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Clean
Cups and Caterpillars
The first word we need to
understand is the Greek word morphe
(pronounced mór-fay). This word
means "an outward appearance that truly
represents the inward nature." In other
words, what you see is what you get
— the outside
agrees with what is on the inside.
If a cup that looks clean
on the outside is also clean on the
inside, we could say that its outward
appearance is morphe
— an accurate reflection
of what's on the inside. When a
caterpillar goes into its cocoon
and later emerges as a butterfly, we
call that metamorphosis, which is
from the same word. That literally
means "a change of outward appearance
without a change of inward nature." In
modern English we say that the
caterpillar has morphed into a
butterfly. But the
creature that goes into the cocoon and
the creature that comes out of the
cocoon are one and the same creature. Both the caterpillar form
and the butterfly form reflect the true
nature of the insect, even though the
outward appearance is different.
Whitewashed Tombs and Hidden Agendas
The second word from the
original Greek that we need
to understand is schema
(pronounced skée-ma). This
word means "an outward appearance that
does not represent the inward
nature." In other words, what you see is
not what you get
— the outside
does not accurately reflect what is on the inside.
Schema is the opposite of morphe.
The cup that looks clean
on the outside might be filthy on the
inside. The Lord Jesus spoke of
 this
when He described the character of the
unbelieving religious leaders of His
day: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside
of the cup and dish, but inside they are
full of extortion and self-indulgence"
(Matthew 23:25). And, "You are like
whitewashed tombs which indeed appear
beautiful outwardly, but inside are full
of dead men's bones and all uncleanness"
(Matthew 23:27). Here
the Lord described an outward appearance
that is schema
— it doesn't
reflect what's on the inside.
As the old
saying goes, "Looks can be
deceiving." When we talk about a
scheming person —
which is from the same root word
— we usually
mean someone who is crafty, conniving,
or tricky. We sometimes say that a
person like that has a "hidden
agenda." What that person says and does
outwardly often does not reflect his
true intentions, the inward reality.
So morphe means
that the outside appearance agrees with
what's on the inside. It is the
truthful picture of things. Schema
means that the outside appearance does
not agree with what's on the
inside. It is a deceiving picture
of things.
With those two words in
mind, let's look at five passages
together.
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Articles in this series
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