Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
Jesus is partway through a series of woes against the religious leaders of Israel, and this one moves from what they did to what they were. He points to a grave: bright on the outside, full of death inside.
Each woe cuts deeper than the last. One writer places this one in the series:
In the third woe, He had condemned their corrupt teaching. Here, in the fourth, He condemns their corrupt practice, and, in the next, we get, under a correct exterior, the corrupt affections of the natural heart. Again, they were more anxious to appear right before men than to be right before God. It was outward paint to cover inward pollution. The grass grown green on the sides of the volcano, snow lying white on a manure heap.
The verse says the inside is full of uncleanness. Another writer names what filled it:
They worked hard at outward cleanness, while they were full of robbery and excess. If they could only look righteous on the outside, they were not afraid to be full of hypocrisy and lawlessness within.
A whitewashed tomb holds a corpse, not just dirt. Israel had plenty of religious activity. One writer describes what the Lord saw under it:
This could not deceive the eyes of the Holy One who searches the heart. There was much outward religion: a careful round of fasting, of tithing, of holy days. But in all of it there was nothing for God, no fruit of divine life. There was good reason to call the Pharisees, the religious and orthodox leaders, "whitewashed tombs" (Matt. 23:27) and unmarked "graves" (Luke 11:44) — homes of death, like the body when the spirit has left it.
People choose outward religion for a reason. It costs them no change of heart, and it pays well in reputation:
Outward things are easy to do. Man likes to make his religion of them, because they do not need a pure heart. He likes to do them, to exalt himself, and to set himself apart from others in doing them. By them man boasts of great piety in front of other men, and gains a great reputation for it. But he can be bad at the same time. These outward acts do not bring him into the presence of God, who searches the heart. By these acts man is religious without possessing holiness, and he finds that this just suits him. Pharisees did not exist only in our Lord's time; they are found in every age.
This danger is not only for the Pharisees. One writer turns the warning toward believers:
A grave might be walked over without anyone knowing it. The grave is a heart that chooses to hide its inner corruption beneath a fair exterior. Such were the Pharisees whom the Lord blamed. And what crowds of God's children meet such graves in daily life! They accept the principles of the world's religion, and settle for a religion of forms that the state of their heart in no way matches. Sad to say, a grave may defile a Christian. He may also be, in this sense, a hypocrite himself.
The remedy is not a fresh coat of paint. One writer met the same excuse in the form of church membership:
A lady in Florida told me the other day that a man could live in drunkenness and immorality — anything he liked — if only he belonged to a church. That whitewashes him. But remember, to whitewash is not to wash white. People whitewashed the tombs of the dead, and they still do it today in a moral sense. But only the blood of Jesus washes white — yes, whiter than snow.
- Paint. This woe hits religion built for men to see: outward paint over inward pollution, snow lying white on a manure heap.
- Death. Behind the paint is a corpse, not just dirt: careful fasting, tithing and holy days, with no fruit of divine life in any of it.
- Appeal. Outward religion is popular because it costs no purity of heart and wins a name among men. It never brings anyone into God's presence.
- Contagion. A grave defiles those who touch it. A believer who settles for a religion of forms can become such a grave himself.
- Cleansing. To whitewash is not to wash white. Only the blood of Jesus reaches what the outside hides.
Thus also *ye*, outwardly ye appear righteous to men, but within are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Jesus is speaking a series of woes against the scribes and Pharisees. Here He names the charge: the outside looked right to people, while the inside stayed untouched. Two questions follow — what is hypocrisy, and what does God look at?
One writer defines hypocrisy by its two directions at once:
This opens the way for "hypocrisies" — pretending to be what we are not, and pretending not to be what we are. Hypocrisy is the opposite of sincerity. It is simply playing a part in something that is a mere fable, if it is not the most solemn of realities and the most precious. How awful to make the truth of God a man's game for a little while!
The woes come in an order. One writer traces the movement from corrupt teaching, to corrupt practice, to the heart behind both:
In the third woe, He had condemned their corrupt teaching. Here, in the fourth, He condemns their corrupt practice. In the next, we get the corrupt affections of the natural heart under a correct exterior. Again, they were more anxious to appear right before men than to be right before God. It was outward paint to cover inward pollution. Grass growing green on the sides of a volcano; snow lying white on a manure heap.
The tomb picture from the previous verse carries into this one. One writer applies it past the Pharisees, to believers who meet such graves every day:
The Lord uses the picture of a tomb to show the hypocrisy of a heart. It looks pleasant on the outside, while inside it is full of dead men's bones and every kind of uncleanness. The grave is a heart that hides its inner corruption on purpose, under a fair exterior. Such were the Pharisees whom the Lord blamed. And how many of God's children meet such graves in daily life! They take on the principles of the world's religion. They settle for a religion of forms that the state of the heart in no way matches. Sadly, a grave can defile a Christian. He may also be, in this sense, a hypocrite himself. The apostle Paul had avoided such uncleanness. He did not seek the approval of men, but of God. He said, "What we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience." (2 Cor. 5:11.)
The verse says they were full of something. One writer names six of the evils inside, and marks them as sins of the mind rather than of the body:
These six offences — covetousness, deceit, lust, an evil eye, pride, foolishness — are closely tied to the inward workings of the human heart. If the others previously named may be described as the lusts of the flesh, these are the desires of the mind (Eph. 2:3); if they illustrated the filthiness of the flesh, these show the filthiness of the spirit (2 Cor. 7:1). These inward tendencies are the dead bones. They are the uncleanness of the hypocrisy and iniquity inside the whitewashed tombs the Lord spoke of in another place (Matt. 23:27-28).
These men did look righteous. The problem was whose praise they wanted:
The New Testament often describes the Pharisees and scribes as men whose religious activity was only for show (Mark 12:40), done in front of people. They loved and sought the praise of men more than the praise of God (John 5:44; 12:43). Hypocrisy — the effort to appear better than one really is — was the great sin of the Pharisees. This is why the Lord Jesus speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees as of something totally evil (Luke 12:1). Their righteousness was only an outward one and had no value before God.
The remedy is not a better outside:
The outside should be the true sign of the inside. When it is not, we are leavened with Pharisaism — hypocrisy. … Let us be honest with God and ourselves.
Another writer points to where that honesty comes from:
Whenever we are living before men, instead of before God, there will be restlessness and disquiet. There may be the desire to do many things that are written in the word, but they will not be done in quiet and peaceful joy. Nothing keeps us from hypocrisy except living before God. It is the very best possible cure for the excessive conceit that all of us naturally have of ourselves.
- Outside — hypocrisy is playing a part: pretending to be what we are not, and hiding what we are.
- Inside — the bones under the paint come from the heart itself: covetousness, deceit, pride, an evil eye.
- Audience — they wanted praise from men, not from God, so their righteousness was outward only and worth nothing to Him.
- Contagion — a grave defiles those who cross it. A believer can take in a religion of forms and become a hypocrite too.
- Cure — living before God, not before men, is what keeps the outside a true sign of the inside.