Editor’s Note: Michael Kelshaw is the Head Minister at Trinity at the Marketplace, Albuquerque, NM. He is a member of the Albuquerque Chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This post is a summary of Mark Dever’s message from Friday evening at Clarus, February 24, “Hypocrisy,” from Romans 2.

•••••

Tonight Mark Dever showed the great dangers of hypocrisy from Romans 2. In Chapter 1 we see that Paul pursues open depravity—the clearly immoral. In Romans 2, Paul goes on to pursue hidden depravity—those who appear moral but in reality are not. He exposes their hypocrisy all the way through the chapter. This passage reveals our guilt and our need for grace by showing us that hypocrisy is inexcusable, pointless, and blasphemous.

1. Hypocrisy is inexcusable. Dever explained how Paul goes at self-confidence by addressing those who would condemn others for their sin and then do the very same things themselves. Paul shows how the judgment of God is upon such people. The reality is that hypocrites are just calling for God’s judgment on themselves. Every time they are criticizing someone else they are simply giving God one more piece of evidence that they know full well how they should live and are piling up the evidence against themselves. So the person that does not repent and trust in Jesus alone remains under the right and righteous judgment of God. There is no excuse for hypocrisy because the judgment of God rightly falls on people who practice such things.
2. Hypocrisy is pointless. Hypocrisy is pointless because God will judge according to deeds anyway. God’s judgment is according to what a person has done, and it will be righteous and seen as such. Ethnicity will not shield anyone from God’s judgment; He does not show favoritism and His judgment is impartial. Hypocrisy is a pointless illusion because God will judge men’s secrets through Christ and all will be revealed in the end. Hypocrisy will not shield anyone from the Lord’s righteous and impartial judgment. Christ is the only hope of salvation for sinners like you and me.
3. Hypocrisy is blasphemous. Dever explained how the circumcised lawbreaker—the one who is Jewish in name only—stands condemned as breaking the third commandment. Men such as these had taken God’s name publicly upon themselves and then lived contrary to it. So do we, when we bear Christ’s name and then act in contradiction to His commands. Those who do so blaspheme God’s Name. They misrepresent God’s name to the world. Hypocrisy is blasphemous and a misrepresentation of God, and it will not vindicate you on the last day.

Dever concluded that hypocrisy will not save us. Paul assaults shallow self-righteousness and shows us that our hypocrisy actually exposes our need for Christ. Everything that we would trust in other than Jesus has been burnt to the ground, and it calls us to repent of our sin and trust in the sinless Savior. The good news is that a person is only ever justified by faith in Jesus, so rely on Him alone!