Pharisee Examples

Moses set the example of adding to the commands of God. The Pharisees continued his example in this manner:

For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.' "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God," he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Matthew 15:4-6

The motivation for the Pharisees' behavior may have been to go above and beyond in sacrifice to God in an attempt to please God, a seemingly noble gesture, yet the result was to nullify God's standards of sacrifice. So, Jesus says these words:

THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'" Matthew 15:8-9

The justification for the additions to God's words do not remove the curses for those additions Deuteronomy 4:2, 28:15. Hence, when religious leaders make up rules of how their followers should behave, those rules are past down to others who may not be inclined to keep those rules for the sake of love and thus leaven is worked into the body and the rules become tools for self-aggrandizement.

Here is another example of how the Pharisees did this. The Pharisees commanded ceremonial washing before eating, Matthew 15:2. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that their motives were to prevent dirty hands spreading disease through unclean food when shared with others. Here is Jesus' response:

It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Matthew 15:11

Dirt does not even make a righteous man sick as it is God who sends disease for not keeping His commands, Deuteronomy 28:20-22. But, the Pharisees may have attempted to protect themself and the their flocks from the filth of dirt. Their intentions may have been well meaning but the ramifications were a culture bound in the legalism of pleasing their leaders. Thus, they bound up burdens and did nothing to remove them.

Matthew 12:1-8 is yet another example of the teachers of the law adding to the scriptures which then nullifies God's holy words. I'll let the reader seek God for how this one works.

Matthew 15:2, 4:6, and Matthew 12:1-2, are three witnesses that testify concerning this matter. Matthew 15:3, 8-9 and Matthew 12:3-8 are three more witnesses from God's own mouth that testify to the fact that adding and subtracting from God's words literally brings a curse and destroys faith, hope and love.

• Moses' Example
• Pharisee Examples
• Today's Application
  • First Problem
  • Second Problem
• Three Current Examples
  • Keep Your Shoes On
  • No Laptops in the First Four Rows
  • No Loud Worship
• Testing Paul's Words
• The Addition
• God's Original Design
• The Subtraction
• The Curse
• Conclusion of the Matter

Copyright (c) 2013 by Diane Pebley All rights reserved, no use granted without the express written permission of the author, Diane Pebley