O, Hypocrites!

Jesus was welcoming of people from many unusual backgrounds, and of dubious reputation.

However, He was unwelcoming of the self-righteous.

In a world where people weren’t as free as today, this struck a chord among many citizens of ancient, occupied Israel.

I will never say that Jesus doesn’t want people who end up deciding to follow Him to repent of their sins. That is a prerequisite for following the Messiah.
As Paul once said, how can we who are dead to sin live in it any longer?

“By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it” (Romans 6:2 [ESV])?

Once we decide to follow Jesus, the rest will follow as we repent of our sins.

The problem is that, whether or not intentionally, many Christians are hypocritical in their approach to new believers and those outside the family of God.

The children of God are known by keeping His commandments, and the enemies of God are just that. Enemies.

But we can’t isolate one verse from the Torah, or from the New Testament, and bash people over the head with clobbering verses that are quoted out of context, or worse—without understanding the proper meaning of the terms Scripture uses.

The New Testament reaffirms believers should repent of sexual immorality, for example.

But the only definition of sexual immorality is found in the pages of the Torah, not whatever we think is a bad thing, or what’s popular to condemn among the faithful.

Besides, if you don’t understand proper terms, you will fall into the trap of nebulous sin instead of actual sin.

Here’s a small thought to ponder using a controversial topic from the Bible. My belief is that if we can’t follow the truth wherever it leads as Christians, then we can’t call ourselves people of Yahweh in the truest sense, so I use litmus tests like these subjects to draw hard lines on how far we will go for Yahweh’s truth.

If a woman attracted to women were to debate a believer, and they were well-versed in Old Testament theology—they would have the logical high ground over people who love to quote Leviticus 18, but don’t realize their alleged sin is missing from the list.

The LGBT individual would have a solid understanding that the Christians aren’t reading what the Bible says.

They insert such a sin, when God never says women being with women is a sin anywhere in the Bible, and if you think Paul can just add to the Torah, you’re sorely mistaken. Understanding the ancient texts shows it was sodomy in behavior that was the sin (of either sex when you realize the ancient context of cult prostitution that was rampant).

Yet, the same Christian who condemns a woman attracted to a woman will eat pork chops and shrimp—even choosing not to celebrate the Feast Days of Yahweh.

When Jesus returns, according to Isaiah 66, He kills people who eat pork as sinners.

A Christian condemning those who have a different sexuality does not have the logical right to condemn anyone if they don’t understand what sin actually is.

That is high-caliber ignorance and hypocrisy.

As Jesus said, we must take the plank out of our eyes before we take the speck out of someone else’s eyes.

The funny thing is, I’m not even a progressive Christian. I am a Christian who follows what the Bible teaches in the manner of sola scriptura.

What I do is stick to the text alone, understanding the ancient world—especially how these words and concepts were used in other writings of the time.

This method reveals that modern Christians don’t know what sin is.

I challenge anyone to find the words ceremonial law anywhere in the Bible. It can’t be done, because there is no such thing as ceremonial law apart from the rest of the commandments.

You can make the argument some commandments can’t be kept today due to the monarchical structure of ancient Israel not being present, but the moral and health laws are able to be kept anywhere.

This might be a harsh way to teach others, but Jesus wasn’t averse to harsh teaching methods Himself.

He told the hypocrites to clean the outside and the inside of the cup.

If you slam transgender individuals because of Deuteronomy 22:5, but think we’re free from the Torah because Jesus inaugurated a New Covenant, why do you use Torah verses to bash people?

This verse is about shirking military duty as a man protecting Israel and military garments. The garments of a man and a woman were hardly distinct in those days, being often quite similar. A tunic was common to both sexes with little differences, if any. The context is battle garments and male authority. Because if you read it the way most people do, then you’re saying pants might be sinful for women when that’s not the case. Or a kilt might be sinful even if that culture accepts it. The context has always been battle garments.

The literal Hebrew text says, “not to be the garment of a strong man upon a woman.” In other words, non-combatants should not wear a man’s battle uniform. Women were never expected to serve in the military in ancient Israel.

To stretch this into 21st century transgender issues is, well, a stretch.

Don’t get me wrong. We are meant to have our roles.

God made women who they are and men who they are as each soul needed. I was always meant to be a man, because God planned Bryan Rivera-Rivera to be a man.

To use a well-known example, Taylor Swift was always meant to be a woman and likely was always planned to be a musician.

God plans our lives ahead of time, and it is up to us to walk into those callings. I know I use musicians and writers as examples a lot, but that’s because I have a thing for musicians and writers.

That aside, we can’t use the Torah’s commandments to harm other people if what we’re calling out isn’t actually a sin (which is grievous, because Deuteronomy 4:2 forbids adding sins), and we can’t truthfully remain consistent if we call out things that are sins but partake in sins ourselves.

You can’t have it both ways. You can acknowledge that humanity is sinful and needs a savior to bridge the gap between us and God. But if you’re calling out homosexuality (which didn’t exist as a concept the way we understand it today back then) while eating bacon, you’re resigned to being a hypocrite.

Hey.

I’m not perfect myself. Far from it.

But let’s not fall into the trap of becoming hypocrites on our walk with Christ.

Christ reserved His harshest words for believers who are hypocrites, not for those who are lost.

May you ponder this thought and truly test everything against Scripture and have shalom as you do so.