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Bible Dictionaries
Hypocrisy
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary
or Is a seeming or professing to be what in truth and reality we are not. It consists in assuming a character which we are conscious does not belong to us, and by which we intentionally impose upon the judgment and opinion of mankind concerning us. The name is borrowed from the Greek tongue, in which it primarily signifies the profession of a stage player, which is to express in speech, habit, and action, not his own person and manners, but his whom he undertakes to represent. And so it is; for the very essence of hypocrisy lies in apt imitation and decent; in acting the part of a member of Christ without any saving grace. The hypocrite is a double person; he has one person, which is natural; another, which is artificial: the first he keeps to himself; the other he puts on as he doth his clothes, to make his appearance in before men. It was ingeniously said by Basil. "that the hypocrite has not put off the old man, but put on the new upon it."
Hypocrites have been divided into four sorts.
1. the worldly hypocrite, who makes a profession of religion, and pretends to be religious, merely from worldly considerations, Matthew 23:5
2. The legal hypocrite, who relinquishes his vicious practices, in order thereby to merit heaven, while at the same time he has no real love to God, Romans 10:3
3. The evangelical hypocrite, whose religion is nothing more than a bare conviction of sin; who rejoices under the idea that Christ died for him, and yet has no desire to live a holy life, Matthew 13:20 . 2 Peter 2:20
4. the enthusiastic hypocrite, who has an imaginary sight of his sin, and of Christ; talks of remarkable impulses and high feelings; and thinks himself very wise and good while he lives in the most scandalous practices, Matthew 13:39 . 2 Corinthians 11:14 .
Crook on Hypocrisy; Decoetlegon's Sermon on Psalms 51:6 . Grove's Mor. Phil. vol. 2: p. 253. South's Ser. on Job 8:1-22; Job 9:1-35; Job 10:1-22; Job 11:1-20; Job 12:1-25; Job 13:1-28; Job 14:1-22; Job 15:1-35; Job 16:1-22; Job 17:1-16; Job 18:1-21; Job 19:1-29; Job 20:1-29; Job 21:1-34; Job 22:1-13 . vol. 10; Bellamy's Relig. Del. p. 166.
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Buck, Charles. Entry for 'Hypocrisy'. Charles Buck Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/cbd/h/hypocrisy.html. 1802.
