Peter admonished “newborn babes” in Christ to lay aside all hypocrisies. It is a natural battle that every babe in Christ must face. A new believer might have an inappropriate longing to please the one who led him to the Lord rather than giving the Lord preeminence. He might perform actions in hopes that his spiritual mentor will take notice. Eventually, this fault blossoms to the point where he begins to see problems in others while failing to realize the same problems exist in his own life. He might work hard to obey the strictest of commands while missing the overall desire of the Lord in his own life. Even as a babe in Christ, he must work to lay aside hypocrisy. Until he does, he will never grow into the mature believer the Lord wants him to be.
Hypocrites often reveal themselves as detail oriented people. However, though they might notice something small and insignificant, they often fail to recognize the extremely obvious necessities of faithful service. When dealing with the hypocrites of His day, the Lord Jesus declared this very truth. The hypocrites paid tithes of mint, anise, and cummin but omitted judgment, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23). They would “strain at a gnat,” but “swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24). They were obedient in the strictest sense of their religion in certain aspects, but oblivious to their disobedience in the more obvious areas of life. Even today, a hypocrite often becomes overzealous in his obedience in one area of life while failing to recognize his rebellion in other important areas.
Hypocrites desperately desire the praise of men, yet they are unwilling to put forth the right efforts to obtain any legitimate praise. Instead, they choose to elevate themselves by demeaning others. The actions of the Pharisee found in Luke 18:11-13 best illustrate this truth. While the Pharisee was hypocritically thanking the Lord that he was not wicked like the publican, the publican was busy confessing to God how wicked he was. In order to exalt himself, the Pharisee determined to belittle his neighbour thinking that this comparison made him look better. This practice of exalting oneself while demeaning others is as old as man himself. People today choose to inflate their own pride or position by undermining others.
The Bible-believing student rejects any notion of coincidences within scripture. He chooses rather to believe that every word of God was specifically chosen by the Lord to convey His intended message. In today’s passage, the Lord revealed the root of the hypocrite’s problems—he is likened to “all that forget God.” The hypocrite is a person who presents himself one way, when in reality, he is altogether something far different than the perception he imitates. For instance, he may fast to convey the message that he loves the Lord, but his spirituality is only a façade for men to see. He may pray, but does so to be heard by men. In the end, his greatest problem is that he has forgotten that the all-seeing, all-knowing God knows the difference between heartfelt actions and hypocrisy.
The Bible repeatedly emphasizes that honour follows humility! But how does this work? According to our passage, “whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Abased means to be brought low, while exalted means to be elevated. Matthew 23:12 and Luke 18:14 reiterate the truth found in Luke 14:11, yet none of the verses expound upon how this takes place. What or who is at work behind the scenes to make this principle true? The answer is found in James 4:10—“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Man’s finite mind-set leads him to think that the way up is up and the way down is down; but according to the Bible, the opposite is true. The way up (to be exalted) is down (through humility) and the way down (to be abased) is up (self-exaltation). Those who seek to be exalted by others will find themselves frustrated through their own efforts; yet those who seek humility will be exalted by God.
Our previous studies have discussed the Bible's built-in dictionary. Interestingly, the discovery of this method of defining words is not new. In fact, men like King James VI (also known as King James I) commented on God's graciousness concerning His word. He pointed out that the definitions of many Bible words could be found by considering surrounding words. John Eadie explains this in his book: The English Bible, vol. 2, London, Macmillan, 1876, p. 191. Our study in humility is a case in point. The true riches of this word can only be gleaned when one considers some of the words used in close proximity of the word humble (along with its variations). These words include: croucheth (Psalm 10:10), lowly (Proverbs 16:19), boweth down (Isaiah 2:9), bowed down (Isaiah 2:11), brought down (Isaiah 5:15), hewn down (Isaiah 10:33), and abased (Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14). God wants the Bible student to understand the depths and riches of His word and words. In this case, He clearly indicated that humility results from one being brought low.
