Pharisees and Scribes – Religion Detox Network …

PEJORATIVE TERMS
Amalek, Balak, Balaam, Judas, and Goliath stand out as especially despicable Bible characters. Pharisees and Scribes would also be near the top of a list of such characters because of the many hard words Jesus had for them.

Although scribes and pharisees were leaders in the Jewish religious community, they were also different in some ways. Jesus, however, condemned both groups because of their hypocrisy and the way that they treated the people. He did this, even though they, along with lawyers, were experts in the formation of Jewish laws based on their rigid, literal interpretations of the Laws of Moses. This provides an important clue about God’s attitude about literal interpretations of the law.

STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3.

Here is a summary of the reasons Jesus condemned these religious leaders:

Paid tithes but did not administer justice to the people.
They loved to receive attention and praise when they practiced their religion publicly.
They set unreasonable standards for religious behavior.
They kept people from knowing God.
They took on titles and labels that identify themselves as religious leaders who have knowledge and authority to interpret and teach what the Bible says.
They received income from poor people.
They practiced their religion publicly so they can receive praise from others.
They inflated their importance because they have special standing in the religious community in which they serve.
They profited from commercial religion.

We do not need to look at this list with great care to see that these characteristics are included in the description of false prophets who continue to exist in these modern times. We conclude, therefore, that all Pharisees (i.e. religious leaders) and Scribes (i.e. people who preach, write and sell religious books and other resources) are false prophets. Because these people still exist and do business, it is important to know how to identify them. It is also important to recognize that people who consume the evil, soulish words (i.e. food) spoken and written by pharisees are also pharisees because they are the spiritual children of pharisees. It is accurate to say, therefore, that all religious people are pharisees.

Christians have a special aversion to Pharisee-ism because Jewish religious leaders were responsible for Jesus’ death and because Jesus coupled Pharisees with scribes when accusing them of hypocrisy. Jews are even reluctant to trace the origins of rabbinic Judaism to the Pharisees. Clearly, no one wants to be called a Pharisee.

Pharisees and Scribes were the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. In these modern times scribes and pharisees are known by a variety of other titles: Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Apostles, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, Overseers, Rabbis, Priests, Pastors, Popes, Missionaries and Evangelists. Modern day scribes would include theologians, teachers, writers of religious books and reporters of religious issues.

Because Jesus strongly criticized the beliefs and practices of scribes and pharisees, and because he broke their religious laws, his teachings were a serious threat to their religious kingdoms (e.g. churches, ministries, publishing businesses, etc.). That is why they conspired to have him killed.

Jesus’ teachings are still a threat to Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Apostles, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, Overseers, Rabbis, Priests, Pastors, Popes, Missionaries and Evangelists. Jesus was on a mission to destroy the religious kingdoms of the religious leaders of his day, and his words survive to destroy the kingdoms of modern day religious leaders.

The problem is that religious leaders, past and present, do not have ears to hear God’ words as spoken by Jesus or other true prophets. Their strongholds of religious thinking, and their insistence on interpreting the Bible literally have made them deaf to hearing God’s spoken word. All that they know is what they have been taught by other religious leaders. They have been taught a false gospel about Jesus. That is all they know and that is all they want to know.

Jews and Christians who read these stories of Jesus and the troubles he had with pharisees should not interpret them as historical accounts of the conflict a guy named Jesus had with religious leaders. Rather, people who claim to be followers of Jesus must interpret these stories as prophetical pictures of what a follower of Jesus can expect to experience: Persecution, rejection and death at the hands of religious leaders.

STUDY TIP: See Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Forgiveness, Heaven and Hell for understanding of death.

Also see Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction for understanding of persecution.

People who do not experience the kinds of conflict that Jesus experienced must conclude that they are not really followers of Jesus. If they cannot look at their religious lives and say without exception that they do all the things that Jesus did, and experience all the persecution that Jesus experienced, they must conclude that they are not true followers of Jesus.

STUDY TIP: See Jesus’ Qualities and Jesus’ Ministry Functions for details what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Christians can say that they are followers, but if their lives do not line up with all aspects of Jesus’s life(i.e. his personal qualities, his ministry functions), if they do not obey all of his commands, and if they do not function as true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests and warriors, they are hypocrites. And if they are religious hypocrites and not true followers, they are pharisees.

This is worth repeating:

Jesus bucked the religious establishment (i.e. the Pharisees) of his day.
Religious people who are not in open conflict with the religious establishments of their day are pharisees.
People who protect, advance, and support the kingdoms in which they practice their religion, are pharisees. This can include religious leaders such as pastors and prophets, but non-clergy religious activists can also be rightly called Pharisees.
And, if they are Pharisees, they are enemies of God –not followers of Jesus.