Hypocrite / Hypocrisy /Hypocritical
See also
FEIGN,
PERSON
BIBLE
Vincent's New Testament Word Studies (1891), vol. I, p. 150.
Hypocrites (ὑποκριταί)
From ὑποκρίνω, to separate gradually; so of separating the truth from a mass of falsehood, and thence to subject to inquiry, and, as a result of this, to expound or interpret what is elicited. Then, to reply to inquiry, and so to answer on the stage, to speak in dialogue, to act. From this the transition is easy to assuming, feigning, playing a part. The hypocrite is, therefore, etymologically, an actor.
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. William Edwy Vine,
5272. HUPOKRISIS. Hypocrisy. Primarily denotes 'a reply, an answer' (akin to hupokrinomai, 'to answer'); then, 'play-acting,' as the actors spoke in dialogue; hence, 'pretence, hypocrisy'; it is translated 'hypocrisy' in Matt. 23:28; Mark 12:15; Luke 12:1; 1 Tim. 4:2; the plural in 1 Pet. 2:1. For Gal. 2:13 and anupokritos, "without hypocrisy," in Jas. 3:17, see DISSIMULATION."
5273 HUPOKRITES. Hypocrite. Corresponding to the above, primarily denotes 'one who answers'; then, 'a stage-actor'; it was a custom for Greek and Roman actors to speak in large masks with mechanical devices for augmenting the force of the voice; hence the word became used metaphorically of 'a dissembler, a hypocrite.' It is found only in the Synoptists, and always used by the Lord, fifteen times in Matthew; elsewhere, Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42; 11:44 (in some mss.); 12:56; 13:15
Easton's Bible Dictionary, Matthew George Easton, 1897
Hypocrite
One who puts on a mask and feigns himself to be what he is not; a dissembler in religion. Our Lord severely rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Mat 6:2, 5, 16). "The hypocrite's hope shall perish" (Job 8:13). The Hebrew word here rendered "hypocrite" rather means the "godless" or "profane," as it is rendered in Jer 23:11, i.e., polluted with crimes.
The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men, A Sermon by John Witherspoon
Many from a real or pretended fear of the imputation of hypocrisy, banish from their conversation and carriage every appearance of respect and submission to the Living God. What a weakness and meanness of spirit does it discover for a man to be ashamed in the presence of his fellow sinners, to profess that reverence to Almighty God which he inwardly feels? The truth is, he makes himself truly liable to the accusation which he means to avoid. It is as genuine and perhaps a more culpable hypocrisy to appear to have less religion than you really have, than to appear to have more. This false shame is a more extensive evil than is commonly apprehended. We contribute constantly, though insensibly, to form each others character and manners; and therefore, the usefulness of a strictly holy and conscientious deportment is not confined to the possessor, but spreads its happy influence to all that are within its reach. I need scarcely add, that in proportion as men are distinguished by understanding, literature, age, rank, office, wealth, or any other circumstance, their example will be useful on the one hand, or pernicious on the other.
Matthew Henry's Commentary On the Whole Bible, (1706) Vol. 5, pp.65 and 66.
"We must take heed of hypocrisy and worldlymindedness in choosing the master we serve. v. 24. No man can serve two masters. Serving two masters is contrary to the single eye; for the eye will be to the master's hand. Ps. 123:1, 2. Our Lord Jesus here exposes the cheat which those put upon their own souls, who think to divide between God and the world, to have a treasure on earth, and a treasure in Heaven too, to please God and please men too. Why not? says the hypocrite; it is good to have two strings to one's bow. They hope to make their religion serve their secular interest, and so turn to account both ways. The pretending mother was for dividing the child; the Samaritans will compound between God and idols. No, says Christ, this will not do; it is but a supposition that gain is godliness, 1 Tim. 6:5.
Rev. Jeremy Taylor (1647)
"Force in matters of opinion can do no good, but is very apt to do hurt; for no man can change his opinion when he will, or be satisfied in his reason that his opinion is false because discountenanced. If a man could change his opinion when he lists, he might cure many inconveniences of his life: all his fears and his sorrows would soon disband, if he would but alter his opinion, whereby he is persuaded that such an accident that afflicts him is an evil, and such an object formidable; let him but believe himself impregnable, or that he receives a benefit when he is plundered, disgraced, imprisoned, condemned, and afflicted, neither his sleeps need to be disturbed, nor his quietness discomposed. But if a man cannot change his opinion when he lists, nor ever does heartily or resolutely but when he cannot do otherwise, then to use force may make him an hypocrite but never to be right believer; and so, instead of erecting a trophy to God and true religion, we build a monument for the devil. "
Herald of Gospel Liberty, Elias Smith, January 19, 1810
"As truth is no private man's property, and all Christians are under obligations to propagate it; I do also declare that every Christian has a right to publish and vindicate what he believes is contained in the Scriptures; to speak and write against all corruption of the word, either in doctrine or practice; and to expose the errors of good men, and the wickedness, oppression, and hypocrisy of ungodly men; that every Christian has not only a right, but is commanded to separate from such professors whose doctrine and worship are contrary to what he finds recorded in the Scriptures; and that he has a right to enjoy without disturbance, oppression, or disgrace, or any kind of punishment, civil or ecclesiastical, the liberty of serving God, with any other company of Christians, as he shall judge most expedient and useful to him."
DEFINITIONS
Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
HYP'OCRITE, noun
1. One who feigns to be what he is not; one who has the form of godliness without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, when he is destitute of true religion.
And the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Job 8:1.
2. A dissembler; one who assumes a false appearance.
Fair hypocrite you seek to cheat in vain.
HYPOC'RISY, noun [Latin hypocrisis; Gr. simulation; to feign; to separate, discern or judge.]
1. Simulation; a feigning to be what one is not; or dissimulation, a concealment of one's real character or motives. More generally, hypocrisy is simulation, or the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of a good character, in morals or religion; a counterfeiting of religion.
Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy Luke 12:1.
2. Simulation; deceitful appearance; false pretence.
Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy.
The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 1895
hypocrite (hip'o-krit), n.
L., a mimic who accompanied the delivery of an actor by gestures;
One who assumes a false appearance; one who feigns to be what he is not, or to feel or believe what he does not actually feel or believe; especially, a false pretender to virtue or piety.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1919
hypo'crisy, n.
Simulation of virtue or goodness ; dissimulation, pretence, [f. OF ypocrisie f. eccl. L f. Gk hupokrisis lit. acting of a part. f. hupokrinomai (hupo- hypo- + krino decide, judge)]
hypocrite, n.
Person guilty of hypocrisy; dissembler, pretender. So hypocritiCAL a.,
Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary, 1977
Hypocrisy
The pretense of having feelings or characteristics one does not possess; especially, the deceitful assumption of praiseworthy qualities; insincerity.
Hypocrite
One who practices hypocrisy.
MISCELLANEOUS CITATIONS
Stillingfleet, Sermons, II.i.
The fawning, sneaking, and flattering hypocrite, that will do or be any thing for his own advantage, is despised by those he courts, hated by good men, and at last tormented by his own conscience.
Milton –
And in matters of Religion there is not any thing more intolerable then a learned foole, or a learned Hypocrite.
"The Tragic Era: The Revolution After Lincoln," Claude G. Bowers, 1929
"Never have American public men in responsible positions, directing the destiny of the Nation, been so brutal, hypocritical, and corrupt. The Constitution was treated as a door mat on which politicians and army officers wiped their feet after wading in the muck. Never has the Supreme Court been treated with such ineffable contempt, and never has that tribunal so often cringed before the clamor of the mob."
Mansfield, Chamberlain v. Evans (1767), 16 Parl.Hist 313, 325.
"Conscience is not controlable by human laws, nor amenable to human tribunals. Persecution, or attempts to force consciences, will never produce conviction; and are only calculated to make hypocrites, or martyrs"
Rowland Hill, Aug. 30, 1775.
"If a person was to attend the levee of an earthly prince every court day, and pay his obeisance punctually and respectfully, but at other times speak and act in opposition to his sovereign, the king would justly deem such a one a hypocrite and an enemy. Nor will a solemn and stated attendance on the means of grace in the house of God prove us to be God's children and friends if we confine our religion to the church walls, and do not devote our lips and lives to the glory of that Saviour we profess to love."
Thomas Jefferson from Notes on Virginia, 1784.
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error and of error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free inquiry been indulged at the era of the Reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food. Government is just as infallible, too, when it fixed systems in physics. Galileo was sent to the Inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere; the government had declared it to be as flat as a trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. This error, however, at length prevailed, the earth became a globe, and Descartes declared it was whirled round its axis by a vortex. The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it would be were the government to step in, and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a censor morum over such other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites, to support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves. But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister states of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has answered beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Religion is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough; all sufficient to preserve peace and order; or if a sect arises, whose tenets should subvert morals, good sense has fair play, and reasons and laughs it out of doors, without suffering the state to be troubled with it. They do not hang more malefactors than we do. They are not more disturbed with religious dissensions. On the contrary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be ascribed to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, because there is no other circumstance in which they differ from every nation on earth. They have made the happy discovery that the way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them."
