may have had a unique ministry , “ but God . . . causes the growth ” of His church ( 3:7 ). It ’ s a nice way of saying , “ Quit comparing one preacher to another preacher . Quit pretending that the preacher is more important than the one whom the preacher is supposed to be preaching about .”
But there is one more way in which hypocrisy is seen in the church . Whenever we believe lies and disbelieve truth , our spiritual growth becomes stunted . You may have been told as a child that if you didn ’ t eat your vegetables , you ’ d stunt your growth . That ’ s what hypocrisy does in the church .
Now , it ’ s important to understand that a hypocrite in the church may or may not be a genuine Christian . Some unbelievers pretend to be followers of Christ when they are not . They successfully fool others ( and perhaps themselves ) into thinking that one day they will be welcomed into heaven . For these hypocrites , they are unable to grow spiritually because they are not saved .
However , there are some genuine Christians who pretend to be more spiritual than they really are . They pretend to have a robust prayer life , they feign love for other people , and they claim to be generous in their giving — but their actions tell another story . These hypocritical Christians become stunted in their spiritual growth because they refuse to exercise truths they believe to be true . And lack of spiritual exercise is one major characteristic of what Paul called “ infants in Christ .”
When he first came to Corinth preaching the gospel , Paul said , “ I . . . could not speak to you as to spiritual men , but as to men of flesh , as to infants in Christ . I gave you milk to drink , not solid food ; for you were not yet able to receive it ” ( 1 Cor . 3:1 – 2 ). The problem was , by the time Paul wrote the letter we know as 1 Corinthians , four or five years had transpired from when he established the church . It made sense that when Paul first came to the city , he offered the people spiritual milk ( the basics of Christianity ), since they were not yet ready for spiritual meat ( deeper theological truths ). However , after so many years , the congregation was no more mature spiritually than when he first arrived . Paul said , “ Indeed , even now you are not yet able [ to receive spiritual meat ], for you are still fleshly ” ( vv . 2 – 3 ).
The writer of Hebrews picked up on Paul ’ s metaphor of milk and solid food in admonishing another group of believers : “ Though by this time you ought to be teachers , you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God , and you have come to need milk and not solid food . For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness , for he is an infant . But solid food is for the mature , who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil ” ( Heb . 5:12 – 14 ).
Perhaps one of the greatest dangers of hypocrisy within the walls of the church is the destruction it causes outside the church . When unbelievers watch Christian hypocrites , they don ’ t see the attractiveness of the truth ;
22