21 Bible Verses About Fake People

Matthew 23:27-28

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Reflection: Jesus speaks these lines to the teachers of the law and Pharisees in a series of woes, most of them addressed to “you hypocrites.” The tomb is whitened outside and full of bones inside, and verse 28 applies the picture directly: righteous in appearance, “full of hypocrisy and wickedness” within. The woe just before it uses a cup cleaned on the outside only, and tells them, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

Matthew 15:8

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”

Reflection: Pharisees and teachers of the law came from Jerusalem to ask why Jesus’ disciples ate without washing their hands. Jesus answered with their own rule, which let a person declare what might have helped their parents “devoted to God” and so withhold it from them, then called them hypocrites and quoted Isaiah 29:13. The next line of the quotation names the result: “They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”

Luke 12:1-2

“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”

Reflection: With a crowd of many thousands pressing in, Jesus speaks “first to his disciples,” so the warning is aimed at his own followers before anyone else. Yeast works unseen through a whole batch of dough, and hypocrisy is named as the Pharisees’ yeast. Verse 3 carries the point further: “What you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”

Titus 1:16

“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”

Reflection: Paul left Titus in Crete to appoint elders (Titus 1:5), and in this chapter he describes rebellious teachers who were “disrupting whole households” for “dishonest gain.” Their claim to know God is set against what they do. Paul’s instruction in verse 13 is to rebuke them sharply “so that they will be sound in the faith,” which aims at their correction as well as the church’s protection.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

Reflection: Paul tells Timothy what people will be like in the last days, in a list that runs from “lovers of themselves” to “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” The list ends with people who keep the outward form of godliness while denying its power. The instruction that follows is plain: “Have nothing to do with such people.”

Matthew 7:15-16

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.”

Reflection: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns of false prophets who look like sheep and are wolves underneath. The test he gives is fruit: the rest of verse 16 asks about grapes from thornbushes and figs from thistles, and verses 17-20 turn to good and bad trees: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”

Matthew 7:21

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Reflection: A few lines later the same warning reaches people who call Jesus “Lord.” Verse 22 lists what they will claim on that day, prophesying, driving out demons and performing miracles in his name, and verse 23 gives his answer: “I never knew you.” Verse 21 makes doing the will of the Father the measure, and calling Jesus “Lord” is not enough without it.

Proverbs 26:24-26

“Enemies disguise themselves with their lips, but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts. Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.”

Reflection: The verse before compares “fervent lips with an evil heart” to a coating of silver dross on cheap pottery: a shine laid over clay. The proverb tells the hearer not to believe charming speech from such a person, and promises that the malice will be “exposed in the assembly.” The section closes in verse 28: “A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.”

Psalm 12:2

“Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.”

Reflection: David’s psalm opens, “Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore,” and this verse names what he sees: lies to neighbours, flattery on the lips and deception in the heart. Verses 3-4 wish that the Lord would silence the flatterers, who boast, “By our tongues we will prevail.”

Psalm 55:21

“His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.”

Reflection: The man with smooth words is not a stranger. David says in verses 12-14 that he could endure an enemy’s insults, “But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,” someone he once walked with at the house of God. Verse 20 says this companion “violates his covenant,” and verse 22 tells the hearer, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you.”

Romans 16:18

“For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”

Reflection: Near the end of Romans, Paul urges the church to watch out for people who cause divisions contrary to the teaching they had learned, and to keep away from them (Romans 16:17). This verse gives his reason: such people serve their own appetites and use smooth talk to deceive the naive. Verse 19 adds what he wants for the church instead: to be “wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”

Proverbs 29:5

“Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet.”

Reflection: Flattery is pictured as a hunter’s net laid where a neighbour will walk. The proverb treats pleasing words as a trap for the person who hears them.

Psalm 41:9

“Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.”

Reflection: The psalmist is ill, and his enemies ask, “When will he die and his name perish?” A visitor speaks falsely while his heart gathers slander, then spreads it outside (verse 6), and the last blow comes from a close friend who ate at his table. Jesus quotes this line in John 13:18 at the supper with his disciples, and a few verses later he hands bread to Judas, the one who would betray him (John 13:26).

Proverbs 27:6

“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”

Reflection: Verse 5 sets the scene: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love.” A friend’s honest wound can be trusted, and an enemy’s many kisses cannot.

Proverbs 25:19

“Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble.”

Reflection: A broken tooth and a lame foot both fail at the moment weight is put on them. The proverb applies the picture to relying on an unfaithful person when trouble comes.

Micah 7:5-6

“Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your embrace guard the words of your lips. For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.”

Reflection: Micah is lamenting a land where “the faithful have been swept from the land,” rulers demand gifts and judges take bribes. In that setting he warns against trusting neighbour, friend or even spouse, and says a man’s enemies are in his own household. Verse 7 gives his own answer: “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord.”

2 Timothy 4:10

“For Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.”

Reflection: Demas had been with Paul before: he sends greetings in Colossians 4:14 and is named among Paul’s “fellow workers” in Philemon 24. Here Paul writes that Demas has deserted him “because he loved this world.” After Demas, Crescens and Titus have gone, verse 11 says, “Only Luke is with me.”

1 John 4:1

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Reflection: John tells his “dear friends” not to believe every spirit but to test it, because many false prophets have gone out. Verse 2 gives the test: “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”

Jeremiah 17:9

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

Reflection: The verse follows a contrast between the one who trusts in man, like a bush in the desert, and the one who trusts in the Lord, like a tree by water. It places deceit in the human heart generally, not only in other people. Verse 10 answers the question “Who can understand it?”: “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind.”

Romans 12:9

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

Reflection: The Greek word translated sincere is anupokritos, the word for hypocrite with a negative in front of it: love without play-acting. The next verse shows what that love does: “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

1 Peter 2:1

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”

Reflection: The “therefore” points back to 1 Peter 1:22, where Peter tells his readers they now have “sincere love for each other” and must “love one another deeply, from the heart.” Hypocrisy appears in a list with malice, deceit, envy and slander, all things that work against that love. Verse 2 gives what replaces them: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk.”