Hypocritical Holiness

“He spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and set all others at nought” (Luke 18:9, from the ASV unless otherwise noted).

Jesus said to his disciples first, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). Thus, this lesson is especially for us.

Jesus warned us also against the leavens of the Sadducees (Zadokites) and Herodians (Matthew 16:6‑12, Mark 8:15) but each time emphasized the leaven of the Pharisees. While ritualism and playing politics are dangerous, spiritual pride is yet a greater danger. Jesus taught, “that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

Scribes were the lawyers of the time. Sadducees and Herodians both had scribes, but the majority were with the Pharisees, who were the authorities over the Mosaic Law.

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat: all things therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not. Yea, they bind heavy burdens¹ and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. But all their works they do to be seen of men” (Matthew 23:2‑5).

There were some good Pharisees, and the rest were not bad in all respects. Pharisees believed in the resurrection, in angels and spirits (which Sadducees did not). Some Pharisees even defended the Apostle Paul (Acts 23:8‑9). Nicodemus was a Pharisee and came at night to learn from Jesus, and, after the crucifixion, joined with a Sadducee, Joseph of Arimathea, to preserve and bury Jesus’ body (John 3:1‑9, 7:50, 19:38‑39).

Some Differences Among Pharisees

The Pharisees were not in agreement on all points. When Jesus was growing up, Hillel I said a man can divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever. Hillel’s main rival, Shammai, insisted that adultery was the only allowable reason, based on a stricter interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1, “When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.”

Some Pharisees saw an opportunity to ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?” (Matthew 19:3‑9). Jesus cited God’s creation of man and woman, and Adam’s pronouncement that “the two shall become one flesh” (Genesis 1:27, 2:24). “What … God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The Pharisees cited Deuteronomy 24:1 about a man giving a disfavored wife a bill of divorcement. Jesus replied, “Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it hath not been so.” Seemingly, Jesus came close to endorsing Shammai’s teaching, allowing divorce if she had committed fornication (before or after the marriage?). But Jesus went further when answering his disciples: “Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her: and if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she committeth adultery” (Mark 10:2‑12). Jesus made divorcing equal for both husband and wife, whereas Hillel and Shammai taught that only the husband could initiate divorce.²

Watching a Demon Being Cast Out

When Jesus cast a demon out of a dumb man, who then spoke and the multitudes marveled, the jealous Pharisees demonized Jesus, saying, “By the prince of the demons casteth he out demons” (Matthew 9:32‑34). Politicians frequently villainize those of opposite politics. Religious leaders often demonize those of rival persuasions. Let us ask ourselves, When someone unfriendly to us does something good, do we look to find fault with the deed, or with him? Should we not rather learn to praise the deed? Jesus taught us, “Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; that ye might become sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” (Matthew 5:44‑46).

A Sincere Question ‑‑ When?

Sometimes Pharisees asked Jesus a sincere question. “Being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God cometh, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! For lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20‑21 ASV margin. Similarly, RVIC, NASB). At the time, the representative of the Kingdom of God was Jesus, upon whom the holy Spirit had descended. While it was not yet time for Israel to be restored and converted, the first step had already begun: Jesus consecrated his life to be sacrificed for Adam and all his descendants. Thus, he could tell the Pharisees that He, the representative of the coming Kingdom, was already among them. To their credit, these Pharisees did not find fault. Jesus did not scold them (and neither should we).

There can be a modern‑day application of this lesson. Nearly two hundred years ago, many sincere Christians were trying to calculate from Scripture an expected date for Christ’s return. 1843, 1844, 1847 and 1867 each came and went, without any expected event or sign. William Miller, Joseph Wolff and others were therefore able to recognize that Christ had not returned. They received scorn from many. Yet, had they not been looking, who would have been able to recognize Christ’s return at the beginning of his Second Advent /Presence?

At Jesus’ ascension, “a cloud received him out of their sight.” Then two angels said, “This Jesus … shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven” (Acts 1:9‑11). Confirmation of Christ’s return is to be inferred from prophecies such as Daniel 12:1, where Michael (“Who is like God”) stands up “for the children of thy people (fleshly Israel), and there shall be a time of trouble (world war), such as never was since there was a nation (since Noah’s Flood),” leading to “thy people shall be delivered” (completing the faithful church).

Even more recently, some have looked for the completion of the faithful church in 1914, 1918, 1933, 1954, 1980, 1994, etc. If the one calculating six thousand years from creation, a Jewish double (periods of time), 2300 years, etc., is able to watch and then say he was mistaken, let not another say, I am holier than thou, because you were mistaken. It is the former who had been watching.

A Lesson from a Pharisee and a Publican

Jesus spoke a parable “unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought.” A publican (a despised tax collector) prayed, “God, be thou merciful to me a sinner.” A Pharisee prayed within himself, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican” (Luke 18:9‑14). Jesus said the penitent publican was closer to being justified from sin than was such a Pharisee.

Similar thoughts were signified by the earlier prophets: “Jehovah said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath showed herself more righteous than treacherous Judah” (Jeremiah 3:11). “Neither hath Samaria [former capital of the ten‑tribe Kingdom of Israel] committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters by all thine abominations which thou hast done.” Yet through God’s mercy, “thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate” (Ezekiel 16:51, 55).

Neither Sodom, Samaria, Jerusalem, the publican nor the proud Pharisee, was justified from Adamic sin, for Jesus had not yet died, risen and ascended to His Father to pay the price. We are here to understand a relative justification before the divine court in heaven, in which none of these came close to true righteousness. Hence, the one who was ashamed of what he had done, and asked the Lord for forgiveness, was not nearly so degraded as those who are proud.

If we truly try to follow Christ, what lesson should we derive from this? A Christian in a denomination who lives what he believes, is better than one of our kind who does not live it.

Should the Lutheran who firmly believes that Jesus Christ died once for all, tasted of death for every man, feel automatically holier than a Calvinist who limits the benefit of Christ’s sacrifice to believers — especially to Calvinist believers? Or, should the Calvinist who recognizes the symbolic significance of the Memorial emblems look down upon a Lutheran who thinks them literal? Should one kind of Adventist look down upon another because he rests on Saturdays (or on Sundays) and goes to church meetings on that day? These may be important issues, but more importantly, which one is doing more for others? Which is showing love even for his enemies? True holiness encompasses every aspect of a Christian’s life.

Who is My Neighbor?

When a lawyer asked who his neighbor is, Jesus spoke another parable of a man going down the road from Jerusalem and was left half‑dead by robbers. A priest and a Levite each thought they should remain ritually‑pure and avoided helping him. But a despised Samaritan went far beyond the minimum to help the penniless victim (Luke 10:25‑37). Who was the victim’s true neighbor?

Our better knowledge of the Promise Covenant should encourage us to live a higher standard than the world will have in the Millennial Kingdom. Our resurrection hope of joining with Jesus Christ in offering His merit to release the world from the Adamic curse of the grave, is it prompting us to better sacrifice ourselves in the interest of others? If we understand that Christ’s Second Presence means a call to come out of “Babylon,” should we look down upon someone who does not see it? Let us not urge the unready to come out of Babylon (R3593).

We are to cleanse ourselves of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. “If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. … A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:17, 34‑35).

(1) So B 0102 33 Δ Θ, the majority of lesser Greek manuscripts, and copsa,(meg) vg geo arm. 892 א copbo
sys,c ite omit “and grievous to be borne.” (Thus, the Greek manuscript evidence somewhat favors including these words.)

(2) It may be unclear whether Jesus means “and ever marry another” or “in order to marry another.” That is here left for the reader to decide.