Projecting Our Sin Onto Others: How Christians Should Think About Hypocrisy

Reformation Baptist Church

The law of God confronts us with our sin. And while sinners hate this condemnation, they also want others to obey God's law because it makes their life easier. Because of this, they are very quick to notice sin in others, specifically, the sin that the law has convicted them of. This is often referred to as projection. Scripture refers to it this way: And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.In this episode we want to discuss the different ways that this practice of hypocrisy presents itself in the world and in our lives and how we as Christians should think about it. It is one of the reasons why the world calls Christians unloving, not because the world understands love, but because they are convicted of their lack of love and so accuse others of it. (This does not mean that Christians are always loving or that the world is always wrong about Christians being unloving, but that this is a common pattern it is helpful to understand it). We also discuss how sin impacts our ability to understand others. It separates us from them and then causes us to see them through the perverting influence of sin. This is why perverts think the innocent are being perverted when they are not, why the angry take offense at kindness, why the covetous are harmed by gifts they are given and so on. The law of God is good, but sin perverts everything, and as Christ