THE HYPOCRISY OF RELIGIONS

The Hypocrisy of Religions


~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses (Recovery Version) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke 12:1 ...He began to say to His disciples first, Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Matt 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you resemble white-washed graves, which outwardly appear
beautiful but inwardly are full of dead men's bones and all
uncleanness. (28) So you also outwardly appear righteous to
men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 12:1 the Lord gave a warning concerning religious
hypocrisy. Actually, all religions lead to hypocrisy. Nowhere
is hypocrisy more prevailing than in religion. Religion is a
field, a realm, for hypocrisy to prevail. Consider the
hypocrisy in the Jewish religion when the Lord Jesus was on
earth. What hypocrisy there was among the Pharisees, scribes,
and lawyers! In Matthew 23 the Lord pronounced woes upon them
for their hypocrisy.

In 12:1 we see that the religious hypocrisy of the Pharisees
was equal to leaven. In the New Testament leaven signifies
the element of corruption. The Pharisees were false and
practiced falsehood to the uttermost. Their falsehood became
a hypocrisy that was the leaven, the element of corruption,
in the Jewish religion. All of the Lord's disciples were
Jews. Since they all came out of a Jewish source, they had a
deep appreciation of the Jewish religion and a high regard
for the Pharisees. They thought that the Pharisees were those
with a high morality. Therefore, He said to the disciples,
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

In 12:2-12 the Lord went on to tell His disciples that the
hypocrisy of religion would eventually lead to the
persecution of His sincere and honest followers. Religious
hypocrisy always becomes a source of persecution to the
genuine followers of Jesus. As those who would be in the New
Testament jubilee today, we need to beware of the hypocrisy
in religion, for this hypocrisy will become a source of
persecution. As the genuine followers of the Lord are
enjoying the jubilee, they will be opposed by the
hypocritical ones in the hypocritical religion. This
opposition will develop into persecution, a persecution of
the genuine followers of the Lord Jesus who are experiencing
the New Testament jubilee.

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Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible
(RcV) and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of
Luke, pp. 246-247. Both are published by Living Stream
Ministry, Anaheim, CA.