Hypocrisy
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G5272 is a Greek noun for hypocrisy, pretense, or play-acting that presents an appearance at odds with reality. Luke 12:1 records Jesus warning His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees, identified as hypocrisy, because hidden performance spreads through a community.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὑπόκρισις (G5272) · Open the biblical lexicon
G5272 is a Greek noun for hypocrisy, pretense, or play-acting that presents an appearance at odds with reality. Luke 12:1 records Jesus warning His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees, identified as hypocrisy, because hidden performance spreads through a community.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include hypocrisy (4), [the] hypocrisy (1), of hypocrisy (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 23:28. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Peter (1), 1 Timothy (1), Galatians (1), Luke (1).
G5272 is a Greek noun for hypocrisy, pretense, or play-acting that presents an appearance at odds with reality. Luke 12:1 records Jesus warning His disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees, identified as hypocrisy, because hidden performance spreads through a community. Galatians 2:13 says other Jewish believers joined Peter's hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray when fear produced public conduct inconsistent with the gospel's shared table.
First Peter 2:1 tells believers to put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander as they long for spiritual nourishment. Other uses concern testing Jesus while concealing intent, an outward display of righteousness, and religious lies. G5272 opens integrity, communal influence, fear, religious performance, and repentance. It corrects the habit of treating hypocrisy as another group's permanent identity while excusing inconsistency among respected leaders or in oneself.
G5272 names performed appearance that conceals or contradicts actual intent, belief, or practice. It can spread socially as people adapt conduct to fear, status, or group pressure. The word diagnoses inconsistency but does not make every weakness or growth process deliberate fraud.
In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Jesus warns His disciples that hypocrisy works like leaven, exerting an expanding influence beyond a single private act.
The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
Peter's withdrawal from shared meals under social pressure draws other believers, including Barnabas, into hypocrisy.
Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
Believers are commanded to put away hypocrisy together with malice, deceit, envy, and slander as part of communal formation.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Pretense masking inner reality; originally stage-acting, now spiritual insincerity before God and others.
Pretense masking inner reality; originally stage-acting, now spiritual insincerity before God and others.
(ὑποκρίνομαι, which see) [in LXX: 2Ma.6:25 * ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
hypocrisy, dissembling
Read versehypocrisy, dissembling
Read versehypocrisy, dissembling
Read versehypocrisy, dissembling
Read versehypocrisy, dissembling
Read versehypocrisy, dissembling
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 5 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
ὑπόκρισις is built from this root:
Describes religious acting that masks inward corruption.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G5272 is especially dangerous when performance becomes communal culture. In Galatia, Peter's conduct at the table contradicts the gospel truth he knows, and respected Barnabas is carried along. The episode shows that hypocrisy need not begin with a carefully plotted lie; fear and status pressure can produce a public performance whose effects are exclusionary and theological.
Paul confronts the conduct because people and the gospel's shared life are at stake. Jesus' leaven image likewise warns disciples, not merely opponents, that concealed performance spreads. Churches should compare policies, budgets, discipline, hiring, hospitality, and safeguarding with their public claims. Yet the label must not become a shortcut for reading motives.
A person who struggles, changes a view, or confesses inconsistency is not automatically engaged in calculated pretense. Faithful correction names the contradiction and harm, invites truth, protects affected people, and watches for sustained change. Integrity grows where admission is safer than image management and authority remains open to examination.
Gal.2.13
G5272 developed from language associated with answering and dramatic performance and came to denote pretense or hypocrisy. New Testament uses emphasize an outward religious or social presentation contradicted by intent, conduct, or gospel truth.
The prophets condemn worship and speech separated from justice and covenant faithfulness. Jesus intensifies this concern around hidden motive and public display, while the apostles address hypocrisy as a temptation within Christian communities that requires correction and growth.