Matthew 23:28 · Clearspring

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Other translations

WEBBE

Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

BSB

In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

KJV

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

ASV

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

BBE

Even so you seem to men to be full of righteousness, but inside you are all false and full of wrongdoing.

Original Greek

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οὕτως houtōs Thus G3779 καὶ kai also G2532 ὑμεῖς humeis you yourselves G4771 ἔξωθεν exōthen outside G1855 μὲν men indeed G3303 φαίνεσθε phainesthe appear G5316 τοῖς tois (the) G3588 ἀνθρώποις anthrōpois to men G444 δίκαιοι dikaioi righteous G1342 ἔσωθεν esōthen inwardly G2081 δέ de however G1161 ἐστε este you are G1510 μεστοὶ mestoi full G3324 ὑποκρίσεως hupokriseōs of hypocrisy G5272 καὶ kai and G2532 ἀνομίας.¶ anomias lawlessness G458

The early church

As above they are said to be full of extortion and excess, so here they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity, and are likened to dead men's bones, and all uncleanness. For all feigned righteousness is dead, forasmuch as it is not done for God's sake; yea, rather it is no righteousness at all, any more than a dead man is a man, or an actor who represents any character is the man whom he represents. There is therefore within them so much of bones and uncleanness as are the good things that they wickedly pretend to. And they seem righteous outwardly, not in the eyes of such as the Scripture calls Gods, (Ps. 82:6.) but of such only as die like men.

Origen of Alexandria · d. 253Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Sepulchres are whitened with lime without, and decorated with marble painted in gold and various colours, but within are full of dead men's bones. Thus crooked teachers who teach one thing and do another, affect purity in their dress, and humility in their speech, but within are full of all uncleanness, covetousness, and lust.

Jerome · d. 420Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Justly are the bodies of the righteous said to be temples, because in the body of the righteous the soul has dominion, as God in His temple; or because God Himself dwells in righteous bodies. But the bodies of sinners are called sepulchres of the dead, because the sinner's soul is dead in his body; for that cannot be deemed to be alive, which does no spiritual or living act. But say, hypocrite, if it be good to be wicked, why do you not desire to seem that which you desire to be? For what it is shameful to seem, that it is more shameful to be; and what to seem is fair, that it is fairer to be. Either therefore be what you seem, or seem what you are.

Pseudo-Chrysostom · d. 500Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

(Mor. xxvi. 32.) But before their strict Judge they cannot have the plea of ignorance, for by assuming in the eyes of men every form of sanctity, they witness against themselves that they are not ignorant how to live well.

Gregory the Dialogist · d. 604Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 13–33

The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters. It is not the scrupling a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained out; but the doing that, and then swallowing a camel, or, committing a greater sin. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. We are really, what we are inwardly. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be newness of life; here we must begin with ourselves. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show. The deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears in that they go down the streams of the sins of their own day, while they fancy that they should have opposed the sins of former days. We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated. And it is just with God to give those up to their hearts' lusts, who obstinately persist in gratifying them. Christ gives men their true characters.

Read Matthew Henry on Matthew 23 →

Cross-references

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