The Gospel Is The Cure For The Church’s Hypocrisy

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men…’ (Luke 18:11)

Are you a Pharisee? Of course you’re not! How do I know this? Because none of us think of ourselves this way. As Michael Reeves writes, “Nobody today is a self-avowed, card-carrying Pharisee, after all. We keep the word as verbal mud only to be thrown at others.” (Kindle loc 86) So, of course you’re not a Pharisee. That’s a term reserved for other people.

That is precisely why this short, new book is so good. In Evangelical Pharisees (Crossway, 2023), Reeves is punching us in the gut with the hard truth that we can easily act like Pharisees in many ways, all while confidently thinking to ourselves, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men.” In fact, after reading this book, I would argue that the most common way we evangelicals act like hypocritical Pharisees is by ragging on the Pharisees, and on all the other people who are like them.

Here’s the thing about hypocrites: they don’t think they are hypocrites. And very often, those around them don’t see it either. Reeves insightfully addresses this neglected aspect of hypocrisy in this book. He writes, “The difficulty with hypocrisy is that, by definition, it is hard to spot.” (Loc 665) He notes that in today’s churches, the hypocritical Pharisee “would be applauded as a model church elder, a pious paragon of godliness.” (Loc 482)

So, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is something we need to take a much harder and deeper look at. We must allow Jesus’s accusations and condemning words toward the Pharisees convict us as well. There’s a Pharisee inside every one of us. Can we be dangerously honest with ourselves and allow God’s word to reveal where we are becoming Pharisees?

If hypocrites don’t think they are hypocrites… if the real Pharisees think “Pharisee” is just a term used for other people… then it’s going to take a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in my heart for me to see this in myself. I believe this book is a tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit to do just that. It’s a mirror the Holy Spirit is holding up to me. It’s a scalpel in the Spirit’s skilled hands that he is using to remove a deep cancer.

Of course, Scripture itself is the ultimate mirror, the ultimate scalpel. Nothing sanctifies like the Spirit-inspired Word of God. But God, in his grace, also works through our brothers and sisters in Christ to convict us and sanctify us. I’m very thankful for Michael Reeves and his writing ministry. His book Rejoice and Tremble is the very best treatment on the fear of the Lord I have ever read, and now I am also deeply thankful for Evangelical Pharisees, and the way the Spirit has worked on my heart through it. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

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