THE PHARISAICAL MYTH BY STEVE FINNELL
Are the modern day Pharisees those who believe that you have to follow God's doctrine in order to be saved? The example.
FAITH (John 3:16
REPENTANCE (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19)
CONFESSION ((Romans 10:9-10, Acts 8:37)
WATER BAPTISM (Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:21)
Are the contemporary Pharisees those who teach that Christians, who make sin a lifestyle, will not enter the kingdom of God? (1 Corinthians 6:6-11, Galatians 5:19-20)
Was the problem with the Pharisees that they kept God's law to the letter and forced others to do the same? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The Pharisees were keeping their man-made traditions, they were not keeping God's law to the letter.
Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees for keeping the laws of God to the letter. It was the exact opposite.
Mark 7:1-9 The Pharisees.....7 'But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men! 8 Neglecting the command of God, you hold to the tradition of men." 9. He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandments of God in order to keep your traditions.
Jesus made it very clear that the Pharisees did not keep God's laws to the letter. The problem with the Pharisees were they were keeping their man-made traditions!
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you , scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
Jesus was not rebuking the Pharisees for following God's law to the letter, He was admonishing them for neglecting the law.
Matthew 5:20 "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus did not question the righteousness of the Pharisees because they were living in strict obedience to God's law. They were not even close to following God's laws.
Matthew 16:6-12And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.".......12Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and and Sadducees.
Jesus was not warning of the teaching of the Pharisees because they were advocating strict adherence to the Scriptures. They were teaching from their man-made creed books.
Matthew 23:13-33....33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Jesus did not refer to the Pharisees as serpents and ask them how they would escape hell, because they were following the Scriptures to the letter of the law. THEY WERE NOT KEEPING GOD'S LAWS!
The problem with the Pharisees was they were following their man-made creed books. They were not living in strict obedience to the Scriptures, they were not even close.
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
JESUS DID NOT ADMONISH, REBUKE, LECTURE, NOR REPRIMAND THE PHARISEES FOR KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS NOR GOD'S COMMANDMENTS TO THE LETTER OF THE LAW. IT WAS JUST THE OPPOSITE!
TEACHING THE BIBLICAL TERMS FOR PARDON ACCORDING THE BIBLE IS NOT BEING PHARISAICAL!
THE MAN-MADE CREED BOOKS OF TODAY ARE NO MORE GOD'S WORD THAN THE CREED BOOKS OF THE PHARISEES.
IF THE DOCTRINE YOU FOLLOW CONTRADICTS SCRIPTURE, THEN, IT IS MAN-MADE TRADITION!
Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees for keeping the laws of God to the letter. It was the exact opposite.
Mark 7:1-9 The Pharisees.....7 'But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men! 8 Neglecting the command of God, you hold to the tradition of men." 9. He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandments of God in order to keep your traditions.
Jesus made it very clear that the Pharisees did not keep God's laws to the letter. The problem with the Pharisees were they were keeping their man-made traditions!
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you , scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
Jesus was not rebuking the Pharisees for following God's law to the letter, He was admonishing them for neglecting the law.
Matthew 5:20 "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus did not question the righteousness of the Pharisees because they were living in strict obedience to God's law. They were not even close to following God's laws.
Matthew 16:6-12And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.".......12Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and and Sadducees.
Jesus was not warning of the teaching of the Pharisees because they were advocating strict adherence to the Scriptures. They were teaching from their man-made creed books.
Matthew 23:13-33....33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Jesus did not refer to the Pharisees as serpents and ask them how they would escape hell, because they were following the Scriptures to the letter of the law. THEY WERE NOT KEEPING GOD'S LAWS!
The problem with the Pharisees was they were following their man-made creed books. They were not living in strict obedience to the Scriptures, they were not even close.
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
JESUS DID NOT ADMONISH, REBUKE, LECTURE, NOR REPRIMAND THE PHARISEES FOR KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS NOR GOD'S COMMANDMENTS TO THE LETTER OF THE LAW. IT WAS JUST THE OPPOSITE!
TEACHING THE BIBLICAL TERMS FOR PARDON ACCORDING THE BIBLE IS NOT BEING PHARISAICAL!
THE MAN-MADE CREED BOOKS OF TODAY ARE NO MORE GOD'S WORD THAN THE CREED BOOKS OF THE PHARISEES.
IF THE DOCTRINE YOU FOLLOW CONTRADICTS SCRIPTURE, THEN, IT IS MAN-MADE TRADITION!
I would point that the apostle Paul wrote:
ReplyDeleteBut now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Romans 7:6 (KJV)
Actually, there are four “phariseeisms”.
1. Jesus did criticize the Pharisees for demanding that others keep “the letter of law” especially in regards to the Sabbath.
2. They made up their own rules which were not part of the Law of Moses and demanded that other keep those rules as well.
3. They failed to properly prioritize the Law, neglecting the “weightier matters of Law” while making a big deal out of the small things. (This disproves the popular false doctrine that all sins are the same—none is bigger than another.)
4. Finally, by their traditions, they nullified laws that God really did want them to obey.
The Pharisees criticized Jesus and his disciples for healing or picking grain on the Sabbath. Jesus responded in three ways. In two of the ways he used Old Testament scriptures and in the other way he answered them according to their own beliefs.
1. "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" Luke 14:5 (NKJV). The Pharisees could not respond to this argument since they themselves believed in this exception to the Law of Sabbath and it is obvious that it is more important to save a man than a donkey or an ox.
2. Jesus pointed out, “Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?" Matt 12:5 (KJV) In the Law of Moses, it not only says that the priests were to make the daily sacrifice (which was a lot of hard work) on the Sabbath, but actually says that they were required to make that particular sacrifice twice on the Sabbath. (see Numbers 28:10).
3. Finally Jesus pointed out that David and his men ate the sacred bread that was only supposed to be eaten by the priests. (Mark 2:25, Luke 6:3, Leviticus 6:16, 24:7) Now this commandment is not directly related to the Sabbath, but both commandments have to do with the holiness of inanimate objects. Again, people take precedence over animals, plants, and non-living things.
The Pharisee created laws about hand-washing that were not in the Law of Moses. (Matthew 15:1, 2, 9)
The example of the tithing you mentioned in your post is the example of prioritizing a small commandment while neglecting a big one.
The commandment to honor (and particularly to obey) parents was nullified by a tradition of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:3-6.