http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdrisco ... hypocrite/
What do you think about this lexical semantic methodology?What is a hypocrite?
{snip}
Bible scholar Larry Richards explains the concept of hypocrisy in the New Testament. He says:
“The Greek words hypokrinomai (appears once in the NT), hypokrisis (6 times in the NT), and hypokritēs (20 times in the NT) denote someone acting out the part of a character in a play. In Greek drama the actors held over their faces oversized masks painted to represent the character they were portraying. In life, the hypocrite is a person who masks his real self while he plays a part for his audience.
That background of the word “hypocrite” in Greek theatre makes for an amazingly concrete definition. Richards goes on to explain what it looks like when someone “masks his real self” and “plays a part for his audience”:
What characterizes the religious hypocrite? In Matthew’s Gospel (where 16 of the 27 occurrences of these Greek words occur) we note these things:
A hypocrite does not act spontaneously from the heart but with calculation, to impress observers (Mt 6:1–3).
A hypocrite thinks only of the external trappings of religion, ignoring the central, heart issues of love for God and others (Mt 15:1–21).
A hypocrite uses spiritual talk to hide base motives (Mt 22:18–22).
Jesus give us this warning that to the hypocrites of every age: “Woe to you” (Mt 23:13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29).”(1)
Somewhat irrelevant background: Larry Richards was a significant player in christian education literature in the 1970s. He published a lot of books. Driscoll's contribution is difficult to determine. See the post on patheos and keep an eye on the quotes, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdrisco ... hypocrite/