The Real Pharisees (Part 17): The Pharisees Wanted to Hold Onto Parts of the Old Law

The Real Pharisees

“But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5). Despite all of the problems that we have seen with the Pharisees throughout this study, some of them had evidently believed and obeyed […]

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The Real Pharisees (Part 16): The Pharisees Overemphasized Making Converts

The Real Pharisees

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). One might wonder how it could be possible to overemphasize making converts. After all, one of the […]

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Christ Our Mediator

Cross at sunset

One of the ways that Jesus is described in the New Testament is as a mediator. Paul wrote, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). It is important that we understand what this means. Let us consider what the New Testament teaches […]

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The Real Pharisees (Part 15): The Pharisees Overemphasized Human Tradition

The Real Pharisees

“Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.’ And He answered and said to them, ‘Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? […]

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A Parable About Forgiveness

Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

When Peter asked Jesus a question about how often he should forgive his brother, Jesus answered and told him to forgive his brother “seventy times seven” times (Matthew 18:21-22). His point was not that we should keep a record of the number of times we forgive someone and then after the four hundred and ninetieth […]

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The Real Pharisees (Part 14): The Pharisees Honored God’s Spokesmen

The Real Pharisees

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, […]

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Lord Willing

To-do list

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then […]

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