He was no push-over.., nor did he sugar-coat his points of view...

The Seven Woes

Matt 23:1-39

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

-- Faith ("faith01@myway.com"), October 23, 2004

Answers

*bump*

-- ("faith01@myway.com"), October 23, 2004.

The Jewish leaders must have been horribly corrupt, eh?

-- Max Darity (arrowtouch@yahoo.com), October 23, 2004.

It would seem so.

Jesus said they prefered their rules made by men--their tradition., over the Holy written Word of God.

Jesus didn't like that kind of religion--it appears...

-- ("faith01@myway.com"), October 24, 2004.

>Jesus said they prefered their rules made by men--their tradition., over the Holy written Word of God.<

I always get a kick out of those churches which accept the Bible as the Word of God, but reject the Universal Church which God used to bring about that the Canon which they believe cannot be altered.

Who determined what books could be included? What were their doctrines? Did they have Baptist doctrine? Pentecostal doctrine? Non-denominational doctrine? Roman Catholic doctrine? Methodist doctrine? Presbyeterian doctrine? Branch Davidian doctrine?

Remember the pictures of David Koresh teaching from the Bible? Do you think his doctrines squared with the Church which actually produced the very Bible Canon he held in his hands and used to lead others "more closely" to God?

-- Max Darity (arrowtouch@yahoo.com), October 24, 2004.

Faith,

Just where in that long passage do you see the "written word of God" mentioned? What this entire passage is about is the rejection of the authorized teachers and preachers He has sent, in favor of false teachers set up by men - the very situation that was prophecied in 2 Tim 4:3. the very situation that reached its climax in denominationalism. There is no mention whatsoever in this passage of anything written. Which makes perfect sense, since Jesus never commanded anyone to write anything, but did command His Church to preach the gospel to all the world.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), October 24, 2004.

Oh I don't mean that Jesus said this about the teachers and pharisees of the Law in those particular verses. But taking all of what Jesus revealed about them--we know that he disapproved of their favoring tradition over the Word of God.

In these verses I was trying to show that Jesus had harsh words towards these religious leaders who did not follow God--but followed man-made religion--instead. Jesus says that they looked good on the outside--but they were filthy inside---they were hypocrites.

In other places Jesus said that they were so busy following rules made by men--that they were missing God completely. This is the problem with religion. Sometimes we are so busy trying to follow the man-made rules--that we miss the original point which God revealed in Scripture. Jesus said that they had a fine way of setting aside the Word of God in favor of their own traditions...

That tells me that these traditions were not in keeping with the Scriptures--and Jesus is clear that God's Word come first.

Mark 7:1-13

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

-- ("faith01@myway.com"), October 24, 2004.

Max--

You said:

I always get a kick out of those churches which accept the Bible as the Word of God, but reject the Universal Church which God used to bring about that the Canon which they believe cannot be altered.

The universal church? Who? The Roman Catholic Church? I don't think so...

The universal church is a body of true believers--and they recognized God's word--intuitively. The canon of Scripture was not decided by the Roman Catholic Church. It was bound by the early believers starting right away--as the Scriptures were being written by the apostles themselves.

Who determined what books could be included? What were their doctrines? Did they have Baptist doctrine? Pentecostal doctrine? Non- denominational doctrine? Roman Catholic doctrine? Methodist doctrine? Presbyeterian doctrine? Branch Davidian doctrine?

God determined what books qualified by sending prophets and apostles who were confirmed by fulfilled prophecy and miracles. The body of Christ recognized it's Scriptures long before any Roman Catholic council sat down to confirm anything.

-- ("faith01@myway.com"), October 24, 2004.

Faith,

I don't think Max was referring specifically to Roman Catholic ecumenical councils (like Trent). I think he was referring to ecumenical councils before the split of Christianity into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in 1054 (or thereabouts).

-- Andy S ("ask3332004@yahoo.com"), October 24, 2004.

>The universal church? Who? The Roman Catholic Church? I don't think so... <

The Universal Church that existed before Roman Catholicism.

>The universal church is a body of true believers--and they recognized God's word--intuitively.<

Yes, and these true believers accepted the books that were inspired and rejected the books that were not inspired and came up with the Bible Canon.

Where did they gather all the books together first? When did they come up with the order the books appear? How did all the churches agree which books were "good" and which writings were "bad"?

It didn't happen spontaneously or fall out of the sky. History shows there was considerable debate over some writings, but finally they (the churches) decided on the official canon we have today.

Faith, if we have an "official" canon, where's the "official" church that determined all these things? Have you ever studied the history about this issue?

>The canon of Scripture was not decided by the Roman Catholic Church.<

The Church at Rome was part of the gathering of churches that came together and determined the offical canon, excluding those books that were not to be accepted (and there were plenty of fakes.)

>It was bound by the early believers starting right away--as the Scriptures were being written by the apostles themselves.<

OK, but when did the full canon get officially accepted by all the churches? They had to come together and agree on it at some point. The very fact there's a specific order to the books proves there was a point where this was officially agreed upon.

>The body of Christ recognized it's Scriptures long before any Roman Catholic council sat down to confirm anything.<

Right. But, the Universal Church DID sit down and confirm it at one point. They DID have to reject some books as spurious and declare what was offically to be accepted Universally in the churches. This is historical fact. You can't deny this historical fact no matter how you try.

-- Max Darity (arrowtouch@yahoo.com), October 28, 2004.