Woe to the Hypocrites
Matthew 23:13-36
The greatest threat any person will face is that which will keep him from receiving God’s gift of salvation and eternal life in Jesus Christ. Things like secularism, materialism, humanism, and false religions hinder people from believing the truth of the gospel and coming to Jesus. But I believe an even greater threat comes from those that claim they know God, but in fact, they lead people away from Him. The greatest threats to the human soul are false prophets and false teachers. They convince people that they have the truth and will be with God in heaven, but instead, it is a lie that leads to hell. This is why Jesus, who is so tender and kind to all others, is harsh and severe with the false prophets and teachers of His time.
Last time, we began to look at Jesus’ last words to the crowds of worshippers in the Jerusalem temple in Matthew 23. In Matthew 23:1-12, Jesus spoke to His disciples and the gathered multitudes, warning them not to follow the hypocritical practices of the scribes and Pharisees. He warned about them, saying, “…do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.” (Matt. 23:3). Now in Matthew 23:13-36 Jesus pronounces woes directly upon these religious leaders for their hypocrisy. Again and again, Jesus says to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”
The word “woe” (οὐαί / ouai) is a guttural outcry of pain, fear, anger, despair, or sorrow. Daniel Doriani comments, “Like a piano chord played by one hand, a woe has three notes: grief, anger, and sorrow. When something evil happens, the woe both condemns and laments that evil.”[1] The woes pronounce judgment, while, at the same time, they call for repentance. These are some of the harshest words of Jesus recorded for us in Scripture. Seven times Jesus calls them hypocrites. Five times He calls them blind. He also calls them fools, serpents, and sons of hell. New Testament scholar A.T. Robertson called this chapter “a thunderbolt of wrath”![i]
Jesus had told His disciples back in Matthew 16:6 to “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” In Luke 12, Jesus identified the leaven of the Pharisees as “hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). Hypocrisy is a sin that, once allowed into just one small area of your life, will spread and permeate its influence into your whole being. That is why Jesus speaks so harshly against it here. It is not just a condemnation of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, but a warning to us. When we begin to preach to others what we will not do ourselves, or flagrantly display our religious piety, or seek applause from people by our “titles” and outward “performances” of religion—then we have begun the slide down the slippery slope of religious hypocrisy. And it won’t be long before we’re making pious diatribes against the sins of others—all so that we can distract attention from the sin that is lodged deeply in our own hearts. The Holy Spirit has inspired and preserved these harsh words of Jesus so that we would examine our own hearts in the light of God’s word.
Warren Wiersbe contrasts Jesus’ eight woes on the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 with the eight beatitudes of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord commended true righteousness; here He condemned false righteousness.[ii]
The poor in spirit are blessed to enter the kingdom (Matt. 5:3), but the proud Pharisees, “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men” (Matt. 23:13). Those who mourn over their sins are blessed with comfort (Matt. 5:4), but the Pharisees are condemned for devouring widows houses while pretending to be pious. The meek are blessed to inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5), but the Pharisees turned men into sons of hell (Matt. 23:15). Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (Matt. 5:6), but the Pharisees worked out a “religious system” that robbed God of His righteous honor (Matt. 23:16-22). The merciful will be blessed with mercy (Matt. 5:7), but the Pharisees neglected justice, mercy, and faith (Matt. 23:23). The pure in heart will be blessed to see God (Matt. 5:8), but the Pharisees’ hearts were full of extortion, self-indulgence, and all uncleanness (Matt. 23:25-27). Peacemakers and the persecuted are blessed to be called sons of God and enter the kingdom (Matt. 5:9-12), but Jesus called the Pharisees sons of hell and serpents (Matt. 23:29-36).
You can see how polar-opposite was Jesus’ teaching from the scribes and Pharisees. This is why they hated Him. He exposed their hypocritical righteousness for what it was, a lie from the pit of hell. Instead of coming out of the darkness, the Pharisees tried to put out the Light.[iii]
We are going to divide the “woes” Jesus speaks to the scribes and Pharisees into four groups. First, in Matthew 23:13-15, Jesus condemns them for the harmful impact their religious hypocrisy had on others. Jesus speaks the next two woes (in Matthew 23:16-24), against the hypocrisy of their own religious teaching and conduct. Then Jesus speaks two woes (in Matthew 23:25-28) against their artificial, external religion. Finally, in the last woe (in Matthew 23:29-36), Jesus condemns and pronounces judgment on them for their hypocritical piety while persecuting God’s true prophets.
We will save the last woe for next time and look at the others today under three headings: 1) Hypocrisy deters people from the kingdom; 2) Hypocrisy distorts by its teaching and conduct; and 3) Hypocrisy disguises an unclean heart. Here, we have a complete picture of the impact of religious hypocrisy on all spheres of relationship—with others, with God, and with ourselves.
First Jesus shows that …
1. Hypocrisy Deters People from the Kingdom (Matt. 23:13-15)
Jesus says, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” (Matt. 23:13).
The picture described is of these men standing at the gate of heaven and slamming the gate shut in the face of those who would like to go in. They won’t go in themselves and they do their best to keep other people out too. This is what all false religions and cults do.
How do they do this? By advocating a religious system or philosophy that leads either to false gods or a false understanding of the true God. The scribes and Pharisees set aside the grace of God and developed a religion of works righteousness, believing that if you are good enough, God will let you into the kingdom of heaven.
Look at what Jesus says about their hypocrisy, “…you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (Matt. 23:13). They established themselves to be the ‘doormen’ of the kingdom of God. But although Jesus Christ proved Himself to be the door to that kingdom, they persistently refused to go into the kingdom through Him. Every religious system that sets itself up as a way God—but that does not point men and women to Jesus Christ exclusively as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6)—is, in reality, a spiritual door slammed in people’s faces! They hypocritically claim to offer the kingdom of heaven to men, and yet, in reality, they shut people out of it. Be careful, for religious charlatans abound, and they will seek to market to you a Jesus and a salvation that leaves you self-righteous and therefore still condemned by God.
How important it is that we get the gospel right! The only way to the kingdom of heaven is through Jesus Christ. He alone is the propitiation for our sins. It is His death that paid my debt of sin to God. This is the gospel—”Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Paul writes in Romans 5,
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Rom 5:8-10 NKJV)
This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of eternal life or eternal damnation. If you want to avoid condemnation, you need to get the gospel right.
Next, Jesus condemns their injustice that parades as pretended piety. In the New King James version, Matthew 23:14 has our Lord saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.” Other translations put this verse in brackets or a footnote because it is not found in some ancient manuscripts. It is possible that it was added from Mark 12 or Luke 20 where it belongs.
Here, Jesus condemns them for taking advantage of vulnerable and needy widows, plundering their houses, and masking their sin by praying long pretend prayers. And the fact that they used pious prayers to hide their sin caused the Lord to warn that they “will receive greater condemnation”. Beware of covering up your sin with false piety!
In Matthew 23:15, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” A proselyte, in this case, meant a pagan from the Gentile world who became converted to Judaism. And the scribes and Pharisees would go to great lengths to “win” a proselyte. The problem is that they were not winning converts to God, they were winning converts to themselves. They were not making sons of the kingdom of heaven, they were making sons of hell. They not only teach their convert to be a religious hypocrite, but the convert excels the teacher in hypocrisy. They are not making men better, but worse.
Our Lord hates religious hypocrisy, because it deters people from salvation. It slams the door to the kingdom of heaven in their faces. It covers up injustices with false piety. It condemns them to even greater acts of hypocrisy. Woe to those who do such things!
Next, Jesus shows that …
2. Hypocrisy Distorts God’s Word (Matt. 23:16-24)
Listen to what Jesus says,
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. (Matt. 23:16-22).
Notice what Jesus calls the Pharisees in this section, “Blind guides” (Matt. 23:16,24) and “Fools and blind” (Matt. 23:17,19). Jesus had used this term earlier in Matthew 15 when the Pharisees confronted Jesus about the tradition of handwashing. There, Jesus showed how the Pharisees transgressed the law of God by their traditions. Then He said to His disciples, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” (Matt. 15:13-14).
The scribes and Pharisees claimed to sit in the seat of Moses as teachers and guides to the people. They claimed to lead the blind, but they were blind themselves. The claimed to lead people to the light, but they were in darkness.
How did they mislead the people and cause them to fall into the pit? By distorting the word of God. The Pharisees were famous for playing around with the commandments of God and finding ways to get around the law. Here, Jesus addresses their approach to oaths and sacrifices. They were counting the material things like gold or the gift on the altar as more important than the temple or altar themselves. They didn’t realize that it was the temple that made the gold sacred or the altar that made the gift sacred.
They used their own traditions and rules to skirt around the clear command of God in His word to keep their oaths. Deuteronomy 23:21 says, “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.” Numbers 30:2 says, “If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” Jesus makes it plain that every vow is binding regardless of what you swear by for ultimately it is made before God who is the creator of everything and He will hold you accountable for it.
Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 that we are not to monkey around with our promises to God or to others. Jesus’ command is direct and simple, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matt. 5:37). Don’t distort the word of God to skirt around the commands of God. Don’t ever let this form of religious hypocrisy take root in your soul! Don’t hypocritically “manipulate” the word of God, or take it out of context, or minimize what it says for your own purposes.
The other way that the Pharisees distorted the word of God was that they majored on the minor points while minimizing the main points. Jesus says,
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matt. 23:23-24).
What a vivid picture! They strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! In the book of Leviticus, winged bugs were identified as ceremonially “unclean” as food (Leviticus 11:20, 41). And so, if these scribes or Pharisees were to drink a glass of wine or water, they would first carefully strain-out any bugs—even the tiniest and most unseen bugs—so that they wouldn’t accidentally take something “unclean” into their mouths and thus become defiled before God. But do you know what else was unclean as food? Camels—one of the largest animals in the Jewish culture (Leviticus 11:4). Imagine the picture of a Jewish man being so mixed-up in his spiritual priorities that he carefully strains out a tiny, unclean “gnat” out of his drink—and yet, thinks nothing of gulping down a whole unclean “camel”!
That’s what our Lord says that the scribes and Pharisees were doing in their religious hypocrisy. They were legalistically concerned with tithing tiny herbs, following the most minute details of the law. But they disregarded the fact that they were failing to keep the greater matters of the law—”justice and mercy and faith.” They strained-out spiritual gnats and swallowed spiritual camels. They maximized the minor things and minimized the major things.
Perhaps Jesus has in mind that great verse in Micah 6. The prophet asks,
6 With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:6-7).
Then he answers,
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).
It’s not the legal requirements of the law that the LORD is after. He is after a life of integrity. He is after a life of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus is after the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. Justice describes the process of being fair with all without showing favoritism. Mercy describes the attitude of heart that is kind to others, especially when they don’t deserve it. Faithfulness describes the consistent commitment of love. In just a few days, the religious leaders will pervert justice by condemning Jesus to death. They will show no mercy. They will prove unfaithful to God.
But listen, here is the gospel. At the same time, Jesus will go to the cross willingly to pay the penalty of sin, satisfying the justice of God. Jesus will show mercy to sinners, redeeming them by His own blood, forgiving their sin. He will be faithful unto death and receive the crown of life. Now Jesus offers forgiveness and eternal life in the kingdom of heaven to all who believe in Him.
There are many churches that have lost focus of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They legalistically focus on the minutia of the law and neglect faith in Christ. Churches can easily begin to focus upon rules and regulations. But, it’s the saving power of Christ that ought always to be our main thing. Where is the source of the power to live with justice, mercy, and faithfulness? It’s the cross. Apart from the cross, you won’t live justly. Apart from the cross, you won’t live with mercy. Apart from the cross, you won’t live with faithfulness.
Next time we will look at how …
3. Hypocrisy Disguises an Unclean Heart (Matt. 23:25-28)
[1] Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew & 2, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 2, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 335.
[i] A.T. Robertson, https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rwp/matthew-23.html
[ii] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 84.
[iii] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 86.
