“Bad actors” refers primarily to people who consistently muddle through a stage, television, or movie performance. A secondary usage has to do with those who are up to no good, but I’m not sure that was very well known until a few years ago. That’s when the security industry began to use the phrase for those involved in phishing, scams, spams, and other forms of fraud (especially in the online world). From my point of view, that’s too nice of a label for them. After all, bad actors can be a good people, but there’s nothing good about the parasites that want to make their living deceiving and stealing from others.
But if we’re going to use the word for fraudsters, then it would certainly apply to (most of) the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They were “bad actors” in the sense that they were spiritual parasites who fed off the faith and trust of others. Jesus warned people about them—speaking about how they would “devour widows’ houses” (Luke 20:47). At minimum, this had to do with exploiting the vulnerability of widows for personal gain but many understand the phrase more literally—they were orchestrating some kind of scheme that resulted in the widow’s house being acquired by them.
But even when they weren’t using fakery and manipulation to decimate people financially, they were employing it to boost their reputation. Three times in Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to do what “the hypocrites” did regarding giving, praying, and fasting (v. 2, 5, 16). Since He had just said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20)—it’s not a stretch to understand them to be the “hypocrites” He was referring to. They made a big show when doing these things in order to “be seen by others” (v. 5), “to be honored by others” (v. 2), and to let others know what they were doing (v. 16). In short, they were everything religion isn’t supposed to be (and part of why people don’t even like to use the word anymore).
But it’s also why people find Jesus so refreshing. There was no acting, pretense, or fakery with him. He spoke the truth, taught the truth, loved the truth, and lived the truth.
When Paul went to Macedonia, he left Timothy at Ephesus so he could, “Command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies” (1 Timothy 1:3-4). The goal of Timothy’s efforts was to produce “love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (v. 5). The older translations have “faith unfeigned.” In other words— no acting.
We see this same emphasis in the Beatitudes where Jesus speaks of the blessedness being connected with . . . the poor in spirit . . . the meek . . . the merciful . . . the pure of heart. These are not things we are to do—they are things we are to be! They result in us being salt and light (v. 13-16). The world is hungry to for sincere hearts!
They’ve already seen too many bad actors.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 