Matthew 23:27-30

The Pharisees were so preoccupied with their external religious practices, that they overlooked their internal hypocrisy within themselves. They remained full of greed and self-indulgence and pride. They missed the truth that cleaning the inside is essential to and required for the cleanliness of the outside. In simple terms, hypocrisy is a spiritually filthy inside with the appearance of a clean outside. To emphasize their insufficient efforts at purity, Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs that on the outside look beautiful, but on the inside painted an entirely different picture. Physically, they were disguising their spiritual decay.

The Greek word hypocrites literally means an actor in the Greek that it is translated from. And it is usually translated into the word hypocrite. And in some of Christ's uses of the word, it is equivalent to the concepts of evil and wickedness, godlessness, as seen in verses 27 and 29. But in general, the meaning is acting a part, false, deceptive, and deceived. He appears formally and outwardly religious and good, but inwardly insincere and unrighteous.