Mateus 23

Mateus 23

Maclaren - Faith is the hand that grasps. It is the means of communication, it is the channel through which the grace which is the life, or, rather, I should say, the life which is the grace, comes to us. It is the open door by which the angel of God comes in with his gifts. It is like the petals of the flowers, opening when the sunshine kisses them, and, by opening, laying bare the depths of their calyxes to be illuminated and coloured, and made to grow by the sunshine which itself has opened them, and without the presence of which, within the cup, there would have been neither life nor beauty. So faith is the basis of everything; the first shoot from which all the others ascend...Faith works. It is the foundation of all true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we might almost say that. But in the Christian scheme it is eminently the underlying requisite for all work which God does not consider as busy idleness... “Faith is the foot of the soul; so it comes to Christ. Faith is the hand of the soul; so it receives Christ. Faith is the arm of the soul; so it embraces Christ. Faith is the eye of the soul; so it looks upon Christ. Faith is the mouth of the soul; so it feeds on Christ. Faith is the lips of the soul; so it kisses Christ.” --Unknown writer Matthew 23:24 “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! KJV Matthew 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. BGT Matthew 23:24 ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί, οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα, τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες. NET Matthew 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! CSB Matthew 23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat, yet gulp down a camel! ESV Matthew 23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! NIV Matthew 23:24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. NLT Matthew 23:24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! YLT Matthew 23:24 'Blind guides! who are straining out the gnat, and the camel are swallowing. MIT Matthew 23:24 Blind counselors that you are, you strain out the gnat (that gets in the milk) but drink down the camel. NJB Matthew 23:24 You blind guides, straining out gnats and swallowing camels! NRS Matthew 23:24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! Mt 7:4 Mt 15:2-6 Mt 19:24 Mt 27:6-8 Lu 6:7-10 Jn 18:28,40 Related Passages: Matthew 7:4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? Leviticus 11:4, 23, 41 ‘Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you. 23 ‘But all other winged insects which are four-footed are detestable to you. 41 ‘Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten. HYPERBOLE REGARDING THE ABSURDITY OF HYPOCRITICAL RELIGION Hyperbole is an intended overstatement to make a point and surely He struck a chord with this sarcastic statement! You blind (tuphlos) guides (hodegos) - These hypocrites prided themselves as spiritual instructors, interpreters of the Law, and moral examples but in truth were spiritually blind to truth, blind to their own sin, and blind to God’s priorities. They loved minutiae and saw every tiny speck of ritual impurity — but were blind to their own hypocrisy and injustice. Sadly, blind guides don’t just get lost themselves, but they mislead others too, so that "both will fall into a pit.” (Mt 15:14+). Stu Weber on blind guides - Their self-deception about the various Old Testament laws also deceived the people who followed them, so no one knew how to go about pleasing God. (See Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew) Who strain out a gnat and swallow (katapino - gulp down, devour) a camel - NLT - Strain is diulizo (dia = thoroughly + hulizo - to strain) used only here in the NT and in the present tense indicating this was their continual practice. "You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!" Both gnats and camels were considered unclean animals (gnat the smallest, camel the largest) under the Law (cf. Leviticus 11). Pharisees were known for straining wine or water through cloth to remove even tiny insects (gnats), so they would remain kosher and wouldn’t become ceremonially unclean. The tragic irony was their cups were clean but their souls were corrupt. And they would “swallow” camels — a grotesque exaggeration meaning they were blind to massive spiritual faults while obsessing over tiny details. In short, Jesus was telling these men they were meticulous about minutiae but they trivialized truth. William