., etc.), and completed in the fourth Gospel by the speech on "lying", addressed to the same leaders (Jn. 8:44), are so direct and ruthless in their tone. 

Hypocrisy puts the conscience to sleep by replacing God's demands with mechanical practices intended for the sight of men (Mt 15:6, Lu 11:42 etc.), which stifles any intimate impulse towards the good; it acts as an internal ferment of degradation, as a power continually at work against the Kingdom of God (Luke 11:52 etc.); in the individual, its final result is that definitive insensitivity to the imperative of duty as well as to the call of divine love, which some passages call "sin against the Holy Spirit" (cf. the relationship between Luke 12:1 et seq. and Luke 12:10, cf. Mr 3:20 et seq., Mt12:22 et seq.).  

In the earliest times when Christ founded the Kingdom, hypocrisy was beginning to corrupt Christianity as it had done Judaism. That is why the Lord not only launched direct attacks on the sins of passion, which are opposed to faith and love, but also intensified the frontal assaults on the sins that were being meditated upon and maintained, and that were being covered up from the outside of the religious life.

 In the discourse on the mountain, hypocrisy appears as the very negation of the Kingdom: (Mt 6:1 et seq.) one is aimed at appearances, the other at the heart; one seeks the public, the other the secret of prayer; one extinguishes the inner eye, the other revives its light; they are the two masters between whom one must choose, the two kinds of judgments, prophets, trees, foundations (Mt 7:1-5,15-28,24-27). In the controversies with the Jewish leaders, false devotees responsible for the formalism, indifference and suffering of their time, Jesus unmasks them with supreme energy: "Hypocrites!", that is, "comedians!" (Mr 7:6, Mon 6:42 12:56 13:15,Mt 22:18 23:13 15,23,25,27,29).

In the New Testament, there is a warning about hypocrisy, which Peter calls "insincerity" (1 Peter 2:1). There are also two glaring examples of hypocrisy in the church: in Acts 5:1-10, two disciples are denounced for claiming to be more generous than they actually were. And the consequence was terrible. Peter himself will find himself at the head of a group accused of hypocrisy in their treatment of Gentile believers (Gal 2:13).

Obviously, we can remember that any individual who calls himself a Christian is not necessarily an authentic Christian. Perhaps the vast majority of these Christians indulged in hypocrisy and were in fact just apparent Christians or simply impostors.

Where does hypocrisy begin?

Pascal, in his book Les Pensées states that: "Man is therefore only disguise, only lies and hypocrisy, and in himself and towards others. So he doesn't want to be told the truth. He avoids telling others; and all these dispositions, so far removed from justice and reason, have a natural root in his heart." In other words, Pascal wants to demonstrate here that man is the being who has more self-love than love of the true: he prefers to ignore his vices and see himself more perfect than he is, than to correct himself, because such a correction would first imply that he becomes aware of his own misery. Self-love is therefore this "unfortunate root", to use another Paschal expression, root belonging to human nature (which is why it is "natural"), which does not cease to distance man from a truth that he knows, and that he hates all the more since, despite all the flattery, he hardly manages to forget it[1] .  Everyone loves only himself, everyone knows himself to be detestable, and even the noblest actions are carried out only out of interest, desire for recognition and thirst for flattery. The good man is almost never good except in appearance, since he is only good to be praised for this very goodness – and he knows it, as he knows that others do not ignore it, at the very moment they praise it. That is why, in simple terms, hypocrisy consists of a kind of lie by which we hide ourselves from others, for our own sake. It is false.

So what about christians today?

La Rochefoucauld rightly tells us that "Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue". Indeed, the hypocrite wants to pretend to be virtuous but his behavior always denotes vice. It is also a way of saying that Christians, at times, are often tempted to pretend to apply Christian virtue when they are in hypocrisy. Indeed, most Christians pretend to live their faith.

We have already pointed this out. At the beginning of the Church, hypocrisy causes a terrible scandal (Acts 5:1,11). The great discussion of the relationship between pagan converts and Judaic ordinances leads Peter and Barnabas to accommodations that the apostle Paul calls hypocrisy (Gal 2:14), but which will only be temporary. From this incident, the apostle Paul will denounce the role of this vice in the expansion of evil doctrines (1Ti 4:2); he considers that duplicity (lit., double language) is incompatible with the functions of a deacon (1Ti 3:8). He repeats that christian virtues must guard against this risk, when he wants them to be sincere, lit. "without hypocrisy": charity (2 Cor 6:6,Ro 12:9), faith (1Ti 1:5,2Ti 1:5); likewise Peter for brotherly love (1 Peter 1:22) and James for wisdom (James 3:17).

Nowadays, the observation is bitter and reveals that the Church seems to live an apparent faith. Hypocritical behavior invades places of worship. One claims to love one another according to the counsel of Christ, but it is hatred, contempt for one another that prevails. Communion is advocated, but divisions are multiplying and being seen day by day. Truth is shown as the substrate of our Christian life, but lies are transformed into virtue in the way we live. We kiss each other, yet our hearts are filled only with hatred and backbiting. We claim to belong to God's family while we feel unable to welcome into our communities those who are not our own. Isn't this a way of mocking God whom we claim to worship (Gal 6:7)? All these pitfalls exposed to the public tarnish the image of the Church and make us hypocrites in the eyes of those outside.

So, rather than condemning the entire Christian community, would it not be better to ask ourselves first whether all those who claim to be Christians really christians?

From the New Testament teaching itself, we can draw at least two conclusions. The first conclusion is that hypocrisy exists among Christians. It was present from the beginning, and according to Jesus' parable of the tares and the wheat, it will certainly exist until the end of time (Matthew 13:18-30). Furthermore, if an apostle is guilty of hypocrisy, there is no reason to think that common Christians will be exempt from it. However, we must always be vigilant not to fall into the hypocrisy temptation (1 Corinthians 10:12) that distorts the Christian faith. The second conclusion is that if we are not surprised to see people who think they are holier than they really are and yet declare themselves to be Christians, we cannot say that the Church is composed almost entirely of hypocrites. There are also born-again children of God who have a clear desire to "walk according to Christ".

Ultimately, hypocrisy is a mutant virus that destroys our soul. Subtle, it eats away at us without our knowledge. While it can be conceded that all of us who confess the Name of Jesus Christ remain sinners even after the forgiveness of our sins, we must also know that hypocrisy separates us from god's love. This is a reality, even though we are saved from the eternal punishment that is normally the wages of sin (Romans 5:1; 6:23). We must be delivered from the presence of other vices that inhabit us daily (1 John 1:8-9), including hypocrisy.  That is why, moreover, the Apostle Paul rightly recommends it to us in Eph 4:25: "

 Renounce lies, and let each of you speak according to the truth to your neighbor; for we are members of one another."

In fact, if Church members had a habit of praying for each other and picking each other up privately and gently when the first signs of sinful conduct appeared, the Church would have very few hypocrites within it, because any disagreement would begin and end with a conversation between two people that would never reach someone else's ears. Truth will thus be the key word of true fraternal communion.

It's time to think about it and pick up again!

Jimi ZACKA

Exegete, Anthropologist, Researcher

    

 

GOLGOTHA, PLACE OF AN UNUSUAL VICTORY

This name, which designates the place where Jesus was crucified, appears only in three texts: Mt 27:33 (they arrived at a place named G.), Mk 15:22 (they thus lead him to G.) and John 19:17 (Jesus, carrying the cross himself, came to the place called Skull, in Hebrew G.). Matthew and Mark also both explain that G. means: Place of the Skull. Luke dispenses with the word Semitic and simply says, "When they had arrived at the place called Skull" (Luke 23:33). Golgotha derives, in fact, from the Aramaic, goulgolta or golgolta, corresponding to the Hebrew goulgôlet = skull, head; the Vulg, translated Calvaria, hence the name of Calvary given instead of the torture of Jesus. According to the 4th Gospel, only Jesus was buried in the immediate vicinity of the location of the cross, so also in the vicinity of Golgotha.

Why this name? Different explanations have been proposed. This was, it was said, the place of execution of criminals: skulls usually dragged there. To which it must be answered that the Jews would not have tolerated such impurity and that Joseph of Arimathea, advisor of distinction, would not have owned a garden near this macabre place. The name Golgotha is best explained by the legend that Adam's skull was buried there; but this tradition, which would be of Jewish origin, is probably after the death of Jesus: the writings of the N.T. do not speak of it any more than the ancient Jewish authors; and how would Pilate have dared to carry out a triple execution at this place necessarily respected by the Jews? It is therefore rather likely that the Golgotha region owes its name quite simply to the shape of the terrain: there was not so much a prominent summit as a protrusion detached, in promontory, from the main hill; well featured on the ramp, this jump of land vaguely recalled, by its lines,  a head or skull (cf. the Arabic word râs = the head, the promontory).

But more important is the question of where this place was. The N.T., which assumes it to be known, does not provide much detail on this subject. It follows from the texts that the place where Jesus died is undoubtedly outside, but near the city (Mt 28:11, Jn 19:17,20, cf. Heb 13:12, Mk 12:8 and parallel), and that nearby passes a path frequented (Mk 15:29, Mt 27:39, Jn 19:20). The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, moreover, could not be in the city; and the executions, according to Jewish and Roman usage, were carried out outside the walls, but preferably around the gates, so that many would witness them.

In accordance with these indications, Christian tradition, early in the past, located Golgotha north of ancient Jerusalem, on the spot where the famous sanctuary of the Holy Sepulchre stands even today, one of the chapels of which would protect the very rock of Calvary. The origin of this building goes back to Constantine himself who, in 326, demolished the pagan temple erected in this place and replaced it with a magnificent basilica to the glory of the Crucified. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts, in his life of Constantine (III, 25-40), how was discovered, in an unexpected way, "the cave of salvation", and suggests that it was not unknown at that time where Golgotha was located, whose well-known name had not been forgotten. It is possible to think that the Christian community, for its part, had kept the memory of such an important location in the history of its Master. The shape of the tomb unearthed by Constantine, and which is still today the main relic of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, would correspond, moreover, to the biblical indications.

A serious objection was made, however, to the traditional location: the enclosure of Jerusalem that existed at the time of Christ stood, it is said, north of Golgotha admitted as authentic and, therefore, encompassed it in its walls; Since Jesus was crucified outside the city, the true Calvary must be sought elsewhere. And various locations have been proposed, among which the most worthy of attention is that of the so-called tomb of Gordon (fig. 99) and the hill under which it is located, north of the current damascus gate; it has many famous supporters. This problem has given rise to fierce controversy. It is very difficult, in fact, to establish in detail the route of the wall that went from the Antonia fortress to Herod's palace. As long as it is not proven that the contemporary wall of Christ was north of the current Holy Sepulchre, it will be better to consider, more or less, the traditional location as historical.

"If there is no decisive reason to place Golgotha in the precise place where since Constantine the whole of Christendom has venerated it, there is also no major objection that obliges to disturb Christian memories in this regard." (Renan.)

Various legends naturally gravitate around this sacred location. The most famous and oldest claims that Adam is buried there; or at least his skull, as will be said later. Hence the presence of a skull at the foot of more than one figuration of the cross: "The doctor," said Augustine, "was raised where the sick man lay." This tradition has been reinforced by various developments and as early as 626 a chapel of Adam is placed in the sanctuary of the Holy Sepulchre. Another legend claims that Golgotha is at the center of the world. It was there, adds yet another, that Abraham wanted to sacrifice his only son and that Melchizedek officiated. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre offers, among other things, to the veneration of pilgrims the altar of Melchizedek [and the chapel of the sacrifice of Abraham.

As for Calvary proper, it was already included in the Basilica of Constantine and it is, even today, one of the most visited places in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. On the rock, which is accessed by a staircase, there is an opening, set with silver, where the cross would have been planted. Further south is the famous crack in the rock that would have opened at the death of Jesus and that would extend to the center of the earth.

 

See A. Westphal, J.N. after Tim., II, pp. 80-196; Dalman, Itin., ch. XXI

 

Prof. Jimi ZACKA, PhD

Professor of NT