Hypocrisy and the Behavior of Christians

Q: Why do Christians still do wrong (bad) things?

A: Christians are imperfect humans with free will living in a broken and sinful world. We are tempted to do wrong just like other people and are quite capable of choosing poorly under our own power. We believe that Jesus Christ has offered complete forgiveness through his death and resurrection to everyone who believes in him. Unfortunately, many Christians stop at this offer – what we call justification. Justification is the act of God in Christ Jesus that saves us from the penalty of disobedience to God’s will.

But God has offered so much more. God has given those who believe in Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God actually living in us. The work of the Spirit is to convict us of sin so that we are aware of our need for forgiveness, to testify to the truth and saving power of Jesus Christ, and to guide us and empower us so that we become increasingly like Jesus – the only human who didn’t do wrong. So by the Spirit’s power we are being perfected into the likeness of Jesus, though we are not yet perfect. This “being perfected” is called sanctification.

It is sad to say that many Christians know little or nothing of the work of the Spirit. The truth is that even those of us who do will sometimes choose our own will and power over the promptings and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us into Christ-likeness, but the Spirit does not force us into Christ-likeness. The result is that we do wrong, and people get hurt.

Only when a Christian is claiming to be perfect or give off a thick air of self-righteousness does the label hypocrite really apply. But any such person is not thinking as a true Christian because we know that we are not perfect or righteous by ourselves. But because Christians speak about right and wrong, healthy and unhealthy, obedience and sin, the world can quickly use this cutting term.

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Judgment

Q: How do we interact with those Christians who behave in ways that are inconsistent with Christianity? How do we not judge hypocritical behavior?

A: I suspect that at various times in all of our lives, if we were honest, we would all have to admit that we have fallen short of what Christ would desire for us. In other words, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It is important that we remember where we all have come from in this regard. We are all in need of a Savior.

However, I do believe the Scripture teaches that once someone has decided to follow Christ there is an expectation on that person’s behavior. It doesn’t mean that we will never mess up again. It simply means that our lives and behavior will increasingly reflect the beauty of Christ. He will increase in our lives and we will decrease (John 3:30). There is no doubt that the expectation of the Scripture is that we would live holy lives that reflect the example of Jesus Christ. We are called to live pure and blameless lives. We are called to reject anything that is evil or sinful.

The question asked mainly deals with the important issue of judgment. How do we interact or not judge those who are betraying their stated commitment to Christ?

Christians, a lot of the time, have a misconception of what the Bible actually teaches on judgment. I have noticed that many Christians are hesitant to give any judgment because they have been told that it is inappropriate for them to judge, and what’s more interesting is that they were told this by the secular community.

There is no doubt that it is God’s job to judge. This is clear in the Scripture. However, I believe that the Scripture allows us to decide or judge whether or not a behavior is in-line with the Scripture. Should a Christian gossip? The answer the Bible gives us is “no.” Is that a judgment? Of course it is. Our judgments should be in-line with the standards given in the Scripture.

A couple of practical suggestions on this question: (1) Judgment without relationship can be destructive. In other words, do you know or have a relationship with the person? If not, more than likely the person is not going to listen to you anyway. (2) Judgment is vital to right living. God has given us the Scripture so that we would know Him and know how to live. The Scripture gives us all kinds of instructions for living, but some of those instructions are implied or inferred; therefore, we must make judgments. (3) Duplicity is inconsistent with the Christian life, but many times we find ourselves or others living hypocritical lives. Therefore, we must lead with grace as God did for each of us; we must hold one another accountable to the standards of Christ; we must remember that we all have fallen short; we must remember that we all are at different places in our journey towards Christ; and finally we must never expect someone that doesn’t have a relationship with Christ to behave like some who does.

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