Mateus 23
William Barclay · Citado em PreceptAustin
Mateus 23
Barclay writes that the Greek word "is hard to translate for it includes not only wrath, but also sorrow. There is righteous anger here, but it is the anger of the heart of love, broken by the stubborn blindness of men. There is not only an air of savage denunciation; there is also an atmosphere of poignant tragedy."(Ref) Warren
Mateus 23
Barclay - Verses 13–26 of this chapter form the most terrible and the most sustained denunciation in the New Testament. Here we hear what A T Robertson called ‘the rolling thunder of Christ’s wrath’. As A. Plummer has written, these woes are ‘like thunder in their unanswerable severity, and like lightning in their unsparing exposure … They illuminate while they strike.’ . . . To Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were men who were acting a part. What he meant was this. Their whole idea of religion consisted in outward observances, the wearing of elaborate phylacteries and tassels, the meticulous observance of the rules and regulations of the law. But in their hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and arrogance. To Jesus, these scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway. And that accusation holds good in greater or lesser degree of anyone who lives life on the assumption that religion consists in external observances and external acts. David Turner: Jesus’s denunciation of the religious leaders must be viewed against the background of the biblical prophets, who frequently cried woe against Israel’s sins. These oracles blend anger, grief, and alarm about the excruciating consequences that will come upon Israel due to its sin. The form of such oracles includes an initial pronouncement of woe followed by a description of the persons upon whom the woe will come. This description amounts to the reason the woe is merited. Thus a woe oracle states the conclusion and then the premises on which it is based. Woe oracles may have developed from covenant curses (Deut. 27:15) or even from funeral lamentations (Jer. 22:18). (See Clements, ABD 6:945–46; Westermann 1967: 192– 95.)[2] In oracles of woe, the prophet’s attitude is anger tempered at times by grief and alarm at the horrible price Israel will pay for its sin. Prophets are angry because they are speaking for God against sin. But prophets are also stricken with grief because this anger is directed toward their own people. The palpable pathos of woe oracles is due to the prophet’s dual solidarities. The prophets must speak for God, but in announcing oracles of judgment, the prophets know that they are announcing the doom of their own people. In light of this biblical background, Jesus’s pronouncements of woe upon the religious leaders were not innovative. His severe language must have had a familiar ring in the leaders’ ears. In light of the woe oracles in Second Temple literature, Jesus’s woes would have sounded rather contemporary. His woe oracles were not merely an exercise of spite against his opponents; as is clear in Matt. 23:37, his words come at least as much from grief as from anger. (See Matthew Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) Because (term of explanation) you shut off (kleio) the kingdom (basileia) of heaven (ouranos) from people - NLT - "For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces." NET - "You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven!" He is explaining why these religious leaders are deserving of Woe (ouai). These men rather than helping the populace find the way of salvation in Jesus, actually became obstacles blocking the way of salvation. In short, they distorted the Word of God by adding legalistic burdens, and by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, thereby closing the door to God's kingdom. We see them hindering others from accepting Jesus as the Messiah in Mt 11:19, Mt 12:23-24, Mt 21:15 (see above). The chief evil of every false religion is that it shuts people out of God's kingdom. -- John MacArthur Pulpit Commentary - They prevent men from accepting Christ, and so entering God's kingdom, by their false interpretation of Scripture, by not allowing that it testified of Christ, and by making the path impassable for the poor and ignorant. And this is done "in the face of men," when they are, as it were, thronging round and wishing to enter. John MacArthur (NLT - "For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces.") - The picture Jesus gives here suggests the idea of the scribes and Pharisees standing just outside the gates of the kingdom and slamming them shut in the faces of those who were about to go in. People who came to those religious leaders for direction and help in finding God were actually being shut off from Him even while they were on the verge of salvation. (See Matthew Commentary) A parallel passage is found in Luke 11:52+ in which Jesus declares “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
Mateus 23
Barclay - Originally the Greek word hupokrites meant one who answers; it then came to be specially connected with the statement and answer, the dialogue, of the stage; and it is the regular Greek word for an actor. It then came to mean an actor in the worse sense of the term, a pretender, one who acts a part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different. To Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees were men who were acting a part. What he meant was this. Their whole idea of religion consisted in outward observances, the wearing of elaborate phylacteries and tassels, the meticulous observance of the rules and regulations of the Law. But in their hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and arrogance. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway. And that accusation holds good in greater or lesser degree of any man who lives life on the assumption that religion consists in external observances and external acts. There is an unwritten saying of Jesus which says, "The key of the Kingdom they hid." His condemnation of these Scribes and Pharisees is that they are not only failing to enter the Kingdom themselves, they shut the door on the faces of those who seek to enter. What did he mean by this accusation? We have already seen (Matthew 6:10) that the best way to think of the Kingdom is to think of it as a society on earth where God's will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven. To be a citizen of the Kingdom, and to do God's will, are one and the same thing. The Pharisees believed that to do God's will was to observe their thousands of petty rules and regulations; and nothing could be further from that Kingdom whose basic idea is love. When people tried to find entry into the Kingdom the Pharisees presented them with these rules and regulations, which was as good as shutting the door in their faces. The Pharisees preferred their ideas of religion to God's idea of religion. They had forgotten the basic truth that, if a man would teach others, he must himself first listen to God. The gravest danger which any teacher or preacher encounters is that he should erect his own prejudices into universal principles and substitute his own ideas for the truth of God. When he does that he is not a guide, but a barrier, to the Kingdom, for, misled himself, he misleads others. (Matthew 23 - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) ILLUSTRATION - Some years ago, a young man called and informed me that he was planning to leave our church and join Mormonism, two workers from which were going to visit him again shortly. I immediately drove to his house and confronted him with the extreme peril of what he was about to do. I told him that if he was not now a true Christian, they would damn his soul by leading him away from Christ and that if he were a Christian they would make a shambles of his spiritual life. When the workers arrived I refused to discuss doctrine with them but rather in the spirit of Matthew 23 presented the true gospel of Christ and denounced the unbiblical and damning errors that their sect taught. However, the young man fell into the cult and was not able to escape for a number of years. (SEE The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) QUESTION - Why did Jesus rebuke the scribes and Pharisees so harshly in Matthew 23:13–36? GOTQUESTIONS.ORG ANSWER - In Matthew 23 Jesus pronounces “woes” on the scribes and Pharisees, the religious elite of the day. The word woe is an exclamation of grief, denunciation, or distress. This was not the first time Jesus had some harsh words for the religious leaders of His day. Why did Jesus rebuke them so harshly here? Looking at each woe gives some insight. Before pronouncing the woes, Jesus told His listeners to respect the scribes and Pharisees due to their position of authority but not to emulate them, “for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see” (Matthew 23:3–5). The scribes and Pharisees were supposed to know God and help others know Him and follow His ways. Instead, the religious leaders added to God’s Law, making it a cumbersome and onerous burden. And they did not follow God with a pure heart. Their religion was not true worship of God; rather, it was rooted in a prideful heart. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount emphasizes the true intent of the Law over the letter of the Law. The scribes and Pharisees emphasized the letter, completely missing its spirit. The first woe is, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13). Jesus cares for people. He desires for them to know Him and to enter into His kingdom (John 3:16–17; 10:10, 17; 2 Peter 3:9). After rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus lamented over rebellious Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37–39). Clearly, His heart is for people to find life in Him. It stands to reason, then, that He would have harsh words for those who prevented people from finding salvation. The teachers of the Law and Pharisees were not truly seeking after God, though they acted as if they were. Their religion was empty, and it was preventing others from following the Messiah. In the second woe, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees for making strenuous efforts to win converts and then leading those converts to be “twice as much” children of hell as the scribes and Pharisees were (Matthew 13:15). In other words, they were more intent on spreading their religion than on maintaining the truth. The third woe Jesus pronounces against the scribes and Pharisees calls the religious leaders “blind guides” and “blind fools” (Matthew 23:16–17). Specifically, Jesus points out, they nit-picked about which oaths were binding and which were not, ignoring the sacred nature of all oaths and significance of the temple and God’s holiness (verses 15–22). The fourth woe calls out the scribes and Pharisees for their practice of diligently paying the tithe while neglecting to actually care for people. While they were counting their mint leaves to make sure they gave one tenth to the temple, they “neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). Once again, they focused on the letter of the Law and obeyed it with pride, but they missed the weightier things of God. Their religion was external; their hearts were not transformed. Jesus elaborates on their hypocrisy in the fifth woe. He tells the religious leaders they appear clean on the outside, but they have neglected the inside. They perform religious acts but do not have God-honoring hearts. It does no good, Jesus says, to clean up the outside when the inside is “full of greed and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25). The Pharisees and scribes are blind and do not recognize that, when the inside is changed, the outside, too, will be transformed. In the sixth woe, Jesus claims the scribes and Pharisees are “like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27). The deadness inside of tombs is likened to the “hypocrisy and wickedness” inside the religious leaders (verse 28). Once again, they appear to obey God, but their hearts are far from Him (see Matthew 15:7–9 and Isaiah 29:13). Jesus concludes His seven-fold rebuke by telling the religious leaders that they are just like their fathers, who persecuted the prophets of old. In building monuments to the prophets, they testify against themselves, openly admitting that it was their ancestors who killed the prophets (Matthew 23:29–31). Although they arrogantly claim that they would not have done so, they are the ones who will soon plot the murder of the Son of God Himself (Matthew 26:4). Jesus’ words are harsh because there was so much at stake. Those who followed the Pharisees and scribes were being kept from following God. So much of the teaching in Jesus’ day was in direct contradiction of God’s Word (see Matthew 15:6). The religious leaders made a mockery out of following God. They did not truly understand God’s ways, and they led others away from God. Jesus’ desire was that people would come to know God and be reconciled with Him. In Matthew 11:28–30 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Unlike the burdens the scribes and Pharisees laid on the people in a human effort to gain reconciliation with God, Jesus gives true rest. The religious leaders spread lies covered in a veneer of godliness (John 8:44); Jesus spoke harshly against them because He came to bring life (John 10:10). Also, the word woe carries with it a tinge of sorrow. There is an element of imprecation, to be sure, but with it an element of compassionate sadness. The seven woes that Jesus pronounces on the religious leaders are solemn declarations of future misery. The stubbornness of the sinners to whom He speaks is bringing a judgment to be feared. The scribes and Pharisees are calling down God’s wrath upon themselves, and they are to be pitied. Immediately after Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, we see Jesus’ compassion. He asks, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:33). Jesus then expresses His desire to gather the people of Israel to Himself for safety, if only they were willing (verse 37). God longs for His people to come to Him and find forgiveness. Jesus was not harsh to be mean. He was not having a temper tantrum. Rather, love guided His actions. Jesus spoke firmly against the deception of Satan out of a desire for people to know truth and find life in Him. QUESTION - What are the seven woes of Matthew 23? GOTQUESTIONS.ORG ANSWER - In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces seven “woes” on the religious leaders of His day. A “woe” is an exclamation of grief, similar to what is expressed by the word alas. In pronouncing woes, Jesus was prophesying judgment on the religious elite who were guilty of hypocrisy and sundry other sins. The King James Version and some other translations list eight woes in Matthew 23, but older manuscripts leave out verse 14, in which the scribes and Pharisees are condemned for taking advantage of widows and making lengthy prayers for show. Elsewhere, Jesus speaks against those very sins (Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47); most likely, however, Matthew did not include them among the other woes of chapter 23. The seven woes are addressed to the teachers of the law and Pharisees; in one of the woes, He calls them “blind guides” (Matthew 23:16). At the end of His denunciations, He calls them “snakes” and “brood of vipers” (verse 33). Prior to Jesus’ condemnation of the religious hypocrites, they had been following Him to test Him and try to trick Him with questions about divorce (Matthew 19:3), about His authority (Matthew 21:23), about paying taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22:17), about the resurrection (verse 23), and about the greatest commandment of the law (verse 36). Jesus prefaced His seven woes by explaining to the disciples that they should obey the teachings of the Jewish leaders—as they taught the law of God—but not to emulate their behavior because they did not practice what they preached (Matthew 23:3). The first of Jesus’ seven woes condemned the scribes and Pharisees for keeping people out of the kingdom of heaven: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13). Jesus is the only Savior and the only way to heaven. In their rejection of Jesus Christ, the Pharisees were effectively refusing to enter the kingdom of heaven. They also hindered the common people from believing in Him, thereby blocking the way to heaven for others. Repentance and faith in Christ is the door of admission into this kingdom, and nothing could be more disagreeable to the Pharisees, who saw no need for repentance in their own lives and attempted to justify themselves by strict adherence to the law. In the second of the seven woes, Jesus condemned the leaders for teaching their converts the same hypocrisy that they themselves practiced. They led their converts into a religion of works, but not into true righteousness, making them “twice as much a child of hell” (Matthew 13:15). The third woe Jesus pronounced referred to the religious elite as “blind guides” and “blind fools” (Matthew 23:16–17). The hypocrites fancied themselves guides of the blind (see Romans 2:19), but they themselves were blind and therefore unfit to guide others. Their spiritual blindness caused them to be ignorant of many things, including the identity of the Messiah and the way of salvation. They were blind to the true meaning of Scripture and to their own sin. They purported to guide the people into the truth, but they were incapable of doing so because they had no personal knowledge of the truth. Instead of teaching spiritual truth, they preferred to quibble over irrelevant matters and find loopholes in the rules (Matthew 23:16–22). The fourth of the seven woes called out the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy in the practice of tithing. They made a big deal of small things like tithing spices, while they ignored crucial matters. They diligently counted their mint leaves to give every tenth one to the temple, but they “neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). Turning to hyperbole, Jesus said, “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (verse 24). In other words, they were careful to avoid offense in minor things of little importance (straining gnats), while tolerating or committing great sins (swallowing camels). In the fifth, sixth, and seventh woes, Jesus further illustrated the different aspects of hypocrisy that characterized the religious leaders. In the fifth woe, Jesus likened them to dishes that were scrupulously cleaned on the outside but left dirty inside. Their religious observances made them appear clean and virtuous, but inwardly their hearts were full of “greed and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25). In the sixth woe, Jesus compared them to “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27). The rotting corpse inside a tomb was like the hypocrisy and lawlessness in the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees. They appeared righteous on the outside, but they were just beautified tombs; inwardly, they were spiritually dead. The hypocrisy Jesus addressed in the seventh woe was directed to those who erected monuments and decorated the tombs of the prophets of old. Jesus points out that those prophets had been slain by the Pharisees’ own ancestors. They imagined themselves much better than their fathers, saying, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets” (Matthew 23:30). But in that very statement they acknowledged their lineage: Jesus says they were truly their fathers’ sons; they had inherited their ancestors’ wickedness and were following in their steps. Jesus knew their evil hearts, which would soon plot to murder Him (Matthew 26:4) just as their ancestors had murdered the righteous men of old. The seven woes of Matthew 23 were dire warnings to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. But they also serve to warn us against religious hypocrisy today. We are called to true godliness, sincere love, and enduring faith. Pretension, affectation, and hypocrisy will only lead to woe. Matthew 23:14 [“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.] KJV Matthew 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. NET Matthew 23:13 "But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. CSB Matthew 23:14 ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and make long prayers just for show. This is why you will receive a harsher punishment.] ESV Matthew 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. NIV Matthew 23:13 "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. NLT Matthew 23:13 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces. You won't go in yourselves, and you don't let others enter either. 14 YLT Matthew 23:14 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye eat up the houses of the widows, and for a pretence make long prayers, because of this ye shall receive more abundant judgment. for ye: Josephus says that this sect pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be dear to God. Ex 22:22-24 Job 22:9 31:16-20 Mk 12:40 Lu 20:47 2Ti 3:6 Titus 1:10,11 2Pe 2:14,15 long: That these were long we learn from Bab. Berachoth, where we are told that the very religious prayed nine hours a day. therefore: Mt 23:33-36 Mt 11:24 Lu 12:48 Jas 3:1 2Pe 2:3 [“Woe to you, scribes (grammateus) and Pharisees (pharisaios), hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.] No comments on this verse. See commentary on the following passages which do record this woe Mark 12:40 - commentary "who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.” Luke 20:47 - commentary "who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.” C H Spurgeon (Matthew Commentary) - The second “woe” was supported by two most serious accusations, which our Lord would not have uttered if they had not been true: “ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer. ” Either of these sins by itself would have been very grievous; the two together were sufficient to sink those who were guilty of them to the lowest hell. The men who had defrauded widows would have to answer for their misdeeds to the widows’ “Judge “( Psalm 68:5). Those who had sought to cover their crimes with the cloak of superior sanctity deserved to be stripped before the people they had deceived, and to hear the King’s righteous sentence: “Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. ” These words prove that there are degrees of punishment, as there are gradations in glory. All the ungodly will be judged and condemned by the Righteous Judge, but “the greater condemnation” will be reserved for the hypocrites who have “for a pretense” made “long prayers” while, behind the mask, they have been devouring the property of widows and the fatherless. Matthew 23:15 “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. KJV Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. BGT Matthew 23:15 Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι περιάγετε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν ποιῆσαι ἕνα προσήλυτον, καὶ ὅταν γένηται ποιεῖτε αὐτὸν υἱὸν γεέννης διπλότερον ὑμῶν. NET Matthew 23:15 "Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves! CSB Matthew 23:15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as fit for hell as you are! ESV Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. NIV Matthew 23:15 "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. NLT Matthew 23:15 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! YLT Matthew 23:15 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye go round the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever it may happen -- ye make him a son of gehenna twofold more than yourselves. MIT Matthew 23:15 How horrible your destiny, scholars and Pharisees—pretenders all—because you travel over sea and land to make one proselyte, and once he is yours, you make him over into a decaying, smoldering, garbage dump of a person—your double. NJB Matthew 23:15 'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are. NRS Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. because you travel around: Ga 4:17 6:12 proselyte: Es 8:17 Ac 2:10 13:43 make: Jn 8:44 Ac 13:10 14:2,19 17:5,6,13 Eph 2:3 Related Passages: Romans 10:2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God (LIKE THE PHARISEES), but not in accordance with knowledge. UNHOLY ZEAL TO MAKE PROSELYTES Woe (ouai) to you, scribes (grammateus) and Pharisees (pharisaios), hypocrites (hupokrites - masqueraders, imposters, charlatans, pretenders at piety) This is the second of seven woes (excludes Mt 23:14) and once again Jesus looks them in the eyes and calls them hypocrites (hupokrites)! These men demonstrate outward shows piety but inward insincerity, focusing on rule keeping rather than obedience from a transformed heart. Because (term of explanation) - What's Jesus explaining? In context clearly He is giving the reason for this woe, which as we discussed above is an interjection of both lament and reproof. You travel around on sea (thalassa) and land (xeros) to make one (heis) proselyte (proselutos) - NET - "You cross land and sea" ESV note calls them "entrapped converts!" The geographic designations emphasize how zealous these hypocrites going to any length to indoctrinate more hypocrites who believe their lies and deception. They were in effect missionaries of evil! They are willing to go to great lengths for just one victim! Generally speaking, in Jewish usage of the time, a proselyte referred specifically to a Gentile who had converted to the Pharisaic brand of Judaism, likely submitting to circumcision, adherence to the Law of Moses, and the Pharisaic oral traditions (cf Mt 15:9+). Clearly Jesus is not condemning missions, but He is condemning the false religion of the Scribes and Pharisees being spread. Jesus' point is that these hypocrites were seeking to convert men to Pharisaism, not to true Judaism. (Ryrie is wrong saying "Convert from paganism to Judaism." It was their "brand" of Judaism, not Biblical Judaism!) It should be noted that the Pharisees had something on their side as they sought to make proselytes for monotheism (the concept of only one God) appealed to many people who lived in a world in which countless gods were worshiped. As A T
Mateus 23
Barclay - “To the Jew an oath was absolutely binding, so long as it was a binding oath. Broadly speaking, a binding oath was an oath which definitely and without equivocation employed the name of God; such an oath must be kept, no matter what the cost. Any other oath might be legitimately broken.” Swears (makes an oath) 3660) omnuo derives from a basic meaning to grasp a sacred object (Friberg). The verb omnuo thus means to swear, confirm or affirm the truth of a statement by calling on a divine being (heaven, altar, temple, throne of God) to execute sanctions against a person if the statement in question is not true. The word meant to put one's self under oath. BDAG phrases it this way "to affirm the veracity of one’s statement by invoking a transcendent entity, freq. w. implied invitation of punishment if one is untruthful." Louw-Nida on omnuo - to affirm the truth of a statement by calling on a divine being to execute sanctions against a person if the statement in question is not true (in the case of a deity taking an oath, his divine being is regarded as validating the statement OMNUO - 21V - make an oath(1), make...oath(1), swear(6), swears(10), swore(6), sworn(2). Matt. 5:34; Matt. 5:36; Matt. 23:16; Matt. 23:18; Matt. 23:20; Matt. 23:21; Matt. 23:22; Matt. 26:74; Mk. 6:23; Mk. 14:71; Lk. 1:73; Acts 2:30; Acts 7:17; Heb. 3:11; Heb. 3:18; Heb. 4:3; Heb. 6:13; Heb. 6:16; Heb. 7:21; Jas. 5:12; Rev. 10:6 Temple (sanctuary) (3485) naos in the Greek culture denoted the "abode of the gods" and was used to refer to a literal structure or building associated with, dedicated to and set apart to be a dwelling place for a deity. either pagan gods (Acts 17:24) or the true God (Mt 23:16). Naos describes the place where a deity was worshipped (cp Zacharias ministering to God in Lk 1:9). Naos referred to the temple proper, including the inner sanctuary, composed of the outer room, the Holy of Holies and the innermost Holy Place. When our Lord taught in the temple, He taught in the hieron, in one of the temple porches. He expelled the money-changers from the hieron, the court of the Gentiles. When the veil of the temple was rent at the time of the death of our Lord (Mt 27:52), it was the veil of the naos, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. When Zacharias entered the temple to burn incense (Lk 1:9), he entered the naos, the Holy Place where the altar of incense stood while the multitude were in prayer outside he people were “without,” in the hieron (Lk 1:10). Jesus used naos in a figurative to refer to His body as a temple (Jn 2:19, 20, 21). Paul extends this meaning to the individual believer's body as the dwelling place or inner sanctuary of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19), the inner sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. NAOS - 40V - Matt. 23:16; Matt. 23:17; Matt. 23:21; Matt. 23:35; Matt. 26:61; Matt. 27:5; Matt. 27:40; Matt. 27:51; Mk. 14:58; Mk. 15:29; Mk. 15:38; Lk. 1:9; Lk. 1:21; Lk. 1:22; Lk. 23:45; Jn. 2:19; Jn. 2:20; Jn. 2:21; Acts 7:48; Acts 17:24; Acts 19:24; 1 Co. 3:16; 1 Co. 3:17; 1 Co. 6:19; 2 Co. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 3:12; Rev. 7:15; Rev. 11:1; Rev. 11:2; Rev. 11:19; Rev. 14:15; Rev. 14:17; Rev. 15:5; Rev. 15:6; Rev. 15:8; Rev. 16:1; Rev. 16:17; Rev. 21:22 Matthew 23:17 “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? KJV Matthew 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? BGT Matthew 23:17 μωροὶ καὶ τυφλοί, τίς γὰρ μείζων ἐστίν, ὁ χρυσὸς ἢ ὁ ναὸς ὁ ἁγιάσας τὸν χρυσόν; NET Matthew 23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? CSB Matthew 23:17 Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that sanctified the gold? ESV Matthew 23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? NIV Matthew 23:17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? NLT Matthew 23:17 Blind fools! Which is more important-- the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? YLT Matthew 23:17 Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that is sanctifying the gold? MIT Matthew 23:17 Ignoramuses and unenlightened, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that consecrates the gold?" NJB Matthew 23:17 Fools and blind! For which is of greater value, the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? NRS Matthew 23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? fools: Ps 94:8 or: Mt 23:19 Ex 30:26-29 Nu 16:38,39 Mammon Preferred Over God WHEN GOLD MATTERS MORE THAN GOD! Another title might be "Sanctified or Shiny." You fools (moros) and blind (tuphlos) men! - As Jesus calls them these names, can you see their faces flush, their nostrils begin to flare and the hair bristle on the back of their neck? The Pharisees treasured what glittered, but not what was truly glorious. You've heard of fool's gold. Fool’s gold is a shiny mineral (pyrite) that looks like gold but has no real value. It deceives people who are looking for treasure into thinking they've found something valuable — when they haven’t. The Pharisees were Gilbrant on fools - The term meant more than lack of intelligence, though their logic left doubts about their mental abilities. It was often used to mean "sinner," one who was morally delinquent. (Complete Biblical Library) Pulpit Commentary - Jesus adds to "blind" the epithet "fools," which implies not only the irrationality and absurdity of their practice, but also its moral delinquency, the fool in sapiential language being the sinner. Which is more important (megas - greater), the gold or the Temple (naos) that sanctified (hagiazo - present tense) the gold? This is a rhetorical question. Clearly the Temple is more important as it "makes the gold sacred" (NLT) The Pharisees had reversed the order of importance. Their logic is absurd for the gold was nothing without the Temple. The only reason the gold was holy or sacred was because it was in the place of God's presence. John
Mateus 23
Barclay - Moros also means fool, but the man who is moros is the man who is a moral fool. He is the man who is playing the fool… To call a man moros was not to criticise his mental ability; it was to cast aspersions on his moral character; it was to take his name and reputation from him, and to brand him as a loose-living and immoral person. (Matthew 5 - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) The word moros "expresses a more serious form of contempt than Raca. Raca expresses contempt for a man’s head = you stupid! More expresses contempt for his heart and character = you scoundrel. The reckless use of such opprobrious epithets Jesus regarded as the supreme offence against the law of humanity. (Matthew 5 - The Expositor's Greek Testament) Friberg - Moros - foolish, stupid always a term of reproach; (1) of persons considered to be intellectually weak, irrational, or lacking in foresight (Mt 7.26), opposite sophros (wise) and phronimos (intelligent); substantivally = foolish person (Mt 25.3); of one without respect for God (Mt 23.17); the meaning of the substantive more, in Mt 5.22 is uncertain; as an insult it could mean you fool! blockhead!; (2) of things foolish, useless (2Ti 2.23); neuter as a substantive ta. mora, what is thought of as foolish (1Cor 1.27)
Mateus 23
Barclay - “This is a humorous picture which must have raised a laugh, of a man carefully straining his wine through gauze to avoid swallowing a microscopic insect and yet cheerfully swallowing a camel. It is the picture of a man who has completely lost his sense of proportion.” Gilbrant - in saying they "swallow a camel," Jesus pointed out the absurdity of their inconsistency. The most minute item was given full attention, while they disregarded the most serious matters of keeping the Law (Mt 23:23). (Complete Biblical Library) R. T. France: The grotesque imagery of straining out the gnat (from wine or water before drinking) and swallowing the camel belongs to the same class of burlesque as the splinter and the plank in Mt 7:3–5 or the camel going through the eye of a needle in Mt 19:24. It depends on the relative size of the smallest and largest creatures in Palestine. The gnat, as an insect, was unclean (Lev 11:20–23; cf. also the “swarming creatures” of Lev 11:41–44) and therefore must not be ingested; but then the camel was no less unclean (Lev 11:4), and a lot bigger! The joke may have been helped by an Aramaic word-play between qalmâ (gnat) and gamlâ (camel). (See The Gospel of Matthew - Page 10) Believer's Study Bible - Jesus displays a classic use of irony in this saying, which summarizes the gullibility of the Pharisees. The picture of a Pharisee straining and coughing as he inadvertently swallows a gnat, while another gulps down an enormous camel without difficulty is intentionally ludicrous. The words reveal a sense of humor in Jesus, even when He was discussing serious matters. Pharisees would drink their wine through clenched teeth in order to filter out any small insects that might have gotten into the wine. John
Mateus 23
Barclay: Here again is a picture which any Jew would understand. One of the most common places for tombs was by the wayside. We have already seen that anyone who touched a dead body became unclean (Numbers 19:16). Therefore, anyone who came into contact with a tomb automatically became unclean. At one time in particular, the roads of Palestine were crowded with pilgrims – at the time of the Passover Feast. To become unclean on the way to the Passover Feast would be a disaster, for that meant that such a person would be debarred from sharing in it. It was then Jewish practice in the month of Adar to whitewash all wayside tombs, so that no pilgrims might accidentally come into contact with one of them and be rendered unclean. So, as people journeyed the roads of Palestine on a spring day, these tombs would glint white, and almost lovely, in the sunshine; but within they were full of bones and bodies whose touch would defile. That, said Jesus, was a precise picture of what the Pharisees were. Their outward actions were the actions of intensely religious men; their inward hearts were foul and putrid with sin. Stu Weber adds that "According to Old Testament law (Num. 19:11), anyone who came in contact with a dead body was ritually unclean for a week. That person had to perform the appropriate sacrifices to complete restoration. Contact with a dead body was among the most abhorrent of experiences to the religious Jew. (See Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew) You are like whitewashed tombs (taphos) which on the outside appear beautiful (horaios), but inside they are full (gemo) of dead (nekros) men’s bones and all uncleanness (akatharsia) - Even today we use the term whitewashed meaning to make something look better than it really is or to conceal something bad. The tombs were whitewashed with powdered lime dust every spring after the rains to make sure no one touched the tombs and was defiled. How ironic was this? The "touch" of these Pharisees whether by word or deed was defiling and even worse because it caused spiritual death to those whom they contacted! They were beautiful on outside, full of death and decay on the inside! The picture above says it all! They were "holy" (or at least thought they were) on the outside, but were hollow on the inside. The had scrubbed walls externally, but dead hearts internally. They had reputation, which is what others think about you, but they needed character, what God knew was true about them! In an infinitely worse way than the tombs ceremonially defiled those who touched them, the scribes and Pharisees spiritually defiled those whom they touched. -- John MacArthur NET NOTE - whitewashed tombs - This was an idiom for hypocrisy—just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10–16; Acts 23:3. Marvin Vincent on whitewashed tombs - Not the rock-tombs, belonging mostly to the rich, but the graves covered with plastered structures. In general, cemeteries were outside of cities; but any dead body found in the field was to be buried on the spot where it had been discovered. A pilgrim to the Passover, for instance, might easily come upon such a grave in his journey, and contract uncleanness by the contact (Numbers 19:16). It was therefore ordered that all sepulchres should be whitewashed a month before Passover, in order to make them conspicuous, so that travellers might avoid ceremonial defilement. The fact that this general whitewashing was going on at the time when Jesus administered this rebuke to the Pharisees gave point to the comparison. Word Studies in the New Testament. Uncleanness (167) akatharsia from a = without + kathaíro = cleanse) is a broad term referring to moral uncleanness in thought, word, and deed. It describes a state of moral impurity, especially sexual sin. The term akatharsia refers to filth or refuse. Paul's point here is that sin defiles us, producing corruption and degradation of the sinner. The sinner is never a winner! The word akatharsia means everything which would hinder a man to enter into God's presence. It describes the life muddied with wallowing in the world's ways. It is the opposite of purity and considered one of the deeds of the flesh (Galatians 5:19). It relates to the idea that aberrant sex defiles the purity of marriage. AKATHARSIA - Matt. 23:27; Rom. 1:24; Rom. 6:19; 2 Co. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 4:19; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 2:3; 1 Thess. 4:7 QUESTION - Why did Jesus call the Pharisees whitewashed tombs in Matthew 23:27? GOTQUESTIONS.ORG ANSWER - The condemnation you are like whitewashed tombs was part of Jesus’ indictment of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. It is one of seven woes Jesus pronounced on the religious leaders as He confronted them about their hypocrisy. Whitewashed tombs means exactly what it sounds like: tombs or mausoleums that have been covered with white paint, so they “look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27). This speaks to the spiritual condition of the scribes and Pharisees. Outwardly, they were holy and clean, but inside they were spiritually dead. The comparison to whitewashed tombs would have been quite offensive because the Mosaic Law states, “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days” (Numbers 19:11, ESV). For a group of people who prided themselves on ceremonial cleanliness and following the law, the accusation that they were full of dead bodies would be insufferable. That was precisely Jesus’ point, though. They may have been ceremonially clean, but, inside, they were the highest level of unclean—full of the death and decay they tried so hard to avoid. Such a harsh statement from Jesus reveals His anger at the hypocrisy in the religious leaders, who only cared about appearances. They took care of what people could see—and took pride in it—but they neglected what God could see. They “painted the outside,” leaving the inside full of greed and self-indulgence (Matthew 23:25). In their eyes, if they followed the law to the letter, they were holy, and the condition of their hearts wouldn’t matter. Jesus needed to confront the superficiality of these dangerous leaders who did not practice what they preached. The whitewashed tombs were leading themselves and others to death and separation from God (Matthew 23:15). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained that the law was less about what to do and not do and more about changing the heart. One analogy is that the law is like a mirror, revealing the flaws in man and how much they need God, like a mirror showing the food stuck between one’s teeth. The law can reveal uncleanness, but it cannot be used to make a person righteous; only God can do that. The Pharisees were taking the mirror off the wall and trying to use it to pick their teeth. It simply does not work. Whitewashed tombs work as a good contrast to Jesus Himself, the Son of Man, who came to bring life (John 10:10). He offered rest and grace instead of the impossible burden and condemnation of the Pharisees (Matthew 11:28–30). The superficial cleanness of whitewashed tombs cannot compare to the deep-cleaning blood of Christ (1 John 1:7). “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Matthew 23:28 “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. KJV Matthew 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. BGT Matthew 23:28 οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνεσθε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δίκαιοι, ἔσωθεν δέ ἐστε μεστοὶ ὑποκρίσεως καὶ ἀνομίας. NET Matthew 23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. CSB Matthew 23:28 In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ESV Matthew 23:28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. NIV Matthew 23:28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. NLT Matthew 23:28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. YLT Matthew 23:28 so also ye outwardly indeed do appear to men righteous, and within ye are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. MIT Matthew 23:28 In the same manner you put on a sanctimonious façade to the public, but internally you are full of hypocrisy and noncompliance to the law. NJB Matthew 23:28 In just the same way, from the outside you look upright, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. NRS Matthew 23:28 So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. So you too: Mt 23:5 1Sa 16:7 Ps 51:6 Jer 17:9,10 Lu 16:15 Heb 4:12,13 but: Mt 12:34,35 15:19,20 Mk 7:21-23 Related Passage: 1 Samuel 16:7b+ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” POLISHED ON THE OUTSIDE POISONED ON THE INSIDE So you, too, outwardly appear righteous (dikaios) to men - MIT - "In the same manner you put on a sanctimonious façade to the public" Like the beautiful whitewashed tombs appeared "clean" on the outside. These vipers appeared upright to men externally. They looked holy, pious, and law-abiding in public. They wore religious garments, prayed publicly, and strictly observed rituals. but (term of contrast - outer vs inner) inwardly you are full of (mestos) hypocrisy (hupokrisis) and lawlessness (anomia) - The internal was the antithesis of what they wanted to appear to the populace. Jesus is God and God sees the heart (1Sa 16:7b+) and the heart of these men was filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. They were the great pretenders in ancient Israel. Jesus in effect took off their mask of morality and "play acting" and exposed their rebellion against God's law, even while claiming to uphold it. In a word, Jesus exposes them as men who had clean robes but dirty hearts. This passages drives home the point that external appearance does not equate with spiritual health. God's concern is always the heart and without inner transformation of the heart, religious display is worse than empty, but is even deceptive. Jesus' description of these men reminds me of Isaiah 29:13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote. Matthew 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, KJV Matthew 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, BGT Matthew 23:29 Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων, NET Matthew 23:29 "Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. CSB Matthew 23:29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ESV Matthew 23:29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, NIV Matthew 23:29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. NLT Matthew 23:29 "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. YLT Matthew 23:29 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous, MIT Matthew 23:29 How horrible your destiny, scholars and Pharisees—phonies all—because you construct the tombs of the prophets and beautify the monuments of the righteous. NJB Matthew 23:29 'Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build the sepulchres of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the upright, NRS Matthew 23:29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, build: Lu 11:47-48 Ac 2:29 Related Passages: Luke 11:47-48+ “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48“So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. MONUMENTS HONORING THE PROPHETS Woe (ouai) to you, scribes (grammateus) and Pharisees (pharisaios), hypocrites (hupokrites) - This is the seventh and last woe. They would exhaled an audible "Whew!" had they known it was the last woe. John