A Warning from Christ's 'Sermon on the Mount' Against Political Hypocrisy

The world conceives the Sermon on the Mount as a loosening of the tight restrictions of Old Testament law. In reality, Christ's Sermon is a condemnation of all self-righteousness, and a revelation of the hopelessness of salvation by good works.

Christ's teaching about the mote and the beam is particularly relevant to the analysis of politics, because politics is drenched in hypocrisy and double standards.

We often try to correct sins in others that we possess ourselves. Sometimes, we project our own faults on others who are in fact completely guiltless. We hate to be corrected by a hypocrite. Those who are zealous to correct others are often incensed when their own flaws are pointed out. A third party is often best to step back from the dispute and see the inconsistencies and hypocrisy in such disputes.

Supporters of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain exhibit these characteristics, though they have not been pointed out to the public. In matters of freedom of the press, redistribution of wealth, and the protection of innocent life, both sides have unclean hands. Conservative Christians especially would do well to consider these facts.

A particular failure of the church is lack of a clear and consistent opposition to the shedding of innocent blood, especially in wars of aggression. Innocent life must be defended, and not traded for the causes we support.

A man can hardly remove a foreign body from his own eye. Only the Lord Jesus has clear vision, and the ability to remove the sin that plagues us. He had no need to offer a sacrifice for Himself, for He is without any sin.

His Righteousness must replace our self-righteousness if we are to be rescued.