Thematic Bible: Ecclesiasticism


Thematic Bible



But do not you be called Rabbi; For one is your teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on the earth, for one is your heavenly Father. Neither be called leaders, for one is your leader, the Christ.

And he was reclining in the house, and behold, many publicans and sinners came and reclined with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw them they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with publicans and sinners? And hearing it he said, The well need not a physician, but the sick. read more.
Go and learn what this means: I wish for mercy and not a sacrifice; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All things therefore which they tell you, do and keep. But do not their works. For they say and do not, but bind heavy burdens and put them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger.

But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for you enter not into it, neither do you suffer those entering to go in. (Added verse not retained in Sawyer) Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he is gained you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. read more.
Woe to you blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound. Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold? If a man swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if be swears by the gift which is on it, he is bound. Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift? He then that swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all things on it; and he that swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him that inhabits it; and he that swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits on it. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to do, and not neglect the others. Blind guides! who strain out a gnat and swallow down a camel. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of plunder and excess. Blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is in the cup and platter, that its outside may be clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear fair without, but within are full of the bones of the dead and of all impurity. So also you on the outside appear just to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. So that you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets; and you have filled up the measure of your fathers. Serpents, offspring of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell? Therefore, behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; that all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Bararchiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar, may come upon you.

For every man shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good; but if the salt has become insipid, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.


THEN came the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders, for they wash not their hands when they eat bread? And he answered and said to them, Why do you transgress the command of God by your tradition? read more.
For God said, Honor your father and mother; and he that reviles father or mother, let him surely die. But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother what you might be profited with by me is a gift, then he shall not honor his father or his mother; and you have made the law of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching teachings and commandments of men. And having called the multitude, he said, Hear and understand. Not that which enters into the mouth, defiles the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth that defiles the man. Then the disciples came to him, and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this word? And he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them go; they are blind guides of the blind. But if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the pit. And Peter answered and said to him, Explain the parable to us. And he said, Are you so entirely without understanding? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is cast out on the earth? But the things which proceed from the mouth come from the heart, and these defile the man. For from the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies: these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.

and seeing some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, unwashed hands, [they found fault]. For the Pharisees and all the Jews eat not unless they wash their hands with the fist, holding the tradition of the elders. And from a market, unless they baptize they eat not; and there are many other [customs] which they have received to hold; baptisms, of cups and sextuses [ read more.
And the Pharisees and scribes asked, Why do not your disciples conform to the tradition of the elders; but eat bread with defiled hands? And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, hypocrites, as it is written; This people honors me with the lips, but their heart is far from me; but in vain do they worship me, teaching for teachings the commandments of men; for leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. And he said to them, Well do you reject the commandment of God, to keep your tradition; for Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, He that reviles father or mother, let him surely die. But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, It is a corban, which is a gift, by whatever you might be profited by me, [he shall be free]; and suffer him no longer to do any thing for his father or his mother; making the word of God of no effect by your tradition which you have delivered; and many such things you do. And again calling all the people, he said to them, Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing which being out of a man entering into him, can defile him; but those things which proceed from the man, these are the things which defile the man. (Added verse not retained in Sawyer) And when he had gone from the multitude into the house, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he said to them, Are you also so without understanding? Do you not understand that nothing which enters into a man from without can defile him, because it enters not into his heart, but into the stomach, and goes out to the earth, purifying all aliments? But he said, that which comes out of the man, this defiles him; for from within, from the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetousness, malice, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.


and seeing a fig tree by the way he went to it, and found nothing on it, except leaves only, and he said to it, Let there be no fruit on you forever. And the fig tree immediately withered, and the disciples seeing it, wondered and said, How soon is this fig tree withered!

But what do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first, and said, Son, go and work to-day in the vineyard. But he answered and said, I will not; but afterwards he repented, and went. And he came to the other, and said the same. And he answered and said, I will go sir, but went not. read more.
Which of the two did the will of the father? They said to him, The first. Jesus said to them, I tell you truly, that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in a way of righteousness, and you believed him not; but the publicans and harlots believed him; and when you saw this, you did not afterwards repent, that you might believe him. Hear another parable: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge around it, and dug a wine vat in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went abroad. And when the time of the fruits approached he sent his servants to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the first; and they treated them in the same manner. And afterwards he sent them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those husbandmen? They said to him, He will inflict on those men a miserable death, and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who will render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of a corner? this is from the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes? I tell you, therefore, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation yielding its fruits. (Added verse not retained in Sawyer)


but bind heavy burdens and put them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger.

And the Pharisees seeing it, said to him, Behold, your disciples do what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath. But he said to them, Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him? how he entered into the house of God and eat the show bread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? read more.
Or have you not read in the law, that the priests profane the sabbath in the temple, and are blameless? But I tell you that here is an object greater than the temple. But if you had known what, I wish for mercy and not a sacrifice, means, you would not have condemned the innocent;