Thematic Bible: Ecclesiasticism


Thematic Bible



But you may not be named Teacher: for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. And give no man the name of father on earth: because one is your Father, who is in heaven. And you may not be named guides: because one is your Guide, even Christ.

And it came about, when he was in the house taking food, that a number of tax-farmers and sinners came and took their places with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your Master take food with tax-farmers and sinners? But on hearing this he said, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill. read more.
But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.

The scribes and the Pharisees have the authority of Moses; All things, then, which they give you orders to do, these do and keep: but do not take their works as your example, for they say and do not. They make hard laws and put great weights on men's backs; but they themselves will not put a finger to them

But a curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you are shutting the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go in yourselves, and those who are going in, you keep back. [ A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you go about land and sea to get one disciple and, having him, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. read more.
A curse is on you, blind guides, who say, Whoever takes an oath by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gold of the Temple, he is responsible. You foolish ones and blind: which is greater, the gold, or the Temple which makes the gold holy? And, Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the offering which is on it, he is responsible. You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy He, then, who takes an oath by the altar, takes it by the altar and by all things on it. And he who takes an oath by the Temple, takes it by the Temple and by him whose house it is And he who takes an oath by heaven, takes it by the seat of God, and by him who is seated on it. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make men give a tenth of all sorts of sweet-smelling plants, but you give no thought to the more important things of the law, righteousness, and mercy, and faith; but it is right for you to do these, and not to let the others be undone. You blind guides, who take out a fly from your drink, but make no trouble over a camel. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of violent behaviour and uncontrolled desire. You blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may become equally clean. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you are like the resting-places of the dead, which are made white, and seem beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and of all unclean things. Even so you seem to men to be full of righteousness, but inside you are all false and full of wrongdoing. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you put up buildings for housing the dead bodies of the prophets, and make fair the last resting-places of good men, and say, If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in the blood of the prophets. So that you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who put the prophets to death. Make full, then, the measure of your fathers. You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell? For this reason, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them you will put to death and put on the cross, and to some of them you will give blows in your Synagogues, driving them from town to town; So that on you may come all the blood of the upright on the earth, from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you put to death between the Temple and the altar.

Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the taste goes from it, how will you make it salt again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.


Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, Why do your disciples go against the teaching of the fathers? for they take food with unwashed hands. And in answer he said to them, Why do you, yourselves, go against the word of God on account of the teaching which has been handed down to you? read more.
For God said, Give honour to your father and mother: and, He who says evil of father or mother will be put to death. But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, That by which you might have had profit from me is given to God; There is no need for him to give honour to his father. And you have made the word of God without effect because of your teaching. You false ones, well did Isaiah say of you, These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men. And he got the people together and said to them, Give ear, and let my words be clear to you: Not that which goes into the mouth makes a man unclean, but that which comes out of the mouth. Then the disciples came and said to him, Did you see that the Pharisees were troubled when these words came to their ears? But he said in answer, Every plant which my Father in heaven has not put in the earth, will be taken up by the roots. Let them be: they are blind guides. And if a blind man is guiding a blind man, the two will go falling into a hole together. Then Peter said to him, Make the story clear to us. And he said, Are you, like them, still without wisdom? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth goes on into the stomach, and is sent out as waste? But the things which come out of the mouth come from the heart; and they make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, the taking of life, broken faith between the married, unclean desires of the flesh, taking of property, false witness, bitter words: These are the things which make a man unclean; but to take food with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean.

And had seen that some of his disciples took their bread with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. Now the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not take food without washing their hands with care, keeping the old rule which has been handed down to them: And when they come from the market-place, they take no food till their hands are washed; and a number of other orders there are, which have been handed down to them to keep--washings of cups and pots and brass vessels. read more.
And the Pharisees and the scribes put the question to him, Why do your disciples not keep the rules of the fathers, but take their bread with unwashed hands? And he said, Well did Isaiah say of you, you false ones: These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men. For, turning away from the law of God, you keep the rules of men. And he said to them, Truly you put on one side the law of God, so that you may keep the rules which have been handed down to you. For Moses said, Give honour to your father and mother, and, He who says evil of father or mother, let him have the punishment of death: But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, That by which you might have had profit from me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God, You no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of no effect by your rule, which you have given: and a number of other such things you do. And turning to the people again, he said to them, Give ear to me all of you, and let my words be clear to you: There is nothing outside the man which, going into him, is able to make him unclean: but the things which come out of the man are those which make the man unclean. This verse ommitted from translation And when he had gone into the house away from all the people, his disciples put questions to him about the saying. And he said to them, Have even you so little wisdom? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside is not able to make him unclean, Because it goes not into the heart but into the stomach, and goes out with the waste? He said this, making all food clean. And he said, That which comes out of the man, that makes the man unclean. Because from inside, from the heart of men, come evil thoughts and unclean pleasures, The taking of goods and of life, broken faith between husband and wife, the desire of wealth, wrongdoing, deceit, sins of the flesh, an evil eye, angry words, pride, foolish acts: All these evil things come from inside, and make the man unclean.


And seeing a fig-tree by the wayside, he came to it, and saw nothing on it but leaves only; and he said to it, Let there be no fruit from you from this time forward for ever. And straight away the fig-tree became dry and dead. And when the disciples saw it they were surprised, saying, How did the fig-tree become dry in so short a time?

But how does it seem to you? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go and do work today in the vine-garden. And he said in answer, I will not: but later, changing his decision, he went. And he came to the second and said the same. And he made answer and said, I go, sir: and went not. read more.
Which of the two did his father's pleasure? They say, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, that tax-farmers and loose women are going into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you had no faith in him, but the tax-farmers and the loose women had faith in him: and you, when you saw it, did not even have regret for your sins, so as to have faith in him. Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country. And when the time for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the workmen, to get the fruit. And the workmen made an attack on his servants, giving blows to one, putting another to death, and stoning another. Again, he sent other servants more in number than the first: and they did the same to them. But after that he sent his son to them, saying, They will have respect for my son. But when the workmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death and take his heritage. And they took him and, driving him out of the vine-garden, put him to death. When, then, the lord of the vine-garden comes, what will he do to those workmen? They say to him, He will put those cruel men to a cruel death, and will let out the vine-garden to other workmen, who will give him the fruit when it is ready. Jesus says to them, Did you never see in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has been made the chief stone of the building: this was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes? For this reason I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. Any man falling on this stone will be broken, but he on whom it comes down will be crushed to dust.


They make hard laws and put great weights on men's backs; but they themselves will not put a finger to them

But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, See, your disciples do that which it is not right to do on the Sabbath. But he said to them, Have you no knowledge of what David did when he had need of food, and those who were with him? How he went into the house of God and took for food the holy bread which it was not right for him or for those who were with him to take, but only for the priests? read more.
Or is it not said in the law, how the Sabbath is broken by the priests in the Temple and they do no wrong? But I say to you that a greater thing than the Temple is here. But if these words had been in your minds, My desire is for mercy and not for offerings, you would not have been judging those who have done no wrong.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain