The Pharisees
Yesterday and Today!
Jesus Condemned the Pharisees for their
“better than thou” attitude towards people
and groups outside their association.
Are you a modern day Pharisee?
Are you “Pious & Separated”?
Do you believe you are right
and others are wrong?
You Might Be a Pharisee If . . .
Jesus and the Pharisees
Read Matthew 23 First.
What then are we to think about the attitude of Jesus toward the Pharisees? In the light of all that we have learned about the essentials of Pharisaism how are we to account for the scathing denunciations they received from the lips of Jesus? Jesus accused them of hypocrisy and pretentiousness, and pronounced upon them a succession of woes (seven in all) culminating in this terrible, climactic statement:
Matt 23:31-33 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"
Taken at face value Matthew 23:13-39 presents anything but an attractive picture of the Pharisees. But were all of the Pharisees to be considered deserving of hell? What about Nicodemus? We should not allow the remarks of Jesus to give us an unfair bias against the entire Pharisaic party. We also cannot neglect the rabbinic literature (the Mishnah, the Tosefta, etc.) as valid historical sources, or shut the eyes to the positive qualities of Pharisaism as revealed in the rabbinic literature.
In the New Testament it is obvious that Jesus had legitimate reasons for His accusations. These accusations center on the areas of teaching and practice. Lets review some of Jesus’ criticisms in the gospel accounts.
Matt 15:1-3 "Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?"
In this verse Jesus is primarily accusing the Pharisaic scribesand the content of the oral law was called into question. The "tradition of men" had taken the place of, and had nullified, the commandments of the Word of God. Jesus did not question the rightful authority of these scribes, nor did He question everything that the scribes and Pharisees had taught.
Matt 23:1-5 "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men."
Jesus apparently did not question the traditions but revealed that they were hypocrites in that they were not willing to carry the burden that much of the legal minutia of the oral tradition required. Even Peter accused the Jewish leaders when he said:
Acts 15:10-11 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?"
In fact Jesus continually reinforced his accusations against their unwillingness to maintain a consistency between their tradition and the written law:
Matt 15:14 "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."
Matt 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
The Pharisees would not live up to what they taught. They were so overly concerned with the externals that they neglected the "weightier matters of the law" and the simple truths about man and God. When their own Messiah had appeared in Israel they were so blinded by their observances and the minute details that they completely missed Him.
It is amazing that Jesus used the exact words of Isaiah, their great prophet, to describe their hypocrisy. Notice the quote from Isaiah 29:13:
Mark 7:5-7 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
The Pharisees were intent upon cleansing the outside of the cup and dish whereas the inside remained dirty:
Matt 23:25-26 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. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
He even accused them of being whitewashed tombs, disguising their inner corruption:
Matt 23:27-29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Outward self righteousness is the inevitable product of Pharisaic legalism. Jesus revealed their true motives:
Matt 23:5 "But all their works they do to be seen by men."
They were so filled with pride that they could not see that they would not practice what they had preached. In fact this was exactly what Jesus meant when He said "for they say, and do not do" Matt 23:3.
What is really amazing is that the Talmud reveals that hypocrisy was not unknown among the Pharisees. A famous passage in the Talmud denounces six types of hypocritical Pharisees (BT, Sotah, 22b), which speak of many of the same faults pointed out by Jesus.
The Talmudic literature clearly condemns pretence and hypocrisy (JT, Berakoth f. ix, 7; 13 ), and from this there can be no doubt that these vices constituted special problems for Pharisees.
This is an important point because the literature of the Pharisaic tradition in no way sanctions hypocrisy. In fact it is in agreement with Jesus, yet there can be no doubt that hypocrisy existed among the Pharisees during the time of Jesus but we must not make the mistake that the early writers of the oral tradition were all corrupt and blind.
It is also important to note that all of the Pharisees were not like those described in Matthew 23. The gospels contain references to Pharisees who were admirable men. Nicodemus is an excellent example of what a Pharisee ought to have been. He was genuinely a seeker of truth (John 3:1 ff.), spoke out for justice on behalf of Jesus (John 7:50) , and remained a follower of Jesus even after the disciples had fallen away (John 19:39) .
Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin and he looked for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43) , he was almost certainly a Pharisee, he also did not consent to the decision to do away with Jesus (Luke 23:51) . He was a disciple of Jesus "secretly, for fear of the Jews" (John 19:38) and he made final provisions for the body of Jesus.
There were no doubt many such Pharisees who believed in Jesus, yet probably secretly. Even those who were not necessarily believers could display admirable traits: Gamaliel argued for open-mindedness (Acts 5:34 ff.); others warned Jesus of an attempt on His life:
Luke 13:30-31 "On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."
And others showed hospitality to Jesus (Luke 7: 36ff.; 11:37; 14:1) even though they were being accused by Jesus.
During the start of His ministry the body of Pharisees would have been interested to hear what Jesus had to say. They were interested to hear what any teacher in Israel had to say. The problem that they had with Jesus was His monumental claims and the authority in which He spoke. No man had ever spoken like this man, and no man had ever won the favour of the masses so quickly and so thoroughly. He even went so far as to claim that He was the very reason for Torah and the fulfilment of it. Their opposition against him grew to the point that they had plotted His death. When Jesus was to be arrested the Pharisees were among those that came to take Him away:
John 18:2-3 "Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons"
Would Jesus have Condemned Evangelicals as Pharisees?
Recent criticisms of Evangelicalism have included an accusation that modern evangelicals would have been on the receiving end of Jesus’ rebuke in the same way and for the same reasons that the Pharisees were in His own day. Is such a charge justified? Does modern evangelicalism display the worst of Pharisaism?
Yes?
1) Evangelicals are always in danger of overvaluing received tradition
This is thought to be especially the case when you put the adjective “conservative” in front of Evangelical. The Pharisees loved their long flowing robes, their ostentatious prayers, their pomp and ceremony. But they were condemned by Jesus for letting go of the commandments of God and holding onto the traditions of men (Mark 7).
Evangelicals today are castigated, not as those who hold to pompous tradition in terms of clothing, liturgy or ceremony, but rather as those who hold to apparently outdated views on the role of women and practising homosexuals in the life of the church community. In other words, the charge is not against their religious ceremony but rather over their adherence to traditional views of Church order and sexual ethics. Indeed evangelical churches tend to have little time for fussy liturgy, vestments or ostentation. However they do believe that tradition and reason are subservient to Scripture and that the Bible is still normative for Christian life.
2) Evangelicals view Scripture as utterly reliable and infallible so there is always a danger of legalism.
The Pharisees were condemned by Jesus for washing the outside of the dish but failing to clean the inside; for tithing their herbs but neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness. And thus they are castigated as being “blind guides” (Matthew 23). Surely a more enlightened approach would be to sit a little looser to the teaching of Scripture?
However, was it not Jesus who spoke about every jot and tittle being fulfilled? Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees was not over their desire to keep the law, but rather their expectation that by narrowing it down to external matters of conduct and ceremony they could think that they had fulfilled it. Hence, Jesus points out the full responsibility of keeping and teaching the law – going to issues of the heart as well as of conduct (Matthew7:27-48). As Article VI states, Evangelicals believe that whatsoever is not written in Holy Scripture is not required of anyone.
3) Evangelicals are seen as joy-killers and finicky rather than celebrating the richness of the life God has given.
Rather than bringing liberty to their followers, the Pharisees were accused of “tying heavy loads on men’s shoulders” and not lifting a finger to relieve their burden.
The joy of the good news of Jesus is not freedom from obligation or worship. Rather the joy offered in the Gospel is that of being in tune with the living, creating, redeeming God. This is at the heart of evangelical faith.
4) Evangelicals demand moral purity but don’t keep it themselves nor realise the complexity of living in the real world and thus are subject to the charge of hypocrisy
Jesus warned the crowds to do what the Pharisees tell them to do, but not to hold up as models to follow, for they do not practice what they preach (Matthew 23:3). They are hypocrites.
Evangelicals have had their fair share of scandal associated with the movement. However, in Evangelical churches corporate and individual sin is most likely to be confessed. Personal holiness flows from a self-awareness about the state of the human heart, which is more likely to help avoid hypocrisy. As the Church sign wisely says: “You’re not so bad you have to stay out; you’re not so good you can’t afford to come in”.
No?
1) Evangelical faith has the worship of Jesus at its heart. One of the features of many Evangelical Churches I have been in is a desire to worship Jesus. I find the reality of living faith which is focussed, not on rules and regulations, but on a heartfelt engagement with God. Surely this is one of the reasons why Evangelical churches are growing? People are hungry to meet God, and they find Him in many of our evangelical congregations. Relationship with him matters more than tradition.
2) Evangelical faith is fully inclusive. To be inclusive does not mean that all people get to heaven irrespective of their genuine repentance and personal faith in Christ. To believe that would make them, not Evangelicals, butUniversalists. To be truly inclusive means to say to a sinful person, such as the women Jesus encountered in John 8,“Neither do I condemn you” plus“go and sin no more”. This is the inclusive love that is found in the Gospel. It involves acceptance by Christ but also with a mandate to live, under God, a reformed life. The Gospel demands telling people of their danger outside of Christ, but their full acceptance in Christ.
3) Evangelical faith has been at the forefront of social reform. We recall that members of the so-called Clapham Sect were not only key players in social movements such as the abolition of slavery but they were genuine pietists who saw national reformation as the overflow of a godly life. The statue in St Paul’s Cathedral speaks of William Wilberforce as one who exuded the “abiding eloquence of a Christian life”. Christ’s lordship over all demands celebration of all that is good in his world.
4) Evangelical faith is realistic about the pervasiveness of human sin affecting body, mind and soul, but at the same time takes seriously the Bible’s call to live a blameless life. Personal holiness is at the heart of Evangelical faith, and like those notorious Corinthians evangelicals know for themselves “such were some of you”. Evangelical faith recognises both: that we are more sinful than we ever previously believedandwe are more loved than ever we could have imagined. Christian communities are made up of notorious sinners who have been“washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Conclusion
Of course, it is wrong to assume that Jesus was uniformly critical of the Pharisees, and much of their “separatism” was motivated by a desire to live pure lives in an impure world. However, Jesus did say that our righteousness needs to exceed that of the Pharisees if we are to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:19-20). Surely this means that the Pharisees were wrong to reduce the obedience which God requires of us to mere external, manageable amounts? True righteousness goes much further. And there is a warning to all that the breaking of God’s commandments, and worse, teaching others to do so, earns the attribute of “least in the kingdom of God”. The Sadducees likewise are in error because they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God (Matthew 22:19).
Commitment to the Evangel is a commitment to God, for the true custodians of the faith are those who cherish the God who we meet in Jesus in the pages of His word. Pharisaism is not far from every heart when it presumes to sit over God’s word rather than under it; when it fails to worship Jesus and is not passionate about sharing His message to a lost and needy world. It is a loving thing to warn the world of the reality of their eternal plight and how to prepare for it! For that reason I am happy to be called an evangelical, and suspect that Jesus is rather pleased too!
Revd Dr Simon Vibert, Vicar St Luke’s Wimbledon Park
Is the Church today the Pharisees of Jesus day?