Speaking about the many times Jesus condemned hypocrisy, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said:
“Taking the New Testament alone, you will gain little idea of the kind of life the Romans led in Palestine, the kind of life that the Christ condemned, and yet … it has seemed to me that the one sin that the Savior condemned as much as any other was the sin of hypocrisy—the living of the double life, the life we let our friends and sometimes our wives believe, and the life we actually live”
(in Conference Report, Oct. 1960, p. 90).
The word hypocrite is translated from a Greek word meaning an actor on the stage. A hypocrite is, therefore, a person who pretends to be something he is not, or one who assumes different roles that do not reflect his real thinking and feeling.
Nephi wrote that we must follow Christ “with full purpose of heart” and “with real intent” (2 Nephi 31:13) to receive the blessings of the Holy Ghost. “Full purpose of heart” suggests a total commitment of the inner man to Christ; “real intent” conveys the idea of sincere or pure motives. Moroni later wrote of this principle when he indicated that a testimony of the Book of Mormon is received through seeking “with a sincere heart, with real intent” (Moroni 10:4). He also wrote that true righteousness is based on the intent of the heart (see Moroni 7:6–9).