Thematic Bible: Ecclesiasticism


Thematic Bible



But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your leader, the Messiah; and ye all are brethren. And call no man your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven. And be not called leaders; for one is your leader, the Messiah.

And it came to pass, as he sat in his house, many tax-gatherers and sinners came, and sat down at table with Jesus and his disciples. And the Pharisees observing it, said to his disciples, How is this, that your Master eateth with publicans and sinners? But Jesus hearing it, said unto them, They who are in the vigour of health have no need of the physician, but they who have illness. read more.
Go then, and learn what is said, "I require mercy and not sacrifice:" for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

saying, The scribes and Pharisees are seated on the chair of Moses; all things therefore which they prescribe for you to observe, observe and practise; but do not according to their works, for they say, yet do not practise. For they bind burdens grievous, and difficultly borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they will not move them with a finger of their own.

Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the kingdom of heaven from men; for ye yourselves enter not in, and those who were coming in, ye suffer not to enter. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: wherefore ye shall receive greater condemnation. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained, ye make him doubly more the child of hell than yourselves. read more.
Wo unto you ye blind guides! who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, it is binding. Ye fools and blind! for which is the greater, the gold, or the temple which consecrates the gold? And again, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, it is binding. Ye fools and blind! which is the greater, the gift, or the altar which consecrates the gift? Whosoever therefore sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it. And whosoever sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him also who dwelleth in it. So he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him who is seated upon it. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithes of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier precepts of the law, judgment, and mercy, and fidelity: these thing ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone. Ye blind guides! who strain out a gnat, but gulp down a camel. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup, and of the dish, but within they are full of rapacity and intemperance. Thou blind Pharisee! cleanse first the inside of the cup and dish, that their outside may become clean also. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye resemble tombs whitewashed, which outwardly indeed appear specious, but within are full of dead men's bones, and all manner of impurity. And just so, ye without indeed appear to men righteous, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the sepulchres of the just, 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. Wherefore ye bear a testimony to yourselves, that ye are the children of those who killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye broods of vipers! how can ye escape from the damnation of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood which hath been poured out upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

For every one shall be salted with fire, and every victim shall be sprinkled with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt become insipid, with what will you season it? have salt in yourselves, and live in peace with each other.


THEN came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread? And he answering said to them, And why do you transgress the command of God, by your tradition? read more.
For God commanded, saying "Honour thy father and thy mother:" and, He that curseth father or mother, let him surely die. But ye say, If any man declare to his father or mother, This is a [devoted] gift, which else might have been employed by me for thy advantage; then he shall not with it honour his father and mother: so have ye vacated the command of God by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well hath Isaiah prophesied concerning you, saying, This people draweth nigh to me with their mouths, and honoureth me with the lips, but their heart is far distant from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines the commandments of men. And he called to him the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but what cometh out of the mouth, that defileth the man. Then his disciples approaching, said to him, Knowest thou how offended the Pharisees were at hearing that speech? Then he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Leave them to themselves: they are blind leaders of the blind. But if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the pit. Then Peter answering said unto him, Explain to us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also to this time destitute of intelligence? Do ye not observe, that every thing which entereth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is ejected into the vault? But the things which go forth out of the mouth, come out of the heart, and they are the things which defile a man: for out of the heart proceed wicked reasonings, murders, adulteries, whoredoms, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands doth not defile a man.

And seeing some of his disciples eating bread with hands unclean, that is, unwashed, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands to the wrist, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And coming from the market, unless they have washed, they never eat. And there are many other things which they have by tradition received to observe, as the washings of cups, and pots, and vessels of brass, and couches. read more.
Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why do not thy disciples walk conformable to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? Then he answering said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Now vainly do they worship me, while teaching doctrines the commandments of men." For leaving the command of God, ye adhere to the tradition of men, the washings of pots and cups; and many other such like things ye practise. And he said to them, Strangely do ye make void the command of God, that ye may observe your tradition. For Moses said, "Honour thy father and thy mother:" and "he that curseth father or mother, let him assuredly be put to death." But ye affirm, If a man say to his father or mother, it is Corban (that is, a gift), which otherwise might have been advantageous to thee from me; then ye permit him no more to do any thing for his father, or his mother; abrogating the word of God by the tradition, which ye have transmitted down; and many such like things ye do. And he called to him all the multitude, and said unto them, hear me all of you, and understand. There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him, can make him unclean: but the things which come out from him, these are the things which make a man unclean. If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was come into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he saith to them, Are ye also so defective of intelligence? Do you not consider, that every thing from without that entereth into a man, cannot make him unclean? because it entereth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the vault, carrying off all the impurities of the food. But, said he, what cometh out of a man, that makes a man unclean. For from within out of the heart of men proceed wicked reasonings, adulteries, whoredoms, murders, thefts, inordinate cravings, mischievous actions, knavery, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, folly: all these wicked things come from within, and render a person unclean.


and seeing a fig-tree at the road side, he went up to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only: and saith unto it, Let no fruit spring from thee henceforth for ever: and immediately the fig-tree withered entirely away. And when his disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How suddenly is the fig-tree withered away!

But what think ye? A man had two sons; and coming to the first he said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. But he answering said, I will not: yet repenting afterwards, he went. And coming to the other, he spake after the same manner, and he replying, said, I go, sir; yet went not. read more.
Which of the two did the will of his father? They say to him, The first. Jesus saith to them, Verily I say unto you, That tax-gatherers and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of God. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the tax-gatherers and harlots believed on him. But ye, when ye saw it, repented not afterwards, that ye should believe on him. Hear another parable: There was a certain man, the master of a family, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and hired it out to husbandmen, and went into a distant country. But when the season for fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, one they beat, and another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they treated them in the same manner. Then at last he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir, come let us kill him, and let us seize on the inheritance. And they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When therefore the master of the vineyard cometh, what will he do with these husbandmen? They say unto him, He will dreadfully destroy those wicked wretches, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who will render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye not read in the Scriptures, "The stone, which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner; this is done by the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes." Therefore I tell you, That the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation, producing the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken in pieces, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.


For they bind burdens grievous, and difficultly borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they will not move them with a finger of their own.

But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Behold, thy disciples do a thing that it is not lawful to do on the sabbath. And he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and they who were with him? how they went into the house of God, and did eat the loaves of shew-bread, of which it was not lawful for him or those who were with him to eat, but for the priests alone? read more.
Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbaths the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are not culpable? Now I tell you, That one greater than the temple is here. But if ye had known what that meant, I desire mercy and not sacrifice; ye would not have condemned the innocent.