The Real Pharisees (Part 10): The Pharisees Were Hypocrites

The Real Pharisees

The scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them” (Matthew 23:2-3).

A hypocrite is one who says one thing and does another. Jesus repeatedly called the Pharisees hypocrites in this chapter (Matthew 23:13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29). In those verses, Jesus talked about many ways in which their hypocrisy was manifested. But what was the root cause that led them to be hypocrites?

Jesus said they “seated themselves in the chair of Moses” (Matthew 23:2). Moses was the lawgiver (John 1:17). The fact that the Pharisees were “seated…in the chair of Moses” indicated that they had put themselves in the position of teaching the Law to others. As Moses delivered God’s law to the people, the Pharisees taught God’s law to the people in their day.

Jesus said that the people were to do what the Pharisees taught: “All that they tell you, do and observe” (Matthew 23:3). However, Jesus also told the people that they were not to do what the Pharisees did: “Do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them” (Matthew 23:3).

The implication from Jesus’ statement is that much of what the Pharisees taught may have been accurate. They were teaching things that the people were to do according to the Law of Moses. However, the Pharisees did not practice what they preached. They correctly taught the Law of Moses so that Jesus told others to “do and observe” what they said. But the Pharisees did not apply this teaching to themselves. They were acting hypocritically – not carefully keeping the Law but disobeying it, despite teaching otherwise.

Not only were the Pharisees failing to obey what they taught from the Law of Moses, they were also adding their own commands and traditions to it (cf. Matthew 15:6). We will discuss this more in a later lesson. But Jesus exposed this: “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (Matthew 23:4). Yet even with their man-made commands and traditions, they did not apply the same standard to themselves that they used against others. They would burden others with these commands but not lift a finger to carry them out themselves. They believed that the standard they taught to others did not apply to them.

So who are the real Pharisees today? They are not the ones who carefully keep the law. Instead, they are those who disobey the law of God despite teaching others to obey.


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