Thematic Bible: Self-righteousness


Thematic Bible






The Pharisee stood and said this self-centered prayer, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast two days in the week. I pay a tithe on everything I get.'

No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a peck-measure, but he puts it on the lampstand, that the people who come in may enjoy the light. Your eye is the very lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light. But if your eye is unsound, your body is full of darkness. So be on your guard that the very source of light in you is not darkness. read more.
If then your whole body is full of light with no part of it in darkness, it will all be as light for you as it is when a lamp makes it light for you by its shining." When He had said this, a Pharisee asked Him to lunch at his house, and He went in and took His place at table. The Pharisee noticed that He did not first wash before lunch, and was surprised. But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees have the habit of cleaning the outside of your cups and dishes, but inside you yourselves are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside too? But dedicate once for all your inner self, and at once you will have everything clean. But a curse on you Pharisees, because you pay tithes on mint, rue, and every tiny garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God! These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have neglected the former. A curse on you Pharisees, because you like to have the front seats in synagogues, and to be greeted with honor in public places! A curse on you, because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it!" Then an expert in the law interrupted Him and said, "Teacher, in saying this you are insulting us, too." He said, "Yes, a curse on you experts in the law, too, because you load people down with loads too heavy to carry, and yet you do not touch the loads yourselves with one of your fingers! A curse on you, because you build monuments for the prophets, whom your forefathers killed! So you testify to what your forefathers did and approve it, because they killed them and you build monuments for them. This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will persecute'; so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the creation of the world may be charged against the men of this age -- from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against the men of this age. A curse on you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to the door of knowledge! You did not go in yourselves, and you kept out those who tried to get in." After He left the house, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be violently enraged against Him and to try to draw Him out on many subjects, plotting, as if in ambush, to entrap Him in something that might fall from His lips.

They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and we never have been anybody's slaves. How can you say to us, 'You will be set free'?" Jesus answered them, "I most solemnly say to you, everyone who lives in sin is a slave of sin. Now a slave does not live permanently in a household, but a son does. read more.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be really free. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, and yet you are trying to kill me, because there is no room in you for my teaching. I am telling you what I have seen in my Father's presence, and you are practicing what you have learned from your father." They answered Him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, you must be practicing what Abraham did. But right now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that He has learned from God. Abraham never did that. You are practicing what your real father does." They said to Him, "We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, even God." Then Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. No, indeed, I have not come on my own authority, but He has sent me. Why is it that you misunderstand what I say? It is because you cannot listen to what I teach. You sprang from the devil, your real father, and you want to practice your father's wishes. He was a murderer from the very start, and he does not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks out of his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Who of you can prove me guilty of sin? But if I do tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is sprung from God listens to what God says. This is why you do not listen to me: you are not sprung from God." Then the Jews answered Him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are under the power of a demon?" Jesus answered: "I am not under the power of a demon; on the other hand, I am honoring my Father, but you are dishonoring me. However, I am not seeking honor for myself; there is One who is seeking it for me, and He is judge. I most solemnly say to you, if anyone follows my teaching, he will never experience death." Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that you are under the power of a demon. Abraham is dead; the prophets too, and yet you say, 'If anyone follows my teaching, he will never experience death.' You are not greater than our forefather Abraham, are you? He is dead and the prophets are dead. Who do you claim to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, such glory amounts to nothing. It is the Father who glorifies me; and you claim that He is your God. And yet you have not learned to know Him; but I know Him, and if I say I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you. On the other hand, I do know Him and I do follow His teaching. Your forefather Abraham exulted in the hope of seeing my day. He has seen it and is glad of it." The Jews then said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Then Jesus said to them, "I most solemnly say to you, I existed before Abraham was born." At this the Jews took up stones to stone Him, but Jesus made His way out of the temple unperceived.

Then they jeered him, and said, "You are a disciple of His yourself, but we are disciples of Moses. We do know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from." The man answered them, "Well, there is something strange about this! You do not know where He comes from! And yet He has made my eyes to see! read more.
We know that God does not listen to sinful men, but He does listen to anyone who worships God and lives to do His will. It has never been heard of in this world that anyone ever made the eyes of a man who was born blind to see. If this man had not come from God, He could not have done anything like this." Then they retorted, "You were born in total depravity, and yet you are trying to teach us!" And so they turned him out of the synagogue.

A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of your greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees! You must first clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may be clean too. "A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and everything that is unclean! read more.
So you, too, on the outside seem to people to be upright, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees have the habit of cleaning the outside of your cups and dishes, but inside you yourselves are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside too? But dedicate once for all your inner self, and at once you will have everything clean. read more.
But a curse on you Pharisees, because you pay tithes on mint, rue, and every tiny garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God! These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have neglected the former. A curse on you Pharisees, because you like to have the front seats in synagogues, and to be greeted with honor in public places! A curse on you, because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it!"



So when the Pharisee who invited Him saw it, he said to himself, "If He were really a prophet, He would know who and of what character the woman is who is clinging to Him -- that she is a social outcast." Verse ConceptsSinnersUncharitablenessChrist Knowing About PeopleSoliloquyWho Is This?What Kind?Jesus The Prophet

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax-collectors and notorious sinners?" And when He heard it, He said, "It is not well, but sick people that have to send for a doctor. Go, learn what this means, 'It is mercy and not sacrifice that I want.' It is not upright but sinful people that I have come to invite."


But a curse on you Pharisees, because you pay tithes on mint, rue, and every tiny garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God! These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have neglected the former. Verse ConceptsGarden, NaturalFaithfulness, In Human Relationshipsethics, incentives towardsHerbs And SpicesHorticultureNeglectOppression, God's Attitude ToPharisees, Beliefs OfNeglecting God's ThingsNeglecting DutiesReligionSin, Nature OfLove For GodSins Of OmissionAgape LoveTithesNo JusticeNot Loving GodTithing ProduceHerbsTithes And Offering



Just then an expert in the law got up to test Him by asking, "Teacher, what shall I do to get possession of eternal life?" Verse ConceptsLawyersInheritance, SpiritualSeeking LifeTesting ChristDoing God's WorksTests


Yes, indeed, I certainly do count everything as loss compared with the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have lost everything, and value it all as mere refuse, in order to gain Christ and be actually in union with Him, not having a supposed right standing with God which depends on my doing what the law commands, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the real right standing with God which originates from Him and rests on faith. Yes, I long to come to know Him; that is, the power of His resurrection and so to share with Him his sufferings as to be continuously transformed by His death, read more.
in the hope of attaining, in some measure, the resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead.

But for Christ's sake I have counted all that was gain to me as loss. Yes, indeed, I certainly do count everything as loss compared with the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have lost everything, and value it all as mere refuse, in order to gain Christ and be actually in union with Him, not having a supposed right standing with God which depends on my doing what the law commands, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the real right standing with God which originates from Him and rests on faith. read more.
Yes, I long to come to know Him; that is, the power of His resurrection and so to share with Him his sufferings as to be continuously transformed by His death,

"A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, for you are like white-washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead people's bones and everything that is unclean! So you, too, on the outside seem to people to be upright, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.






and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have been sharers with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Verse ConceptsSheddingAncestorsKilling ProphetsProphets KilledTimes Of People

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood and said this self-centered prayer, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast two days in the week. I pay a tithe on everything I get.'



To some people who were confident that they themselves were upright, but who scorned everybody else, He told the following story: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood and said this self-centered prayer, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. read more.
I fast two days in the week. I pay a tithe on everything I get.' But the tax-collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but continued to beat his breast, and say, 'O God, have mercy on me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man, and not the other, went back home forgiven and accepted by God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."



For they were ignorant of God's way of right standing and were trying to set up one of their own, and so would not surrender to God's way of right standing. Verse ConceptsHypocrisy, Description OfLegalismSelf Righteousness, Nature OfSelf Righteousness, And The GospelSpiritual IgnoranceTrusting In WorksSeeking For Abstract ThingsIgnorance of GodignoranceFutile Faith


For they were ignorant of God's way of right standing and were trying to set up one of their own, and so would not surrender to God's way of right standing. Verse ConceptsHypocrisy, Description OfLegalismSelf Righteousness, Nature OfSelf Righteousness, And The GospelSpiritual IgnoranceTrusting In WorksSeeking For Abstract ThingsIgnorance of GodignoranceFutile Faith



The Pharisee stood and said this self-centered prayer, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. Verse ConceptsExtortion, Examples OfAttitudes, in prayerHypocrisy, Description OfPrejudiceStandingStatusTax CollectorsHypocrites, Description OfSelf DelusionEvildoersNot Like PeopleAvoid AdulteryWe Thank GodConfession of sin




For they were ignorant of God's way of right standing and were trying to set up one of their own, and so would not surrender to God's way of right standing. Verse ConceptsHypocrisy, Description OfLegalismSelf Righteousness, Nature OfSelf Righteousness, And The GospelSpiritual IgnoranceTrusting In WorksSeeking For Abstract ThingsIgnorance of GodignoranceFutile Faith