CONFRONTING RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY - LESSONS FROM MATTHEW 6:5-8
By Ezekiel Kimosop
[This article was written in response to a question by a believer who understood Jesus' message in Matthew 6:5-8 as a prohibition against against public prayers. The article seeks to correct the impression and to apply the moral principles of the passage to four other related areas].
PASSAGE
Matthew 6:5-8 says “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." (NKJV).
PASSAGE ANALYSIS
The condemnation of hypocrisy in Matthew 6:5-8 does not concern public prayers or in a gathering of people. It specifically address hypocrisy and self acclaim in relation to prayer done with the intention to attract attention and praise from people.
This passage was part of Jesus' long public teachings touching on Christian living that are closely related to the Beatitudes recorded in Matthew 5:1-12.
In our above passage, Jesus exhorted His disciples to avoid some ungodly practices identified with sections of the religious class of His day that related to prayer, religious giving and public conduct.
RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY
Who were the hypocrites contemplated by Jesus in the above passage?
On a number of occasions, Jesus reserved this noun for the Scribes, Pharisees and the Sadducees. Matthew 23 outlines a number of hypocritical activities associated with the religious class.
i) They demanded of their faithful what they themselves could not do or fulfill (23:3-4).
ii) They did things in order to be seen by men. They loved to catch the attention of people by the manner of their flashy dressing (23:5).
iii) They loved to sit at the best places during feasts and during synagogue worship (23:6).
iv) They loved heavy clerical titles and salutations (23:7).
v) They were lacking in godly humility (23:11-12).
vi) They stumbled their followers by their immoral conduct that stood in contradiction to their religious exhortations (23:13-14).
vii) Their love for money stood out above their commitment to wholesome religious instruction. (23:16-22).
viii) They failed to feed the people on a balanced spiritual diet. Instead, they laid greater emphasis on religious practices such as giving [tithes], a practice they extended to absurdity at the expense of other moral exhortations that were equally important to God's covenant people (23:23-24).
MORAL APPLICATION OF THE PASSAGE
Now back to our passage of Matthew 6:5-8...
This passage should be read together with the preceding passage of Matthew 6:1-4 that touched on pleasing God in whatever we do. Every Christian should have this attitude in whatever they seek to do and in furtherance of their Christian obligations. It is God that we ought to please and not men. The passage should also be read with the passage of Matthew 6:16-18 that concerned how a believer should fast. In this passage, Jesus taught that fasting was a secret practice that was between God and the believer. The hypocrites made a show of it in order to earn the approval of men.
Finally, the passage should be consolidated with other relevant passages of Scripture outside the Gospels in order to anchor it in its wider and holistic context of Scripture so that the full counsel of God on the issues is collated.
My view is that that the moral principles drawn from the study of Matthew 6:5-8 read together with the other relevant passages can be summarized under five headings relating to practical Christian living. I must caution that this is not an exhaustive list:
1) PRAYER
There are two types of prayer in Scripture. Corporate or communal prayer and individual or private prayer. Corporate prayer is done publicly but private prayer is at the discretion and privacy of the individual believer. It is the closet prayer.
Jesus condemned the hypocritical practice of praying in the streets and highways in order to be seen by men. This approach is motivated by the public attention rather than by godly deportment. Some people who fast and pray in private but later publicly announce to the gathering of people may be motivated by the desire for public acclaim in order to be seen as prayer warriors. This is equally hypocritical and unwarranted. Private or secret prayer should be between the believer and God. It ought to be motivated by our love for God and for those on whose behalf those prayers are offered.
2) CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONAL GIVING.
Some Christians would not liberally give donations in the church unless the giving is publicly announced. This is hypocritical. A certain church once raised some collections for a given purpose under a resolve that the giving will not be announced. One member later said that many believers went with money because it was not being announced! Sure enough the collection fell short of the target! This is a regrettable experience. If a believer understood that they were primarily giving to God, why should they insist that their giving be announced publicly?
My view is that believers who faithfully give or tithe from their resources should not be publicly mentioned by names on the basis of the sums/items given. Church giving is primarily a matter between the believer and God! It should also be informed by personal sacrifice. For instance, a poor believer who gives an offering of Kshs 50/- [0.438 USD] out of need may have sacrificed more than another believer who gives Kshs 500/- [4.38 USD] but can afford a lunch of 5,000/-! [43.7 USD].
Christian giving is a sacrificial godly response from an obedient Christian heart that truly loves the Lord and is committed to supporting ministry with what God has blessed them. It ought to be motivated by a cheerful heart (cf. 2 Corinthians 9:6-15) and spiritual discipline. It should not be motivated by public glare or the approval of men.
It is however a godly thing for the church leadership to commend believers who faithfully and consistently support ministry through their resources or who consistently serve God with outstanding commitment. The Bible prescribes this approach for faithful Christian elders (cf. 1 Timothy 5:17) and for faithful Christian elders who practice outstanding Christian hospitality for missionaries (see 3 John 1:5-8 on Gaius and 2 Timothy 1:16-18 on Onesiphorus).
3) GIVING ALMS AND CHARITY
The giving of alms and charity is a godly Christian obligation that should be devoid of hypocrisy. It should as much as possible be done in privacy because God sees and rewards what is done in secret (Matthew 6:3). A believer should not therefore make a show out of it. Believers should support the needy in their communities of context without blowing the trumpet!
James 1:27 says "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (NKJV).
4) CHRISTIAN SERVICE
Christian service is perhaps one of the most tested areas of Christian faithfulness. There are some ministry tasks and commitments that are obscure in the church because little is known about them in the congregation. Those believers who are faithfully serving God in those backdoor ministries should know that God is watching and will reward them accordingly in His divine ways. We should not stop serving God because no one is seeing or appreciating our efforts. We can draw our authority on Christian service from several passages including Haggai 1-2; Nehemiah 1-3, 2 Timothy 4:2.
5) CLERICAL TITLES AND SALUTATIONS
Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the religious class of His day because of their religious pride and clamor for public acclaim and self glory. They loved to assert themselves around and to be addressed by powerful titles such as Rabbi or Teacher. These are perhaps the equivalent of the huge flashy titles flying around in Christian circles today.
This is not to suggest that ecclesial or clerical titles are themselves ungodly or that they should be avoided. The point is that they should be handled with moderation and humility.
A church minister or pastor should not be unduly offended if they were addressed as Brother X or Mr. Y or simply X or Y. They are primarily believers. The titles are secondary.
The clamour for heavy salutations among the religious class today is disturbing. I once attended a function in my rural home area and was a little surprised when the presiding minister who was well known to me was introduced with a salutation I had never heard before. He was now known as Bishop Dr. X.
To my knowledge, the Pentecostal preacher who was previously referred to as Revd. X had never attended a theological seminary and therefore did not posses a certificate or diploma in theological training, let alone a Masters or PhD. I later gathered that the minister had received a honorary doctorate from a briefcase American theological university in exchange for some investiture fee after attending a short refresher course! I further learned that several other Pentecostal preachers in the area who held the doctorate title were "graduates" of the shadowy American university! This is hypocrisy, in my opinion! Honorary doctorate degrees are never recognized in academic circles and should not be used by recipients as salutation titles.
CONCLUSION
Let me conclude by saying that it is a godly thing to honor and hold in high esteem church ministers who faithfully serve their congregations. Their response to this honor should be tampered with humility. There is equally nothing overly wrong in referring to a minister or Christian elder as one's spiritual father or son within the context of Christian mentorship. Paul asserted this fact in his address to the Corinthians during their schisms, reminding them that he was their apostolic father, having founded the ministry at Corinth and even led some to Christ.
Notice his statement in 1 Corinthians 4:14-16:
"I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me" (NKJV).
Paul also referred to Timothy and Onesimus as his sons in the Lord. He had raised them in ministry was therefore their spiritual father in that context (see 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Philemon 1:10).
Hypocritical conduct is intended to draw attention to the believer rather than to God. It is driven by self glory and does not serve or advance God's purposes for us. The Pharisees and Sadducees were well known within their society of context. The Pharisees were the Hebrew theologians of Jesus' day while the Sadducees were the priests. What united them was more than ideology. They both walked tall and took full advantage of their privileged religious positions to assert themselves and ride roughshod on their society. They abused their religious positions for their benefit and lorded over the people by prescribing unreasonable religious regulations that they themselves could not observe!
Jesus condemned these moral and religious excesses. His rebuke on their hypocrisy is as relevant to our society today as it was in first century Palestine. Religious leadership should be viewed as primarily a position of service rather than a source of privilege and unbridled power. It must must be tampered with humility.
Shalom
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2022
