Are You a Pharisee?

If you are a faithful servant of Jesus, chances are you have been called a Pharisee once or twice. The assumption of many is that the Pharisees were people who practiced strict obedience to God and urged others to do the same, while the prostitutes and tax-collectors were accepted by Christ because they didn’t judge anyone.

Just as many misunderstand and misrepresent Jesus Christ Himself, many misunderstand and misrepresent the Pharisees. In fact, many people who mislabel the servants of Christ as “Pharisees” are themselves behaving as did the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.  It is my intention in this writing to encourage the hearts of God’s true servants by shedding light on the true nature of the Pharisees.

In Matthew 23, Jesus warned His disciples and the multitudes about the Pharisees:

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. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,  greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ (vs. 2-7)

We see here that the Pharisees would not do what they told others to do. They were hypocrites. When they did appear to do good works, it was only to be seen by men–that is, their motive was not love for God and men, but love for themselves. They wished to appear righteous, but they were not righteous. They wanted to be above other men, to be called “Rabbi,” and to have the best seats. They exalted themselves over other men, but God did not esteem them. God esteems the lowly, and the greatest of His true children are willing servants of their brethren, not brutal and hypocritical lords over them (Matt 23:11-12; Matt. 20:25-28).  Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Everything He called us to, He first lived by example. His servants are not greater than He is, and will do the same.  Just like their Good Shepherd, they will lay down their lives for the sheep. This, the Pharisees would not do, for their motives were selfish. They were not shepherds, but hirelings.

The remainder of Matthew 23 contains the rest of Jesus’ passionate rebuke of the Pharisees. Here are some of His complaints against them:

1.  They not only refused to enter the kingdom of heaven, they also stopped others from entering. (13)  Luke 7:30 records that the Pharisees rejected the will of God for themselves by refusing to participate in the baptism of repentance.  They continually spoke against the ministry of Jesus and tried to dissuade others from following Him.  Their doctrine was dangerous leaven (Matt. 16:12).  They were motivated by jealousy, desiring to have power over men. If they had been right with God, God would have shown them the truth about who Jesus was, but they did not want to see. When John the Baptist neither ate bread nor drank wine, they said he had a demon; when Jesus ate bread and drank wine, they said He was a glutton and a winebibber. When Jesus healed men, they claimed He did it by satan’s power, or they claimed that healing a man broke the Sabbath law. (The truth is that the Spirit of the law was never broken by Christ. God allowed men to pull a wounded animal out of a ditch on the Sabbath. They should have seen that a man had greater value.)  Jesus summed up their refusal to enter the kingdom of heaven in his parable of a king whose servants declared, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”  In short, the Pharisees rejected the reign of the rightful King, and they would be destroyed (Luke 19:11-27).

2.  They devoured widows’ houses. (14) Perhaps they did this by taking too much money from poor widows, or denying money to widows who needed help so they could live high-on-the-hog themselves. God takes offense when widows and orphans are cheated, and considers Himself their chief Protector who will avenge them (Exo. 22:22-24).  The Pharisees were blatantly breaking God’s law!

3.  They made long prayers for pretense’ sake. (14)  Their prayers were detestable to God not only because God detests the prayers of the disobedient (Prov. 28:9, 15:8; Psa. 66:18; Isa. 59:2), but also because the prayers were done for show.  Pure hypocrisy!

4.  Those they discipled were “twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” (15) Their fruit was terrible! Their new converts were even more wicked than themselves.

5. They added ridiculous rules to the law of God, by which they could refrain from keeping their oaths while still appearing righteous. (16-22)  Jesus called them “fools and blind,” and explained why their loopholes were foolish to God.  In Mark 7:6-13, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for teaching traditions that actually violated God’s commands.

6.  They followed meticulous tithing laws, but neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. (23-24)  For He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?  (Mic. 6:8)  Jesus said the whole law of God can be summed up by loving God supremely, and loving your neighbor as yourself. The Pharisees loved themselves supremely, and merely used their positions of power to exact what they wanted from the people.  The fact that they did not love justice and mercy is evident by the fact that they not only pushed for the crucifixion of Jesus, but they also wanted to kill Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead (John 12:10-11).

7.  Though they maintained a clean exterior, inside they were full of extortion and self-indulgence, uncleanness, hypocrisy and lawlessness. (25-28)  Pay attention, dear Christian. The Pharisees were not obedient, but lawless. They were not followers of the self-less and loving God, but rather self-indulgent extortioners of others. They were not holy, but unclean. They were not truthful, but hypocritical.  God’s problem with the Pharisees was not that they were holy men who taught the people the difference between right and wrong. God’s problem with the Pharisees was that they were unholy men who practiced lawlessness while pretending to be holy.  John the Baptist warned the Pharisees that they must bear fruits worthy of repentance (Matt. 3:7-10). He threatened that they would be cut down unless they produced the right fruit, which they were not as yet producing.

8.  They pretended at honoring the prophets, claiming they would not have killed them as their forefathers did, even as murder was already brewing in their hearts toward Jesus–the greatest Prophet. (29-36) The truth was that the prophets rebuked hypocrisy in their day, and would have rebuked the Pharisees also; and the hearts of the Pharisees were just as blind and murderous as those of their predecessors.  Not only would they kill Jesus, but they would also abuse and kill other servants of the Lord to come (like Stephen), because they hated the truth those messengers would bring.

Unless this list describes you, you are not a Pharisee.

Have you have repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation?–This the Pharisees would not do. 

Do you love the servants of the Lord who bring the truth, even if the truth reveals that you need to change?–The Pharisees did all they could to silence the truth, including conspiracies, lying, and murder. 

Do you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus daily?–The Pharisees were self-indulgent and made use of others to enrich themselves. 

Do you pray in secret so that your Father may reward you openly?–The Pharisees prayed pretentiously in public for show. 

Are you doing what you can to fulfill the great commission–making disciples of Jesus and teaching them to obey what He has commanded?–The Pharisees did just the opposite, turning men away from Jesus (whose burden is light) and insisting men obey their hard-to-bear traditions instead. 

Have you submitted to Christ and been cleansed on the inside, so that your exterior cleanness is an accurate reflection of your inward holiness to the Lord?–The Pharisees were only lawlessness and uncleanness wearing a disguise.

Here is an example of a true “Pharisee.” Let’s say you go out into the streets to hand out tracts and preach the gospel. You tell people they need to repent of their sins and follow Jesus. A man tells you he is already a Christian, and he lives in fornication and drunkenness–so what? He refuses to repent, and says that going to church makes him right with God. Furthermore, he doesn’t appreciate your preaching, and thinks your message is wrong. As a matter of fact, he would like you to take your preaching elsewhere.  As others try to listen to your message, he causes a disruption so they too are turned away from the truth.  Here you have a person refusing to repent and obey Jesus, trusting in tradition (church-going) to save him. He disdains the messenger of God, rejects the truth, and tries to stop others from accepting it. Sound familiar?

The irony is that this man just might call you a “Pharisee” when you point out that unless he repents of his willful sinning, he will perish. The truth is that the name describes him much more than it describes you.  Take heart, dear Christian.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household? (Matt. 10:25)  Know that you have been a faithful witness and carry on. The Lord who sees all things will bring all things to light.

God bless you.