Reference: Pharisees
American
A numerous and dominant sect of the Jews, agreeing on some main points of doctrine and practice, but divided into different parties or schools on minor points; as for instance, the schools or followers of Hillel and Shammai, who were celebrated rabbins or teachers. The name is commonly derived from the Hebrew purash, to separate, as though they were distinguished form the rest of the nation by their superior wisdom and sanctity. They first appeared as a sect after the return of the Jews from captivity. In respect to their tenets, although they esteemed the written books of the old Testament as the sources of the Jewish religion, yet they also attributed great and equal authority to traditional precepts relating principally to external rites: as ablutions, fasting, long prayers, the distribution of alms, the avoiding of all intercourse with Gentiles and publicans, etc. See Mt 6:5; 9:11; 23:5; Mr 7:4; Lu 18:12. In superstitious and self-righteous formalism they strongly resembled the Romish church. They were rigid interpreters of the letter of the Mosaic law, but not infrequently violated the spirit of it by their traditional and philosophical interpretations. See Mt 5:31,43; 12:2; 19:3; 23:23. Their professed sanctity and close adherence to all the external forms of piety gave them great favor and influence with the common people, and especially among the female part of the community. They believed with the Stoics, that all things and events were controlled by fate yet not so absolutely as entirely to destroy the liberty of the human will. They considered the soul as immortal, and held the doctrine of a future resurrection of the body, Ac 23:8. It is also supposed by some that they admitted the doctrine of metempsychosis or the transmigration of souls; but no allusion is made to this in the New Testament, nor does Josephus assert it. In numerous cases Christ denounced the Pharisees for their pride and covetousness, their ostentation in prayers, alms, tithes, and facts, Mt 6:2,5; Lu 18:9, and their hypocrisy in employing the garb of religion to cover the profligacy of their dispositions and conduct; as Mt 23; Lu 16:14; Joh 7:48-49; 8:9. By his faithful reproofs he early incurred their hatred, Mt 12:14; they eagerly sought to destroy him, and his blood was upon them and their children. On the other hand, there appear to have been among them individuals of probity, and even of genuine piety; as in the case of Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, the aged Simeon, etc., Mt 27:57; Lu 2:25; Joh 3:1. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee of the strictest sect, Ac 26:5; Ga 1:14. The essential features of their character are still common in Christian lands, and are no less odious to Christ than of old.
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And it was said, Whoever would put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorcement.
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.
When, therefore, you give in charity, sound not a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
And when you pray, be not like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
And when you pray, be not like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
And when the Pharisees saw them they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with publicans and sinners?
And the Pharisees seeing it, said to him, Behold, your disciples do what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath.
and the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him to destroy him.
And the Pharisees came to him to try him, and said, Is it lawful [for a man] to put away his wife for every cause?
And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes,
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
And when it was evening a rich man came from Arimathea, by the name of Joseph, who himself also was a disciple of Jesus;
And from a market, unless they baptize they eat not; and there are many other [customs] which they have received to hold; baptisms, of cups and sextuses [
And behold, there was a man at Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was just and pious, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.
And the Pharisees, who are avaricious, heard all these things, and derided him.
And he also spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
And there was a man of the Pharisees whose name was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
Has any one of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? But this multitude which know not the law are accursed.
But they hearing, and being convicted by their consciences, went out, one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.
who knew me from the first, if they would testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
and was a proficient in Judaism beyond many of my age among my people, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Easton
separatists (Heb persahin, from parash, "to separate"). They were probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the "pious"), a party that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt against his heathenizing policy. The first mention of them is in a description by Josephus of the three sects or schools into which the Jews were divided (B.C. 145). The other two sects were the Essenes and the Sadducees. In the time of our Lord they were the popular party (Joh 7:48). They were extremely accurate and minute in all matters appertaining to the law of Moses (Mt 9:14; 23:15; Lu 11:39; 18:12). Paul, when brought before the council of Jerusalem, professed himself a Pharisee (Ac 23:6-8; 26:4-5).
There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was a very lax morality (Mt 5:20; 15:4,8; 23/3/type/sawyer'>23:3,14,23,25; Joh 8:7). On the first notice of them in the New Testament (Mt 3:7), they are ranked by our Lord with the Sadducees as a "generation of vipers." They were noted for their self-righteousness and their pride (Mt 9:11; Lu 7:39; 18:11-12). They were frequently rebuked by our Lord (Mt 12:39; 16:1-4).
From the very beginning of his ministry the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of our Lord. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people.
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And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come for the baptism, he said to them; Offspring of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
For I tell you, that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And when the Pharisees saw them they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with publicans and sinners?
Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples fast not?
But he answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, and no sign shall be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For God said, Honor your father and mother; and he that reviles father or mother, let him surely die.
This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me.
AND the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to Jesus to try him desired him to show them a sign from heaven. But he answered and said to them, When it is evening you say, It will be fair weather for the sky is red; read more. and in the morning, It will rain to-day for the sky is red and lowering. You know how to distinguish the face of the sky, but you cannot distinguish the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign shall be given it except the sign of Jonah. And he left them and departed.
All things therefore which they tell you, do and keep. But do not their works. For they say and do not,
(Added verse not retained in Sawyer) Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess.
And the Pharisee who invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying, If this was a prophet he would have known who and what kind of a woman this is who touches him; for she is a sinner.
And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and plate, but your inside is full of plunder and wickedness.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
Has any one of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees?
And when they continued asking him, rising up, he said to them, Let him that has not sinned among you first cast the stone at her.
And Paul knowing that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried in the Sanhedrim, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees; for the hope and resurrection of the dead am I under trial. And having said this, there was a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude were divided. read more. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.
My mode of life from my childhood, the early part of it being with my nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, who knew me from the first, if they would testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
Fausets
From perishin Aramaic, perashim, "separated." To which Paul alludes, Ro 1:1; Ga 1:15, "separated unto the gospel of God"; once "separated" unto legal self righteousness. In contrast to "mingling" with Grecian and other heathen customs, which Antiochus Epiphanes partially effected, breaking down the barrier of God's law which separated Israel from pagandom, however refined. The Pharisees were successors of the Assideans or Chasidim, i.e. godly men "voluntarily devoted unto the law." On the return from Babylon the Jews became more exclusive than ever. In Antiochus' time this narrowness became intensified in opposition to the rationalistic compromises of many. The Sadducees succeeded to the latter, the Pharisees to the former (1Ma 1:13-15; 1Ma 1:41-49; 1Ma 1:62-63; 1Ma 2:42; 1Ma 7:13-17; 2Ma 14:6-38). They "resolved fully not to eat any unclean thing, choosing rather to die that they might not be defiled: and profame the holy covenant." in opposition to the Hellenizing faction.
So the beginning of the Pharisees was patriotism and faithfulness to the covenant. Jesus, the meek and loving One, so wholly free from harsh judgments, denounces with unusual severity their hypocrisy as a class. (Mt 15:7-8; 23:5,13-33), their ostentatious phylacteries and hems, their real love of preeminence; their pretended long prayers, while covetously defrauding the widow. They by their "traditions" made God's word of none effect; opposed bitterly the Lord Jesus, compassed His death, provoking Him to some "hasty words" (apostomatizein) which they might catch at and accuse Him; and hired Judas to betray Him; "strained out gnats, while swallowing camels" (image from filtrating wine); painfully punctilious about legal trifles and casuistries, while reckless of truth, righteousness, and the fear of God; cleansing the exterior man while full of iniquity within, like "whited sepulchres" (Mr 7:6-13; Lu 11:42-44,53-54; 16:14-15); lading men with grievous burdens, while themselves not touching them with one of their fingers. (See CORBAN .)
Paul's remembrance of his former bondage as a rigid Pharisee produced that reaction in his mind, upon his embracing the gospel, that led to his uncompromising maintenance, under the Spirit of God, of Christian liberty and justification by faith only, in opposition to the yoke of ceremonialism and the righteousness which is of the law (Galatians 4; 5). The Mishna or "second law," the first portion of the Talmud, is a digest of Jewish traditions and ritual, put in writing by rabbi Jehudah the Holy in the second century. The Gemara is a "supplement," or commentary on it; it is twofold, that of Jerusalem not later than the first half of the fourth century, and that of Babylon A.D. 500. The Mishna has six divisions (on seeds, feasts, women's marriage, etc., decreases and compacts, holy things, clean and unclean), and an introduction on blessings. Hillel and Shammai were leaders of two schools of the Pharisees, differing on slight points; the Mishna refers to both (living before Christ) and to Hillel's grandson, Paul's' teacher, Gamaliel.
An undesigned coincidence confirming genuineness is the fact that throughout the Gospels hostility to Christianity shows itself mainly from the Pharisees; but throughout Acts from the Sadducees. Doubtless because after Christ's resurrection the resurrection of the dead was a leading doctrine of Christians, which it was not before (Mr 9:10; Ac 1:22; 2:32; 4:10; 5:31; 10:40). The Pharisees therefore regarded Christians in this as their allies against the Sadducees, and so the less opposed Christianity (Joh 11:57; 18:3; Ac 4:1; 5:17; 23:6-9). The Mishna lays down the fundamental principle of the Pharisees. "Moses received the oral law from Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and these to the prophets, and these to the men of the great synagogue" (Pirke Aboth ("The Sayings of the [Jewish] Fathers"), 1). The absence of directions for prayer, and of mention of a future life, in the Pentateuch probably gave a pretext for the figment of a traditional oral law.
The great synagogue said, "make a fence for the law," i.e. carry the prohibitions beyond the written law to protect men from temptations to sin; so Ex 23:19 was by oral law made further to mean that no flesh was to be mixed with milk for food. The oral law defined the time before which in the evening a Jew must repeat the Shema, i.e. "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord," etc. (De 6:4-9.) So it defines the kind of wick and oil to be used for lighting the lamps which every Jew must burn on the Sabbath eve. An egg laid on a festival may be eaten according to the school of Shammai, but not according to that of Hillel; for Jehovah says in Ex 16:5, "on the sixth day they shall prepare that which, they bring in," therefore one must not prepare for the Sabbath on a feast day nor for a feast day on the Sabbath. An egg laid on a feast following the Sabbath was "prepared" the day before, and so involves a breach of the Sabbath (!); and though all feasts do not immediately follow the Sabbath yet "as a fence to the law" an egg laid on any feast must not be eaten.
Contrast Mic 6:8. A member of the society of Pharisees was called chaber; those not members were called "the people of the land"; compare Joh 7:49, "this people who knoweth not the law are cursed"; also the Pharisee standing and praying with himself, self righteous and despising the publican (Lu 18:9-14). Isaiah (Isa 65:5) foretells their characteristic formalism, pride of sanctimony, and hypocritical exclusiveness (Jg 1:18). Their scrupulous tithing (Mt 23:23; Lu 18:12) was based on the Mishna, "he who undertakes to be trustworthy (a pharisaic phrase) tithes whatever he eats, sells, buys, and does not eat and drink with the people of the land." The produce (tithes) reserved for the Levites and priests was "holy," and for anyone. else to eat it was deadly sin. So the Pharisee took all pains to know that his purchases had been duly tithed, and therefore shrank from "eating with" (Mt 9:11) those whose food might not be so. The treatise Cholin in the Mishna lays down a regulation as to "clean and unclean" (Le 20:25; 22:4-7; Nu 19:20) which severs the Jews socially from other peoples; "anything slaughtered by a pagan is unfit to be eaten, like the carcass of an animal that died of itself, and pollutes him who carries it."
An orthodox Jew still may not eat meat of any animal unless killed by a Jewish butcher; the latter searches for a blemish, and attaches to the approved a leaden seal stamped kashar, "lawful." (Disraeli, Genius. of Judaism.) The Mishna abounds in precepts illustrating Col 2:21, "touch not, taste not, handle not" (contrast Mt 15:11). Also it (6:480) has a separate treatise on washing of hands (Yadayim). Translated Mr 7:8, "except they wash their hands with the fist" (pugmee); the Mishna ordaining to pour water over the dosed hands raised so that it should flow down to the elbows, and then over the arms so as to flow over the fingers. Jesus, to confute the notion of its having moral value, did not wash before eating (Lu 11:37-40). Josephus (Ant. 18:1, section 3, 13:10, section 5) says the Pharisees lived frugally, like the Stoics, and hence had so much weight with the multitude that if they said aught against the king or the high-priest it was immediately believed, whereas the Sadducees could gain only the rich.
The defect in the Pharisees which Christ stigmatized by the parable of the two debtors was not immorality but want of love, from unconsciousness of forgiveness or of the need of it. Christ recognizes Simon's superiority to the woman in the relative amounts of sin needing forgiveness, but shows both were on a level in inability to cancel their sin as a debt. Had he realized this, he would not have thought Jesus no prophet for suffering her to touch Him with her kisses of adoring love for His forgiveness of her, realized by her (Lu 7:36-50; 15:2). Tradition set aside moral duties, as a child's to his parents by" Corban"; a debtor's to his creditors by the Mishna treatise, Avodah Zarah (1:1) which forbade payment to a pagan three days before any pagan fest
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You have heard that it was said by the ancients, You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be subject to the judgment. But I tell you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be subject to the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, Worthless fellow, shall be subject to the Sanhedrim; and whoever says, You fool, shall be subject to the hell of fire.
You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery;
And it was said, Whoever would put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorcement. But I tell you, that whoever puts away his wife, except for adultery, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries her that is put away, commits adultery.
You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
On this account I tell you, be not anxious for your soul, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you shall put on, is not the soul more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of heaven; they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into store-houses; but your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? read more. Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature? And why are you anxious concerning clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they perform no hard labor, neither do they spin; but I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, men of little faith? Be not anxious, therefore, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or with what shall we be clothed? For after all these things the gentiles seek; and your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first righteousness and his kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you. Be not anxious, therefore, for to-morrow, for to-morrow will be anxious for its; sufficient for the day is its evil.
And when the Pharisees saw them they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with publicans and sinners?
Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion [1.5 mills]? and one of them cannot fall to the ground without your Father. Even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
and said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is raised from the dead; and on that account the mighty works are performed by him.
Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me.
Not that which enters into the mouth, defiles the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth that defiles the man.
saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All things therefore which they tell you, do and keep. But do not their works. For they say and do not,
And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes,
But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in. (Added verse not retained in Sawyer) read more. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Woe to you blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound. read more. Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold? If a man swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if be swears by the gift which is on it, he is bound. Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift? He then that swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things on it; and he that swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him that inhabits it; and he that swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits on it. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others. Blind guides! who strain out a gnat and swallow down a camel. read more. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess. Blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is in the cup and platter, that its outside may be clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear fair without, but within are full of the bones of the dead and of all impurity. So also you on the outside appear just to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. So that you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets; and you have filled up the measure of your fathers. Serpents, offspring of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell?
And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, hypocrites, as it is written; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me; but in vain do they worship me, teaching for teachings the commandments of men; read more. for leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.
for leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. And he said to them, Well do you reject the commandment of God, to keep your tradition; read more. for Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, He that reviles father or mother, let him surely die. But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, It is a corban, which is a gift, by whatever you might be profited by me, [he shall be free]; and suffer him no longer to do any thing for his father or his mother; making the word of God of no effect by your tradition which you have delivered; and many such things you do.
And they kept the word, inquiring with themselves what the rising from the dead meant.
who shall not receive a hundred fold now at this present time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the life to come eternal life.
AND one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him; and going into the Pharisee's house he reclined. And behold, a certain woman in the city, a sinner, knowing that he was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, brought a vase of ointment, read more. and standing behind, by his feet, weeping, washed his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head; and she kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the Pharisee who invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying, If this was a prophet he would have known who and what kind of a woman this is who touches him; for she is a sinner. And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said, Teacher, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed him five hundred denarii [$70], and the other fifty [$7]. And having nothing to pay, he gave [the debt] to both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one to whom he gave most. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. And turning to the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I came into your house; you gave me no water for my feet; but she has wet my feet with tears, and wiped them with her hairs. You gave me no kiss; but she, from the time that I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You anointed not my head with oil; but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she has loved much; but he to whom little is forgiven, loves little. And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And those who reclined with him said within themselves, Who is this that forgives sins also? And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.
And he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered well; do this, and you shall live. read more. But he, wishing to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
And when he was speaking, a certain Pharisee asked him to breakfast with him; and he went in and immediately sat down. And the Pharisee seeing him, wondered that he was not first baptized before breakfast. read more. And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and plate, but your inside is full of plunder and wickedness. Senseless men! did not he that made the outside make also the inside?
But woe to you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint, and rue, and every kind of plant, and omit justice and the love of God. These things you ought to do, and not to omit those. Woe to you, Pharisees! for you love the first seat in the synagogues, and salutations in the markets. read more. Woe to you! for you are like concealed tombs; and men walk over them and know it not.
And when he had gone out thence the scribes and Pharisees were extremely angry, and questioned him on many subjects, watching him, to catch something from his mouth.
And both the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.
And the Pharisees, who are avaricious, heard all these things, and derided him. And he said to them, You are they that justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts; for that which is high among men is an abomination before God.
And he also spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up to the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. read more. The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God, be propitious to me a sinner. read more. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than that; for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the life to come eternal life.
But this multitude which know not the law are accursed.
and his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
They answered and said to him, You were born entirely in sins, and do you teach us? And they cast him without.
And the chief priests and Pharisees had given commandment, that if any one knew where he was he should make it known, that they might take him by force.
Nevertheless, many of the rulers believed on him, but on account of the Pharisees did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogues;
Then Judas taking the guard and the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with torches, and lamps, and weapons.
beginning from the baptism of John till the day on which he was taken up from us, should be made with us a witness of his resurrection.
This Jesus has God raised up, whose witnesses we all are.
And while they were speaking to the people, the priests, and the commander of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazoraean, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him has this man stood before you sound.
And the chief priest arose, and all those with him, being the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with wrath,
him has God exalted, a Prince and Saviour at his right hand, to give a change of mind to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.
This [man] did God raise up on the third day, and permitted him to be made manifest,
But some of those of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, rose and said, that it is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
And Paul knowing that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried in the Sanhedrim, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees; for the hope and resurrection of the dead am I under trial.
And Paul knowing that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried in the Sanhedrim, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees; for the hope and resurrection of the dead am I under trial. And having said this, there was a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude were divided.
And having said this, there was a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude were divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. And there was a great cry, and the scribes of the party of the Pharisees rising up contended, saying, We find no evil in this man; but [what] if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?
PAUL, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart to the gospel of God,??2 which he promised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,??3 concerning his Son born of the posterity of David as to the flesh,
But when God who gave me being and called me by his grace,
Hastings
A study of the four centuries before Christ supplies a striking illustration of the law that the deepest movements of history advance without the men, who in God's plan are their agents, being clearly aware of what is going on. The answer to the question
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And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come for the baptism, he said to them; Offspring of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
THEN Jesus spoke to the multitudes and his disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All things therefore which they tell you, do and keep. But do not their works. For they say and do not, read more. but bind heavy burdens and put them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
AND this is the testimony of John, when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, Who are you?
For before some came from James he eat with the gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself; fearing those of the circumcision;
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither servant nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
where there are not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, servant, freeman, but Christ is all things and in all.
Morish
This name was given to a religious school among the Jews; it is supposed to have been derived from the Hebrew word parash, signifying 'to separate'; it was given to them by others, their chosen name being chasidim, 'pious ones.' Josephus speaks of them as early as the reign of Jonathan (B.C. 161-144). They prided themselves on their superior sanctity of life, devotion to God, and their study of the law. The Pharisee in the parable thanked God that he was 'not as other men.' Lu 18:11. Paul, when before Agrippa, spoke of them as 'the most straitest sect.' The Pharisees included all classes of men, rich and poor: they were numerous, and at times had great influence. In the council before which Paul was arraigned they were well represented. Ac 23:6-9. They were the great advocates of tradition, and were punctilious in paying tithes. In many respects the ritualists of modern days resemble them.
The Lord severely rebuked all their pretensions, and laid bare their wickedness as well as their hypocrisy. It may have been that because of the great laxity of the Jews generally, some at first devoutly sought for greater sanctity. Others, not sincere, may have joined themselves to the sect, and it thus degenerated from its original design, until its moral state became such as was exposed and denounced by the Lord. The very name has become a synonym for bigotry and formalism. Probably such men as Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Saul were men of a different stamp, though all needed the regenerating power of grace to give them what they professed to seek.
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The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican;
And Paul knowing that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried in the Sanhedrim, Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees; for the hope and resurrection of the dead am I under trial. And having said this, there was a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude were divided. read more. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. And there was a great cry, and the scribes of the party of the Pharisees rising up contended, saying, We find no evil in this man; but [what] if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?
Smith
Phar'isees,
a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, so called from perishin, the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word perushim, "separated." The chief sects among the Jews were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes, who may be described respectively as the Formalists, the Freethinkers and the Puritans. A knowledge of the opinions and practices of the Pharisees at the time of Christ is of great importance for entering deeply into the genius of the Christian religion. A cursory perusal of the Gospels is sufficient to show that Christ's teaching was in some respects thoroughly antagonistic to theirs. He denounced them in the bitterest language; see
15/7/type/sawyer'>Mt 15:7-8; 23/5/type/sawyer'>23:5,13-14,15,23; Mr 7:6; Lu 11:42-44
and compare
Mr 7:1-5; 11:29; 12:19-20; Lu 6:28,37-42
To understand the Pharisees is by contrast an aid toward understanding the spirit of uncorrupted Christianity.
1. The fundamental principle all of the of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, is that by the side of the written law regarded as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people there was on oral law to complete and to explain the written law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted by him by word of mouth. The first portion of the Talmud, called the Mishna or "second law," contains this oral law. It is a digest of the Jewish traditions and a compendium of the whole ritual law, and it came at length to be esteemed far above the sacred text.
2. While it was the aim of Jesus to call men to the law of God itself as the supreme guide of life, the Pharisees, upon the Pretence of maintaining it intact, multiplied minute precepts and distinctions to such an extent that the whole life of the Israelite was hemmed in and burdened on every side by instructions so numerous and trifling that the law was almost if not wholly lost sight of. These "traditions" as they were called, had long been gradually accumulating. Of the trifling character of these regulations innumerable instances are to be found in the Mishna. Such were their washings before they could eat bread, and the special minuteness with which the forms of this washing were prescribed; their bathing when they returned from the market; their washing of cups, pots, brazen vessels, etc.; their fastings twice in the week,
Lu 18:12
were their tithing;
and such, finally, were those minute and vexatious extensions of the law of the Sabbath, which must have converted God's gracious ordinance of the Sabbath's rest into a burden and a pain.
Mt 12:1-13; Mr 3:1-6; Lu 18:10-17
3. It was a leading aim of the Redeemer to teach men that true piety consisted not in forms, but in substance, not in outward observances, but in an inward spirit. The whole system of Pharisaic piety led to exactly opposite conclusions. The lowliness of piety was, according to the teaching of Jesus, an inseparable concomitant of its reality; but the Pharisees sought mainly to attract the attention and to excite the admiration of men.
6/2/type/sawyer'>Mt 6:2,6,16; 23:5-6; Lu 14:7
Indeed the whole spirit of their religion was summed up not in confession of sin and in humility, but in a proud self righteousness at variance with any true conception of man's relation to either God or his fellow creatures.
4. With all their pretences to piety they were in reality avaricious, sensual and dissolute.
Mt 23:25; Joh 13:7
They looked with contempt upon every nation but their own.
Lu 10:29
Finally, instead of endeavoring to fulfill the great end of the dispensation whose truths they professed to teach, and thus bringing men to the Hope of Israel, they devoted their energies to making converts to their own narrow views, who with all the zeal of proselytes were more exclusive and more bitterly opposed to the truth than they were themselves.
5. The Pharisees at an early day secured the popular favor and thereby acquired considerable political influence. This influence was greatly increased by the extension of the Pharisees over the whole land and the majority which they obtained in the Sanhedrin. Their number reached more than six thousand under the Herods. Many of them must have suffered death for political agitation. In the time of Christ they were divided doctrinally into several schools, among which those of Hillel and Shammai were most noted. --McClintock and Strong.
6. One of the fundamental doctrines of the Pharisees was a belief in a future state. They appear to have believed in a resurrection of the dead, very much in the same sense: as the early Christians. They also believed in "a divine Providence acting side by side with the free will of man." --Schaff.
7. It is proper to add that it would be a great mistake to suppose that the Pharisees were wealthy and luxurious much more that they had degenerated into the vices which were imputed to some of the Roman popes and cardinals during the two hundred years preceding the Reformation. Josephus compared the Pharisees to the sect of the Stoics. He says that they lived frugally, in no respect giving in to luxury. We are not to suppose that there were not many individuals among them who were upright and pure, for there were such men as Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Joseph of Arimathea and Paul.
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When, therefore, you give in charity, sound not a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
But when you pray enter into your private room, and having shut your door pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you.
And when you fast, be not like the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to fast. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
AT that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the sabbath; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pick the heads and eat. And the Pharisees seeing it, said to him, Behold, your disciples do what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath. read more. But he said to them, Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him? how he entered into the house of God and eat the show bread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law, that the priests profane the sabbath in the temple, and are blameless? But I tell you that here is an object greater than the temple. But if you had known what, I wish for mercy and not a sacrifice, means, you would not have condemned the innocent; for the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. And departing thence he went into their synagogue, and behold a man having a withered hand [was there]. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath? that they might accuse him. And he said to them, What man is there of you having one sheep, who if this falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep! So that it is lawful to do good on the sabbath. Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand; and he stretched it out, and it was restored as sound as the other;
Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me.
Then the Pharisees went and took counsel to ensnare him in his words.
And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes,
And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes, and love the first tables at feasts, and the first seats in the synagogues,
But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in. (Added verse not retained in Sawyer) read more. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess.
And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there having a withered hand. And they watched him [to see] if he would cure him on the sabbath, that they might accuse him. read more. And he said to the man having the withered hand, Arise in the midst. And he said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? And they were silent. And looking around on them in anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out immediately with the Herodians, and took counsel against him to kill him.
AND the Pharisees and some of the scribes having come from Jerusalem came together to him,
1-2 pint measures], and brass vessels, and beds. and seeing some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, unwashed hands, [they found fault]. read more. For the Pharisees and all the Jews eat not unless they wash their hands with the fist, holding the tradition of the elders. And from a market, unless they baptize they eat not; and there are many other [customs] which they have received to hold; baptisms, of cups and sextuses [ And the Pharisees and scribes asked, Why do not your disciples conform to the tradition of the elders; but eat bread with defiled hands? And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, hypocrites, as it is written; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me;
And Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Teacher, Moses wrote to us, that if one's brother dies and leaves a wife, and leaves no child, his brother shall take his wife and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and died, and left no child;
bless those that curse you; pray for those that injure you;
and judge not, and you shall not be judged; and condemn not, and you shall not be condemned; release, and you shall be released; give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure you measure it shall be measured back to you. read more. And he spoke also a parable to them; Can the blind lead the blind? Will not both fall into the pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but every perfect one will be as his teacher. And why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, and observe not the beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me cast out the speck in your eye, and you yourself see not the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite, cast out first the beam from your eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the speck from your brother's eye.
But he, wishing to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
But woe to you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint, and rue, and every kind of plant, and omit justice and the love of God. These things you ought to do, and not to omit those. Woe to you, Pharisees! for you love the first seat in the synagogues, and salutations in the markets. read more. Woe to you! for you are like concealed tombs; and men walk over them and know it not.
And he spoke a parable to the invited, when he observed how they selected the first places at the table; saying to them,
Two men went up to the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; read more. I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God, be propitious to me a sinner. read more. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than that; for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. And they brought him also infants, that he should touch them; and the disciples seeing it reproved them. But Jesus calling them, said, Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. I tell you truly, that whoever receives not the kingdom of God as a little child, shall by no means enter into it.
Jesus answered and said to him, What I do you know not now, but you shall know hereafter.
Watsons
PHARISEES, a sect of the Jews. The earliest mention of them is by Josephus, who tells us that they were a sect of considerable weight when John Hyrcanus was high priest, B.C. 108. They were the most numerous, distinguished, and popular sect among the Jews; the time when they first appeared is not known, but it is supposed to have been not long after the institution of the Sadducees, if, indeed, the two sects did not gradually spring up together. They derived their name from the Hebrew word pharash, which signifies "separated," or "set apart;" because they separated themselves from the rest of the Jews to superior strictness in religious observances. They boasted that, from their accurate knowledge of religion, they were the favourites of Heaven; and thus, trusting in themselves that they were righteous, despised others, Lu 11:52;
18:9, 11. Among the tenets inculcated by this sect, we may enumerate the following: namely, they ascribed all things to fate or providence; yet not so absolutely as to take away the free will of man; for fate does not cooperate in every action, Ac 5:38-39. They also believed in the existence of angels and spirits, and in the resurrection of the dead; Ac 23:8. Lastly: the Pharisees contended that God stood engaged to bless the Jews, to make them all partakers of the terrestrial kingdom of the Messiah, to justify them, and make them eternally happy. The cause of their justification they derived from the merits of Abraham, from their knowledge of God, from their practising the right of circumcision, and from the sacrifices they offered. And as they conceived works to be meritorious, they had invented a great number of supererogatory ones, to which they attached greater merit than to the observance of the law itself. To this notion St. Paul has some allusions in those parts of his Epistle to the Romans, in which he combats the erroneous suppositions of the Jews, Romans 1-11.
The Pharisees were the strictest of the three principal sects that divided the Jewish nation, Ac 26:5, and affected a singular probity of manners according to their system; which, however, was, for the most part, both lax and corrupt. Thus many things which Moses had tolerated in civil life, in order to avoid a greater evil, the Pharisees determined to be morally right: for instance, the law of divorce from a wife for any cause, Mt 5:31, &c; 19:3-12. (See Divorce.) Farther: they interpreted certain of the Mosaic laws most literally, and distorted their meaning so as to favour their own selfish system. Thus, the law of loving their neighbour, they expounded solely of the love of their friends, that is, of the whole Jewish race; all other persons being considered by them as natural enemies, whom they were in no respect bound to assist, Mt 5:43; Lu 10:31-33. They also trifled with oaths. Dr. Lightfoot has cited a striking illustration of this from Maimonides. An oath, in which the name of God was not distinctly specified, they taught was not binding, Mt 5:33; maintaining that a man might even swear with his lips, and at the same time annul it in his heart! And yet so rigorously did they understand the command of observing the Sabbath day, that they accounted it unlawful to pluck ears of corn, and heal the sick, &c, Mt 12; Lu 6:6, &c; 14. Many moral rules they accounted inferior to the ceremonial laws, to the total neglect of mercy and fidelity, Mt 5:19; 15:4; 23:23. Hence they accounted causeless anger and impure desires as trifles of no moment, Mt 5:21-22,27-30; they compassed sea and land to make proselytes to the Jewish religion from among the Gentiles, that they might rule over their consciences and wealth; and these proselytes, through the influence of their own scandalous examples and characters, they soon rendered more profligate and abandoned than ever they were before their conversion, Mt 23:15. Esteeming temporal happiness and riches as the highest good, they scrupled not to accumulate wealth by every means, legal or illegal, Mt 5:1-12; 23:5; Lu 16:14; Jas 2:1-8; vain and ambitious of popular applause, they offered up long prayers in public places, but not without self-complacency in their own holiness, Mt 6:2-5; Lu 18:11; under a sanctimonious appearance of respect for the memories of the prophets whom their ancestors had slain, they repaired and beautified their sepulchres, Mt 23:29; and such was their idea of their own sanctity, that they thought themselves defiled if they but touched or conversed with sinners, that is, with publicans or tax-gatherers, and persons of loose and irregular lives, Lu 7:39; 15:1.
But, above all their other tenets, the Pharisees were conspicuous for their reverential observance of the traditions or decrees of the elders: these traditions, they pretended, had been handed down from Moses through every generation, but were not committed to writing; and they were not merely considered as of equal authority with the divine law, but even preferable to it. "The words of the scribes," said they, "are lovely above the words of the law; for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words of the scribes are all weighty." Among the traditions thus sanctimoniously observed by the Pharisees, we may briefly notice the following: the washing of hands up to the wrist before and after meat, Mt 15:2; Mr 7:3; which they accounted not merely a religious duty, but considered its omission as a crime equal to fornication, and punishable by excommunication: the purification of the cups, vessels, and couches used at their meals by ablutions or washings, Mr 7:4; for which purpose the six large water pots mentioned by St. Joh 2:6, were destined: their fasting twice a week with great appearance of austerity, Lu 18:12; Mt 6:16; thus converting that exercise into religion which is only a help toward the performance of its hallowed duties: their punctilious payment of tithes, (temple-offerings,) even of the most trifling things, Lu 18:12; Mt 23:23. And their wearing broader phylacteries and larger fringes to their garments than the rest of the Jews, Mt 23:5. See PHYLACTERIES.
With all their pretensions to piety, the Pharisees entertained the most sovereign contempt for the people; whom, being ignorant of the law, they pronounced to be accursed, Joh 7:49. Yet such was the esteem and veneration in which they were held by the populace, that they may almost be said to have given what direction they pleased to public affairs; and hence the great men dreaded their power and authority. It is unquestionable, as Mosheim has well remarked, that the religion of the Pharisees was, for the most part, founded in consummate hypocrisy; and that, at the bottom, they were generally the slaves of every vicious appetite, proud, arrogant, and avaricious, consulting only the gratification of their lusts, even at the very moment when they professed themselves to be engaged in the service of their Maker. These odious features in the character of the Pharisees caused them to be reprehended by our Saviour with the utmost severity, even more so than the Sadducees; who, although they had departed widely from the genuine principles of religion, yet did not impose on mankind by a pretended sanctity, or devote themselves with insatiate greediness to the acquisition of honours and riches. A few, and a few only, of the sect of the Pharisees, in those times, might be of better character,
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AND seeing the multitudes, he went on the mountain and sat down; and his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying; read more. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.[\ul Note: Verse
follows verse in Sawyer]
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. read more. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say every evil against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and exult, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.
Whoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
You have heard that it was said by the ancients, You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be subject to the judgment. But I tell you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be subject to the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, Worthless fellow, shall be subject to the Sanhedrim; and whoever says, You fool, shall be subject to the hell of fire.
You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery; but I tell you, that every one who looks on a woman to desire her inordinately, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. read more. But if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should go into hell. And it was said, Whoever would put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorcement.
Again, you have heard that it was said by the ancients, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord your oaths.
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.
When, therefore, you give in charity, sound not a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward. But when you give in charity let not your left hand know what your right hand does, read more. that your charity may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you. And when you pray, be not like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and at the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
And when you fast, be not like the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to fast. I tell you truly, they have their reward.
Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders, for they wash not their hands when they eat bread?
For God said, Honor your father and mother; and he that reviles father or mother, let him surely die.
And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes,
And they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make broad their prayer fillets, and enlarge the fringes,
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others.
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous,
For the Pharisees and all the Jews eat not unless they wash their hands with the fist, holding the tradition of the elders. And from a market, unless they baptize they eat not; and there are many other [customs] which they have received to hold; baptisms, of cups and sextuses [
And on another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught. And there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
And the Pharisee who invited him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying, If this was a prophet he would have known who and what kind of a woman this is who touches him; for she is a sinner.
And, providentially, a certain priest went down that way, and seeing him passed by on the other side. And in like manner a Levite also, being at the place, came and saw him, and passed by on the other side. read more. But a certain Samaritan, on a journey, came where he was, and seeing him had compassion on him;
Woe to you, lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you do not enter in yourselves, and you forbid those entering.
AND all the publicans and sinners came near him to hear him.
And the Pharisees, who are avaricious, heard all these things, and derided him.
And he also spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican;
The Pharisee, standing by himself, offered this prayer; God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
I fast twice a week; I tithe all I acquire.
And there were six stone water jars there, placed for the purification of the Jews, containing two or three metretes [16.75 or 25.125 gallons] each.
But this multitude which know not the law are accursed.
And now I tell you, abstain from these men, and let them alone; because if this design, or this work, is from men, it will be destroyed; but if it is from God, you cannot destroy them; lest you be found at some time to be fighting against God.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.
who knew me from the first, if they would testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
My brothers, have not the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with a respect of persons. For if there comes into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in splendid clothing, and there also comes in a poor man in vile clothing, read more. and you look upon him who wears the splendid clothing, and say to him, Sit here in a good place, and say to the poor man, Stand there, or sit under my footstool, are you not condemned in yourselves and judges of evil thoughts? Hear, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you dishonor the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you to tribunals? And do they not blaspheme the good name by which you are called? If you keep indeed the royal law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well;