Part Two: “Are Christians Who Sin Automatically Hypocrites?”
The Lesser Charge: There’s no doubt that Christians go wrong, make mistakes, and sin—sometimes even deliberately. The Bible affirms this at every turn. It teaches that all people are guilty of sin—Christians and non-Christian alike. And if anyone denies this, they are a liar (Rom. 3:23; 1John 1:10). Indeed, the purpose of Jesus’ coming, and the heart of His present ministry, is to save lost sinners. Jesus came to heal the “sick”, not the “healthy” (Matt. 9:12-13). For this reason, Christians are the first to admit they are sinners. That’s how they came to Christ, accepting His invitation to all sinners to come to Him. Christians are even encouraged to confess their sins “to each other” (James 5:16).
Does this make Christians hypocrites? No. Why? Because a hypocrite is a person who purposely and secretly claims to be something they are not. Christians who are honest and open about their sinfulness, therefore, are not hypocrites. Let me explain.
The heart of the problem, it seems, is that non-Christians have the attitude that if a Christian sins, he or she is automatically a hypocrite. There are hypocrites in the church—this is true. Some people claim to be believers in Jesus Christ but secretly are not. Others vow to live according to Christian principles, but, when away from other Christians, don’t.
The confusion lies in thinking that sinner and hypocrite are synonymous. If one is a hypocrite, that person is certainly a sinner. But being a sinner does not automatically mean that one is a hypocrite. All people are sinners, and thus all Christians are sinners. But not all Christians are hypocrites. In fact, because Christians so readily recognize the presence of sin in all people, and therefore emphasize the confession and repentance of sins among themselves, it’s likely fewer hypocrites exist within the Christian church than in any other organization—religious or secular.
The truth of Christianity is not dependent on the actions of individual Christians. We do not falsify science and say that all scientists are hypocrites because of an occasional quack. Nor do we condemn the field of medicine because some doctors perform abortions or in other ways break the Hippocratic oath (“I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion”). Likewise, the Christian church is not full of hypocrites simply because Christians sin. ©
This is the lesser charge against Christianity, and relatively easy to refute—as I did above. Next week we’ll look at the more serious charge: Do the dark pages in the history of Christianity make our faith hypocritical?