Matthew 23:27-28: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
While the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day often appeared righteous outwardly, they failed to please God inwardly. Jesus stressed their need (and our need) to be righteous on both the outside and the inside (verse 26).
For instance, consider the need we have for faith (2 Cor. 5:7). While walking by faith involves God-pleasing conduct, faith is, in its primary sense, part of the inward man. This is seen in Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.
Such a conviction is not gained by accident. Romans 10:17 teaches, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Feeding our souls with the spiritual nourishment God gives us, and doing so with an honest heart that genuinely wants the truth, is a recipe for increasing our faith (cf. Luke 8:11, 15). The honest heart needed when studying God’s Word ties in with something else that is needed in the inward person – sincerity (cf. Phil. 1:10).
The scribes and Pharisees’ hypocrisy exemplifies the opposite of sincerity. Jesus rebuked this group for doing “all their works to be seen by men” (Matt. 23:5). Such pretense opposes the genuine aim we should have to please God in all we do (2 Cor. 5:9).
Sincerity is helped by a third key attribute of the inner person – spiritual-mindedness.
Notice how the apostle Paul exemplified this. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, he referred to the “light affliction” he endured as a servant of Christ’s. In 2 Corinthians 11 (verses 24ff), he elaborated on the severe beatings and hardships included in his “light affliction.”
Why would Paul consider such painful trials “light”? Notice 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
These verses make clear that Paul was spiritually-minded. He saw beyond carnal, temporal things and set his affection on things above. This frame of mind is needed from each of us to be inwardly clean.
Something else God demands that is a part of the inward person is zeal for Him.
While zeal can cause more harm than good if misdirected (Rom. 10:1-3), knowledge without zeal is no better than zeal without knowledge. This is seen in the Lord’s rebuke of the church in Laodicea. These Christians were “lukewarm” (Rev. 3:16) in their service to God. In exhorting them to repent of their spiritual apathy, the Lord commanded, “Be zealous” (Rev. 3:19). The fiery passion indicated in the word “zealous” must be directed toward God and all that He defines as good works (Titus 2:14).
In addition to a spirit of zeal, submitting to what God defines as good works demands a spirit of meekness (Jas. 1:21).
This spirit is well-expressed in the hymns Take My Life, and Let It Be and Have Thine Own Way, Lord. We must have hearts that revere God, accept Him as our Master, and willfully yield to His will.
Closely related to meekness is a spirit of humility. While humbling ourselves involves action, humility is, in many ways, an inward quality of the heart. Philippians 2:3 says, “doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself.” In the ASV and KJV, the word for “humility” is translated “lowliness of mind.”
This helps us understand what humility is about. It involves a proper mindset…a proper view of self in relation to God and others. Humility is not about beating oneself up, but it properly understands God’s superiority to us, and the fact that we each need God as much as anyone. Humility is not concerned about self-exaltation, but serving others (Phil. 2:4; Matt. 23:11-12). These examples just scratch the surface of the importance of the inward person. May we pursue all that God teaches is needful for us to be inwardly clean.
– Michael Hickox