Hypocrisy is pretending to be something you are not, especially pretending to be religious or good. Our modern understanding of the word “hypocrisy” comes from how it is used in the New Testament, especially by Jesus. In both the New Testament and later meanings, the word usually meant lying, not telling the truth, or claiming to have good qualities you do not have.
Original Meaning
Hypocrisy has a consistently negative meaning in the Bible. However, when it was first used by the Greeks, it did not mean something bad. It meant "to explain" or "to interpret." A person called a "hypocrite" was usually an actor in plays who helped explain stories to the audience.
Originally, a hypocrite could be a speaker or actor who interpreted the words of a poet or the music of a composer. The actor, or hypocrite, tried to make the poet's or composer's work clear for the audience.
On a bigger scale, the hypocrite could be one actor among others in a play performed on a stage. A good hypocrite played their assigned role, while a bad hypocrite played their role poorly. Because the word itself did not have a positive or negative meaning, other words were needed to show how it was being used.
In Hellenistic times (about 325–125 BC), the world was often seen as a stage and all human behavior as acting. A person's role and script were written for them by family, culture, and religious background and could be performed either well or poorly. When used this way, hypocrisy does not mean pretending or faking.
However, there are times when “hypocrite” was used to describe a person who acted out their life role in a false way. The image shown to the public was like a mask hiding the true and different self.
Jesus's Teaching About Hypocrisy
The Gospels often use the terms “hypocrisy” and “hypocrite” to record the conflict between Jesus and those who opposed him (for "hypocrisy" see Matthew 23:28; Mark 12:15b; Luke 12:1; for "hypocrite" see Matthew 7:5; 24:51; Luke 6:42; 13:15). He saw that these leaders (the Pharisees and Sadducees) acted one way in public but failed to live up to God's most important commands. They made a show of following religious rules, but they did not practice what really matters to God:
Being kind to others
Treating people fairly
Being humble
Forgiving others
Showing love to people who are hard to love (Luke 11:38, 42).
But Jesus knew they were hiding their true nature behind religious acts (Mark 7:1–13). Inside, they were full of greed and evil (Luke 11:39). Jesus taught that a hypocrite is someone who looks good on the outside but is bad on the inside (Matthew 23:28).
Jesus spoke strongly against hypocrisy because it twisted God's good commands. Instead of trying to be truly good inside, hypocrites made goodness into strict rules they could show off to others (Matthew 23:2–7). Their way of being "good" showed they did not understand how God makes peace with sinners (Luke 16:15). The hypocrites, who claimed to explain God to people, actually misrepresented him. Their false teaching led people away from God instead of helping them make peace with him (Luke 11:52). Hypocrites not only keep others from entering God's kingdom, but they also do not go in themselves (Matthew 23:13).