Hypokritḗs (ὑποκριτής): The mask-wearing actors ‘playing a part’ on stage: From Greek theater to modern ministry…
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Dictionary Definition
Hypokritḗs (ὑποκριτής)
Derived from two root words that mean ‘to be judged’ (krisis) ‘underneath’ or ‘from under’ (hypo) a mask. Without going into great detail, the original concept developed within the arena of Greek theater with hypokritḗs becoming a technical term identifying mask-wearing actors ‘playing a part’ on stage.
As time went on, this term began to represent a person who, like the Greek dramatists, operated under mask in assuming a certain role and projecting outwards a desired persona.
20 occurrences in the NT
All of which occur in the Synoptic Gospels (with 15 instances occurring in Matthew’s Gospel) and—very importantly—all of which are spoken from the mouth of Jesus Himself as he publicly identifies and confronts the role-playing, virtue-signaling activity of religious establishment hypokritḗs.
Summary Synthesis
As above, the world of the Greek theater and its mask-wearing actors ‘playing a part’ on stage forms the primary background for understanding the term, hypokritḗs. By the time of the New Testament, however, the term began to take on moral dimensions, becoming synonymous with ‘pretense’, ‘insincerity’ and ‘deceit.’
As such, Jesus uses the term repeatedly of the Pharisees to demonstrate that their outward religiosity was nothing but role-playing. And the persona they projected by their outer mask of virtue-signaling, religious activity was all a show, being done primarily, in His words, “to be seen of men.” (Mt 6:1-2, 5, 16-> 23:5).
Again, like actors on stage.
Yet beneath this mask, there was “all manner of greed and self-indulgence” (Mt 23:25). And even more, within the beautifully decorated, “whitewashed tomb” of their outer person, there were “dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” being ”full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (23:27-28).
Examples of Hypokritḗs in modern ministry…
Lest we confine Jesus’ words to the Pharisaical tradition of 1st c. Judea, it may be that they apply just as well to modern evangelists in our own day. If this is the case, then would it not make some degree of sense of the public fall of so many pastors, from the mega-church arena down to the local context?
We could mention Jim Bakker, the Televangelist convicted in the 1980s for fraud, misusing millions in ministry funds, in addition to having an adulterous affair with his church secretary.
Or Jimmy Swaggart, who was caught with prostitutes in the late 1980s while preaching against sexual sin, alongside soliciting donations for his ministry.
Or moving forward to our currenr day, Ted Haggard, who was forced to resign in 2006 as leader of the National Association of Evangelicals after allegations of drug use and a relationship with a male escort.
Or Eddie Long, who was found in 2010 to be coercing young male congregants into sexual relationships while leading a megachurch.
Or Ravi Zacharias, the celebrated apologist, who was found in a posthumous investigation commissioned by his own ministry and conducted by Miller & Martin, to have engaged in years of sexual misconduct, from sexual harassment to rape allegations within two spas that he co-owned in in Alpharetta, Georgia (Touch of Eden and Jivan Wellness) in addition to financial impropriety along the way leveraged to cover over his actions.
Or Robert Morris, who resigned from Gateway Church in 2024 after admitting to "inappropriate sexual behavior" with a minor.
Etc., etc., etc.
i.e. “Hypocrisy and all manner of uncleanness” from adultery to rape to pedophilia…by noted ministers of the Gospel…who are found, when the mask is removed, to be nothing more than yet another example in a long line of professional, religious hypokritḗs.
To which our response as “evangelicals” should be
Kyrie eleison!
Detailed Analysis
Without going into detail on each of the 20 occurrences in the Gospel, we will confine ourselves to the “seven woes” Jesus in Matthew 23.
Without offering commentary, as the words speak for themselves, we will simply present each “woe“ as articulated by Jesus.
We would do well to reflect on ourselves here, applying Jesus’ words to our own lives, most especially if we hold any public, religious position…
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (hypokritḗs)!
For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (hypokritḗs)!
For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’
Fools and blind!…(Mt 23:13-17a)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (hypokritḗs)!
For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (hypokritḗs)!
For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (hypokritḗs)!
For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (hypokritḗs)!
Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt” (23:23-32).
All of which leads Jesus to finally characterize the hypokritḗs as
“Serpents, brood of vipers!”
Then finally ask,
“How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (23:33).
Concluding word: From the truth of “know thyself” to a well-crafted lie
To add further layers, consider the philosophical undertones. The Greeks valued self-knowledge and authenticity, as seen in the Delphic maxim "Know thyself" (gnothi seauton). A hypokrites is specifically someone who hides their true self behind a crafted public persona.
When Greek philosophy that undergirded Greek drama eventually merged with the NT Jewish context, hypokrites came to characterize a religious actor ‘playing a role’ from beneath a mask of self-deceived morality. What began as a craft of performance became a symbol of duplicity, where the "mask" hides not just a character, but a lie.
To which we finally say,
Kyrie eleison!