Wisdom is Sincere

And now we arrive at the final quality of wisdom listed in James 3:17: sincerity.

Wisdom is sincere.

The New International Standard Bible states it this way: “without hypocrisy.”

The dictionary defines “sincere” as: 

“free of deceit, hypocrisy, or falseness; earnest,” “genuine; real,” “unadulterated.”

The dictionary defines “hypocrisy” as:

“a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc. that one does not really possess.” 

A second definition is this: “a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.”

So within Christianity, then, one can be a hypocrite by pretending to hold to the tenets of the faith while not having fully submitted to them through salvation in Jesus Christ. 

Or, one can be fully saved in Christ, but, yet being a sinner, appear to be a hypocrite when in fact they have failed in that instance of being a Christian. 

In other words, they are sincere in their attempt to live out what they believe, but have tripped.

The thing it has taken me a long time to fathom and come to terms with, is this: 

1. We can’t expect non-Christians—even church-going ones—to act like Christians.

2. Christians, especially ones who have just begun reading the Bible and learning what it is to live Christ—to not just believe in Christ but to live Christ—will always appear as hypocrites when we fail. And since we continue to learn and grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout our lives, we will continue, at times, to appear to live in hypocrisy. 

And so two things result from the above two facts:

Since we can’t expect non-Christians to act or think like Christians, we need to stop expecting them to! That is one aspect of being wise!

And secondly, just because we as Christians appear as hypocrites, doesn’t mean we are hypocrites. 

Let’s look at the dictionary definition again:

“A pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.”

If we have a true salvation in Christ, we possess the mind of Christ, and everything attenuated with that:

“But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:15-16).

The problem isn’t pretense, if we have truly repented and accepted the forgiveness of Christ and died to our old self and risen with Christ in new life—the difficulty is that we have to begin that new life not knowing in advance how to do it perfectly. 

In short, we were sinners when we were saved and we continue to be sinners. However, the expectation—the command and will of God—is that we “run the race” toward spiritual maturity:

“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).

This is Christian sincerity often misconstrued as hypocrisy by the non-believing world: as we are running the race we are bound to fall short. 

People in the world simply cannot comprehend this without the Spirit of Christ to lead them:

“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

So then, we don’t pay the world’s accusations any mind. Instead, we just keep running the race:

“…let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1b-2).

When people snicker or turn awkward—or even judge us hypocrites—at our being Christians, we hold our pearls close and worship God right then and there, calling out to God in our hearts, 

“‘I love You, O LORD, my strength.’ The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:1-2).

The other alternative is to become consumed with defensiveness about being “hypocrites,” which only plays into the hands of Satan, the one who is named in the Bible as our accuser. He uses other people to do his earthly accusing so that we are made to feel bad about being Christians. Sometimes it is this feeling bad that leads us into the other definition of “hypocrisy:”

“a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.”

By worrying about what other people think of us, be they Christian or not, we are in dire danger of falling into the hypocrisy of jettisoning some of our knowledge of the Lord and His precepts because we desire to be approved by the world more than by God. 

This is what having an idol before God is, which Scripture clearly forbids, for our own good:

“You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

Sin committed as a sincerely devoted child of God is not hypocrisy because we are not operating out of pretense; we are operating out of a fallenness that follows us into sincerely held salvation. We may not understand our sin until, over time, as we mature, God reveals it to us. Hence David’s plea to God:

“Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. 

Also, keep back your servant from presumptuous sins;

Let them not rule over me;

Then I will be blameless,

And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:12-14).

There is a hypocrisy which is indeed a hypocrisy for Christians because it is knowingly—with our full approval—turning our back on Christ while still professing Christ. I believe this is what David means by "presumptuous" sins.

Jesus says, in Matthew 15:7-9:

“You hypocrites, right did Isaiah prophesy of you:

‘This people honors Me with their lips, 

But their heart is far away from Me.

But in vain do they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

In the end, there are two aspects of hypocrisy: in the one we are falsely accused by the public of hypocrisy.

In the other, we are accurately informed by God of hypocrisy. 

In all of it, then, we answer only to God. 

Sincerity, then, is not something we drum up on our own out of our own good intentions. As we have seen, it is quite a struggle to maintain sincerity as an underlying foundation. But duke it out we must, and win, in order to traverse to the full measure of Christ. 

One of the best verses that I feel encourages an attitude of sincerity is this:

“Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, ‘Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?’” (2 Samuel 7:18).

Gratefulness towards others, towards our victories in Christ, and always towards God in Christ, is an unwavering element of sincerity. 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).

Copyright Barb Harwood