The New Testament – Verse by Verse Bible Study – Part 23
In this Bible Study series on Internet Pastor we will be studying through the New Testament verse by verse. You can watch or listen to the study by going to the Online Church page.
Matthew 23:1-39 (NIV)
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;(Phylacteries are small leather pouches containing strips of parchment with Old Testament verses that were tied to their left arms and foreheads, but the Pharisees had made them very wide so they would be noticeable, just like lengthening the tassels on their prayer shawls.)6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ 8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
(Verse 14 is not in the NIV or in some early Greek manuscripts)
Matthew 23:14 (NKJV)
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
14 15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation. 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
With the clock running down on His physical ministry, Jesus is setting the record straight about the Pharisees. He started the process of exposing them back in Matthew Chapter 5 on the Sermon on the Mount with his “You have heard it said, by I say to you” statements. Now, in what is really a scathing indictment, Jesus catalogs the faults of the Pharisees. It is a list that all of us need to be aware of so that we don’t fall into the trap of legalism ourselves.
In Matthew 23:3 we see that the Pharisees don’t practice what they preach.
In Matthew 23:5 we see that the Pharisees did what they did to be admired by the people, not to live lives that were pleasing to God
In Matthew 23:6-9 we see that they were filled with pride and arrogance and wanted to be exalted over others. They rejected servanthood and humility which are the foundation of the teaching of Jesus. Because they rejected Jesus teaching they had been rejected by God.
In Matthew 23:16-22 we see that they were blind guides who carted about man made rules and had missed the realities of faith and relationship with God.
In Matthew 23:23-24 we see that they were hypocrites who were making a big deal about tithing the leaves of tiny herbs like mint, while overlooking justice and mercy.
In Matthew 23:25-27 we see that they were hypocrites who cared about outward appearances while being filled with greed
In Matthew 23:28-36 we see that they were just like the religious legalists in their own history who had always killed the messengers sent by God
(Abel was the first righteous martyr mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis 4:8) and Zechariah was the last martyr (2 Chronicles 24:20-22 with 2 Chronicles being last in the Hebrew Bible. In this statement Jesus attests to the Old Testament canon.)
And yet at the end of this expose, we see again the amazing compassion of Jesus as His heart broke for them and for the crowds who would soon scream for His death.
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