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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"And it was said, 'Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement;'
"Ye heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy;'
When, therefore, you are doing alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say to you, they receive their reward.
"And, when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: verily I say to you, they have their reward.
"And, when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: verily I say to you, they have their reward.
And the Pharisees, seeing it, said to His disciples, Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-collectors and sinners?"
But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to Him, "Behold, Thy disciples are doing that which it is not lawful to do on a sabbath."
But the Pharisees, having gone out, held a consultation against Him, that they might destroy Him.
And the Pharisees came to Him, tempting Him, and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause"
But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes;
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
And, evening having come, there came a rich man from Arimathaea, whose name was Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus.
and, coming from the marketplace, unless they immerse themselves, they do not eat; and there are many other things which they received to hold; as, immersion of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels.
And the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things, and were openly mocking Him.
And He spake also this parable to some who had trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised the rest:
I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
Did any one of the rulers believe on Him, or of the Pharisees? But this multitude, who know not the law, are accursed."
And they, having heard it, were going out, one by one, from the eldest to the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both.
having known me from the beginning, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
and was making progress in Judaism above many companions of the same age in my own nation, being more exceedingly a zealot for my ancestral instructions.
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/worrell'>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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But, seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his immersion, he said to them, "Broods of vipers! who warned you to flee from the coming wrath!
For I say to you that, unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
And the Pharisees, seeing it, said to His disciples, Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-collectors and sinners?"
Then came to Him the disciples of John, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Thy disciples fast not?"
And He, answering, said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation is seeking after a sign; and no sign shall be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He that speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die,'
'This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
And the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming near, tempting Him, asked Him to show them a sign from the heaven; and He, answering, said to them, "When it is evening, ye say, 'It will be fair, for the heaven is red;' read more. and in the morning, 'Today, a tempest; for red is the overcast heaven.' The face of the heaven, indeed, ye know how to discern, but the signs of the times ye can not discern. An evil and adulterous generation is seeking after a sign; and no sign will be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet." And, leaving them, He departed.
All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you, do and observe; but do not according to their works; for they say and do not.
OMITTED TEXT. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and, when he is made such, ye make him a son of Hell twofold more than yourselves.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but within they are full from extortion and excess!
But, seeing it, the Pharisee who invited Him, spake in himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what sort of woman this is that is touching Him, because she is a sinner."
But the Lord said to him, "Now ye, the Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.
The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector! I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
Did any one of the rulers believe on Him, or of the Pharisees?
And, as they continued asking Him, He, having raised Himself up, said to them, "Let the sinless one among you first cast a stone at her."
And Paul, perceiving that the one part was of the Sadducees, and the other of the Pharisees, was crying out in the Sanhedrin, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; concerning the hope and resurrection from the dead, I am being judged." And, when he said this, there arose a dissension of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and the multitude was divided. read more. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both.
My manner of life, therefore, from my youth, which from the first was among my own nation and at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; having known me from the beginning, if they were willing to 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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Ye heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not kill; and whosoever kills shall be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever says to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the high-council; and whosoever shall say, O foolish one! shall be in danger of the Hell of fire.
"Ye heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;'
"And it was said, 'Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement;' but I say to you, that every one who puts away his wife, except on account of fornication, makes her commit adultery: and whosoever marries her when put away commits adultery.
"Ye heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,'
Therefore, I say to you, be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat, or what ye may drink; nor for your body, what ye may put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the fowls of the heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye much more valuable than they? read more. And who of you, by being anxious, can add to his stature one cubit? And why are ye anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; but I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. And, if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, that to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith! Be not, therefore, anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink!' or 'What shall we put on?' For after all these things the nations are seeking; for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His Kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Be not, therefore, anxious for the morrow; for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its evil.
And the Pharisees, seeing it, said to His disciples, Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-collectors and sinners?"
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head have all been numbered.
"This is John the Immerser; He arose from the dead; and therefore do the powers work in Him."
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people honor Me with their 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??his defiles the man."
saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you, do and observe; but do not according to their works; for they say and do not.
But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes;
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye suffer those who are entering in to enter. OMITTED TEXT. read more. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and, when he is made such, ye make him a son of Hell twofold more than yourselves.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and, when he is made such, ye make him a son of Hell twofold more than yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whosoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!' read more. Fools, and blind! for which is greater??he gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 'And whosoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor!' Ye blind! for which is greater??he gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? He, therefore, who swears by the altar swears by it and by all things on it; and he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him dwelling therein; and he who swears by Heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him sitting thereon. "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted. Blind guides! straining out the gnat, and swallowing the camel! read more. "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but within they are full from extortion and excess! Blind Pharisees! cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that its outside also may become clean. "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye are like white-washed sepulchres, which outwardly, indeed, appear beautiful, but within are full of bones of the dead and of all uncleanness. So ye also outwardly, indeed, appear righteous to men; but within ye are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the sepulchres 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 then ye testify to yourselves that ye are sons of those who killed the prophets; and fill ye up the measure of your fathers. Serpents! broods of vipers! How can ye escape the judgment of Hell?
And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it has been written, This people honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. read more. Having left the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men."
Having left the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men." And He said to them, "Well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may hold your tradition! read more. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He that speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.' But ye say, 'If a man say to his father or mother, That wherewith you might be profited by me is Corban,' that is, 'an offering to God,' ye no longer suffer him to do anything for his father or his mother; making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye handed down; and many such things ye do."
And they kept the saying to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead could be.
but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
And one of the Pharisees was asking Him to eat with him; and, having entered into the Pharisee's house, He reclined at table. And, behold, a woman who was in the city, a sinner; and, learning that He was reclining at table in the house of the Pharisee, having provided an alabaster cruse of perfume; read more. and standing behind at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and wiped them off with the hair of her head; and she kept kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume. But, seeing it, the Pharisee who invited Him, spake in himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what sort of woman this is that is touching Him, because she is a sinner." And Jesus, answering, said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he says, "Teacher, say it." "There were two debtors to a certain money-lender. The one owed five hundred denaries; and the other, fifty. And, they having nothing to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them, therefore, will love him the more?" Simon, answering, said, "He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the more." And He said to him, "Rightly did you judge." And, turning to the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you behold this woman! I entered into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet; but this woman wet My feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, from the time I entered, ceased not to kiss My feet. My head with oil you did not anoint; but she anointed My feet with perfume. Wherefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; because she loved much; but he, to whom little is forgiven, loves little." And He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven." And those reclining with Him began to say in themselves, "Who is This That even forgiveth sins!" And He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
And he, answering, 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 answered right; do this, and you shall live." read more. But he, wishing to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Now, as He spake, a Pharisee asks Him to dine with him; and, entering, He reclined at table. And the Pharisee, seeing it, marvelled that He was not first immersed before breakfast. read more. But the Lord said to him, "Now ye, the Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. Senseless ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
"But woe to you Pharisees! because ye tithe the mint, and the rue, and every herb; but ye pass by judgment and the love of God. Now these things it was needful to do, and not to leave those undone. "Woe to you Pharisees! because ye love the first seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces! read more. Woe to you! because ye are as the unobserved tombs; and the men, walking over them, know it not."
And, when He went forth thence, the scribes and Pharisees began vehemently to press upon Him, and to urge Him to speak concerning many things; lying in wait for Him, to catch something out of His mouth.
And both the scribes and the Pharisees were murmuring, saying, "This Man receiveth sinners and eateth with them!"
And the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things, and were openly mocking Him. And He said to them, "Ye are those who justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; because that which is exalted among men is an abomination before God.
And He spake also this parable to some who had trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised the rest: Two men went up into the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-collector. read more. The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector! I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.' "But the tax-collector, standing afar off, would not lift up even his eyes to heaven, but was smiting his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' read more. I say to you, this man went down justified to his house, rather than the other; because every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted."
who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the coming age eternal life."
But this multitude, who 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 altogether born in sins, and do you teach us!" And they cast him out.
Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders, that, if any one knew where He was, he should show it, that they might seize Him.
Yet, however, even from among the rulers, many believed on Him; but, because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue;
Judas, therefore, having received the band of soldiers and officers from the high priests and the Pharisees, comes thither with lanterns, and torches, and weapons.
beginning from the immersion of John, until the day on which He was taken up from us??hould become a witness, with us, of His resurrection."
"This Jesus God raised up; of which fact we all are witnesses.
But, as they were speaking to the people, the priests, and the captain 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 Nazarene, Whom ye crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, in Him does this man stand here before you well!
And the high priest, rising up, and all those with him, being the sect of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy,
This One God exalted as a Prince and Savior, with His right hand, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
Him God raised on the third day, and gave Him to become manifest;
But there rose up some from the sect of the Pharisees, who believed, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses."
And Paul, perceiving that the one part was of the Sadducees, and the other of the Pharisees, was crying out in the Sanhedrin, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; concerning the hope and resurrection from the dead, I am being judged."
And Paul, perceiving that the one part was of the Sadducees, and the other of the Pharisees, was crying out in the Sanhedrin, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; concerning the hope and resurrection from the dead, I am being judged." And, when he said this, there arose a dissension of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and the multitude was divided.
And, when he said this, there arose a dissension of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both. And there arose a great clamor, and some of the scribes of the party of the Pharisees, rising up, were fiercely contending, saying, "We find no evil in this man; but, if a spirit spake to him, or an angel ??"
Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God,
But, when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace,
"Handle not, taste not, touch not,"
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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But, seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his immersion, he said to them, "Broods of vipers! who warned you to flee from the coming wrath!
Then Jesus spake to the multitude, and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.
saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you, do and observe; but do not according to their works; for they say and do not. read more. And they bind heavy burdens, and lay them upon the shoulders of men; but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent forth priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, "Who are you?"
for, before certain ones came from James, he was eating with the gentiles; but, when they came, he was withdrawing and separating himself, fearing those of the circumcision.
There exists neither Jew nor Greek, there exists neither bond nor free, there exists neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
where there is no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, 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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector!
And Paul, perceiving that the one part was of the Sadducees, and the other of the Pharisees, was crying out in the Sanhedrin, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; concerning the hope and resurrection from the dead, I am being judged." And, when he said this, there arose a dissension of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and the multitude was divided. read more. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both. And there arose a great clamor, and some of the scribes of the party of the Pharisees, rising up, were fiercely contending, saying, "We find no evil in this man; but, if a spirit spake to him, or an angel ??"
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/worrell'>Mt 15:7-8; 23/5/type/worrell'>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/worrell'>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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
When, therefore, you are doing alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say to you, they receive their reward.
But when you pray, enter into your closet; and, having closed your door, pray to your Father Who is in secret; and your Father Who seeth in secret will recompense you.
"And, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Verily I say to you, they receive their reward.
At that time Jesus went on the sabbath through the grain-fields; and His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain, and to eat. But the Pharisees, seeing it, said to Him, "Behold, Thy disciples are doing that which it is not lawful to do on a sabbath." read more. But He said to them, "Did ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those with him? how he entered into the house of God, and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? Or did ye not read in the law that, on the sabbath, the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? But I say to you, a greater than the temple is here. And, if ye had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' ye would not have condemned the guiltless; for the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath." And, having passed on thence, He came into their synagogue. And, behold, a man having a withered hand; and they questioned Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?" that they might accuse Him. And He said to them "What man of you who shall have one sheep; and, if this should fall into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it, and raise it up? How much better, therefore, is a man than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do well on the sabbath." Then saith He to the man, "Stretch forth your hand." And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole as the other.
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Then the Pharisees, going, took counsel how they might ensnare Him in speech.
But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes;
But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes; and they love the first place in the feasts, and the front seats in the synagogues,
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye do not enter, neither do ye suffer those who are entering in to enter. OMITTED TEXT. read more. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and, when he is made such, ye make him a son of Hell twofold more than yourselves.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish; but within they are full from extortion and excess!
And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there, having his hand withered. And they were watching Him, whether He would heal him on the sabbath; that they might accuse Him. read more. And He saith to the man having the withered hand, "Arise in the midst." And He saith to them, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good, or to do harm, to save a life, or to kill?" But they were silent. And having looked round about on them with anger, and being grieved at the hardness of their heart, He saith to the man, "Stretch forth your hand." And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees, having gone out, were straightway taking counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
And there gather together to Him the Pharisees, and some of the scribes, who came from Jerusalem, and saw that some of His disciples ate bread with defiled, that is, unwashed hands. read more. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands thoroughly, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; and, coming from the marketplace, unless they immerse themselves, they do not eat; and there are many other things which they received to hold; as, immersion of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels. And the Pharisees and the scribes ask Him, "Why do not Thy disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it has been written, This people honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.
And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing; and answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
"Teacher, Moses wrote to us, 'If any man's brother die, and leave a wife behind, and leave no child, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother.' There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife; and, dying, left no seed.
bless those who curse you; pray for those who revile you.
"And judge not, and ye shall not be judged; and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. "Release, and ye shall be released. "Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will they give into your bosom; for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." read more. And He spake also a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher; but every one, when perfected, shall be as his teacher. "And why do you behold the mote that is in your brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, suffer me to cast out the mote that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! cast first the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the mote that is in your brother's eye.
But he, wishing to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
"But woe to you Pharisees! because ye tithe the mint, and the rue, and every herb; but ye pass by judgment and the love of God. Now these things it was needful to do, and not to leave those undone. "Woe to you Pharisees! because ye love the first seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces! read more. Woe to you! because ye are as the unobserved tombs; and the men, walking over them, know it not."
And He spake a parable to those who were bidden, when He observed how they were choosing out the first seats; saying to them,
Two men went up into the temple to pray; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector! read more. I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.' "But the tax-collector, standing afar off, would not lift up even his eyes to heaven, but was smiting his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' read more. I say to you, this man went down justified to his house, rather than the other; because every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted." And they were bringing to Him their babes, also, that He might touch them; but the disciples, seeing it, were rebuking them. But Jesus called them to Him, saying, "Suffer the little children to come to Me, and forbid them not; for to such belongs the Kingdom of God. Verily I say to you, whosoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein."
Jesus answered, and said to him, "What I am doing 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,
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And, seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain; and, He having sat down, His disciples came to Him: and, opening His mouth, He taught them, saying, read more. "Happy are the poor in spirit; because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. "Happy are those who mourn: because they shall be comforted, "Happy are the meek: because they shall inherit the earth. "Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: because they shall be filled. "Happy are the merciful: because they shall receive mercy. "Happy are the pure in heart; because they shall see God. "Happy are the peacemakers; because they shall be called sons of God. "Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake; because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. "Happy are ye, when they shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and exult; because great is your reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.
Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
"Ye heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not kill; and whosoever kills shall be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever says to his brother Raca shall be in danger of the high-council; and whosoever shall say, O foolish one! shall be in danger of the Hell of fire.
"Ye heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I say to you, that every one who looks upon a woman, to lust after her, already committed adultery with her in his heart. read more. "And, if your right eye is causing you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you; for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body be cast into Hell. "And, if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you; for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body go away into Hell. "And it was said, 'Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement;'
"Again ye heard that it was said to the ancients, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord your oaths;"
"Ye heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy;'
When, therefore, you are doing alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say to you, they receive their reward. But, when you are doing alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing, read more. that your alms may be in secret; and your Father, Who seeth in secret, will recompense you. "And, when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: verily I say to you, they have their reward.
"And, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Verily I say to you, they receive their reward.
"Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they do not wash their hands, when they eat bread!"
For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He that speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die,'
But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes;
But all their works they do with the view to be seen by men; for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge their fringes;
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and, when he is made such, ye make him a son of Hell twofold more than yourselves.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin; and have omitted the weightier things of the law??he judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; but these it was proper to have done, and those not to have omitted.
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, and say,
For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands thoroughly, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; and, coming from the marketplace, unless they immerse themselves, they do not eat; and there are many other things which they received to hold; as, immersion of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels.
And it came to pass on another sabbath, that He entered into the synagogue, and taught. And there was a man there, and his right hand was withered.
But, seeing it, the Pharisee who invited Him, spake in himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what sort of woman this is that is touching Him, because she is a sinner."
And by chance, a certain priest was going down that way; and, seeing him, he passed by on the opposite side. And, in like manner, a Levite also, coming to the place, and seeing him, passed by on the opposite side. read more. But a certain Samaritan, going on his way, came down to him; and, seeing him, he was moved with compassion;
"Woe to you lawyers; because ye took away the Key of Knowledge; ye yourselves entered not in, and those who were entering ye hindered."
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him.
And the Pharisees, being lovers of money, were hearing all these things, and were openly mocking Him.
And He spake also this parable to some who had trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised the rest:
The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector!
The Pharisee, having taken his stand, was praying these things with himself: 'God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-collector! I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
I fast twice on the Sabbath; I give a tenth of all that I acquire.'
Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the Jews' manner of purifying, containing, each, two or three firkins.
But this multitude, who know not the law, are accursed."
And now I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone; for, if this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown; but, if it be of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them; lest perhaps ye be found even fighting against God."
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both.
having known me from the beginning, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For, if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in splendid apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile apparel; read more. and ye show regard to him who is wearing the splendid apparel, and say, "Sit here in a good place"; and say to the poor man, "Stand, or sit under my footstool"; do ye not make a distinction among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love Him? But ye dishonored the poor man! Do not the rich oppress you, and do they not drag you before the judgment-seats? Do they not blaspheme the worthy name by which ye were called? If, however, ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," ye do well;