The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 23:25-36)

The End of Jesus’ Public ministry

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What was the fifth woe Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees?
2. What is true righteousness?
3. What is the significant difference between a false believer and a true believer?
4. If salvation is not the result of rituals such as Baptism, what is its source?
5. In what way did Jesus fulfill the Passover?
6. What is the sixth woe Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees?
7. What is the danger of emphasizing rituals rather than spiritual growth?
8. What are the only rituals mentioned in the Bible?
9. What is true worship?
10. What was the seventh woe that Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees?
11. Matthew chapter 23 is referred to as a “chiasm;” what is a chiasm?
12. There are three ways to relate to the Bible; what are they?

Introduction

Chapter 23 of Matthew is what is referred to as a (Definition: “A chiasm or chiasmus is a writing style that uses a unique repetition pattern for clarification and emphasis. Chiasm is pronounced ky′-az-um”).
Today we finish Matthew Chapter 23 and the study of the seven woes Jesus pronounced upon the Pharisees and Israel’s other religious leaders. Verse 25 takes up the fifth Woe:
Matthew 23:25, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”
Jesus refers to these men once again as hypocrites. In the previous study, He condemned them as false teachers who selected the lighter Scriptures to be obeyed and ignored the weightier. They were not only teaching false doctrine; they were incorrect in their dedication according to what they taught. They were not godly as they claimed to be but were hypocrites.
They misled Israel to believe they knew what God wanted for Israel when they were not close to God but instead were unbelievers in sheep’s clothing. Their teachings led Israel in the wrong direction, exposing them to danger and taking away the opportunity to be part of the kingdom. Some today have listened to their false leaders who have ignored the truth of Scripture teaching instead the tradition handed down to them from one man’s theology of the past.
In the fifth woe, Jesus condemns these false teachers who appeared outwardly clean while inwardly they were full of extortion and excess. Jesus uses the example of dirty dishes cleaned on the outside but remaining dirty on the inside. Attempting righteousness without Jesus is only an outward appearance, while there is nothing inward. True holiness is from the inside out and results from the imputed righteousness, of Jesus not from self-effort. The Pharisee’s teaching never emphasized inward godliness, which produces character. Their emphasis was on rituals, the food they ate, and their appearance when in public while ignoring any true inward godliness.
Jesus described the Pharisees as being full of robbery and self-indulgence. They used religion to gain wealth for themselves to the extent of taking the homes of widows to satisfy their love of money, which indicated how corrupt and sinful they were. When all effort is spent on outward appearances, it comes at the expense of true inward character. It is easy to put on an act before others while being empty inwardly and some so-called Christians today do that very thing. Someone may put on the appearance on Sunday morning of being dedicated to the Lord but live like the devil during the week.
A true believer has the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within to convict of sin, direct them to confess sin, and moves them to strive to please God and honor Him with how they live. Theirs is not an outward act of righteousness believing that is acceptable to God as did the Pharisees but inward righteousness that drove their external actions. Somehow, the Pharisees believed that their efforts made them righteous instead of that inward righteousness that motivates outward actions.
There is a significant difference between a genuine relationship with God and just going through a religious ritual on Sunday morning at church. Ritual is just an outward appearance of religion that cannot change a life from the inside. The Bible is clear on what brings about change: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;” Titus 3:4–6 (KJV). Salvation is because of the grace and mercy of God and not by outward religious rituals. The indwelling Holy Spirit brings about the change we see in these verses through faith in Jesus.
When God makes us clean on the inside, He continues the renewal process through sanctification that results in cleaning up the outside changing the way we act and the way we speak. I have my doubts about a person who continues to use the same bad language and act the same way as before. The process of sanctification is a change from the inside out, the opposite of ritual that is only outward in appearance. When God sees us, it is what is on the inside. If you want to clean the inside and the outside of the cup, you must enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In the following verses, we come to the sixth Woe:
Matthew 23:27-28, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
The sixth woe has some similarities to the fifth woe. It also deals with the outside versus the inside; it is different in that Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their contribution to the lack of righteousness in their followers. Jesus compares these to the above-ground tombs that appeared white and beautiful outside while being filled with dead men’s bones. So, when looked on from the outside, the Pharisees looked clean, but inwardly Jesus said they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Others were defiled by their association with these false teachers, who led people away from the truth.
This scene takes place only a couple of days before the Passover celebration. On the day of Passover, Jesus would be nailed to the cross to fulfill the festival that had been going on for hundreds of years since Israel’s Exodus from Egypt-1445 BC. He became the lamb without blemish whose blood spread on the doorpost kept the death angel away. Now the blood of Jesus protects those who trust in Him from eternal spiritual death whose sins are covered by His blood.
The sixth woe was God’s judgment against the Pharisees for their influence in causing Israel to reject their Messiah. Their sin condemned them and their followers to eternal separation from God’s love. They were stumbling stones like the tombs that were full of death. The bottom line is they emphasized ritual over a relationship with God, which also influenced others to do the same.
The danger for people today is some religions emphasize rituals, which can negatively influence others to the point of missing a genuine relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ or at least hindering spiritual growth. I read just today that a priest resigned earlier this month after his diocese discovered that the baptisms, he had performed, was invalid because he had changed a word while performing the sacrament. There are only a few rituals given in the Bible, if you want to call them that. They are Baptism, communion, gatherings, and the laying on of hands for specific service. Rituals in themselves are not the danger; they can take the place of a genuine relationship with God. It is easy to enter into a form of worship through rituals on a Sunday morning rather than building a closer relationship with God through worship, consistent prayer, and Bible study. True worship is letting God become a significant part of your life and having control of the direction of your life. I’m afraid that many church members are illiterate of the Bible. I’ve known some, and I’m sure you also have.
We now come to the seventh and final woe:
Matthew 23:29-33, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”
Again, in these verses, Jesus makes the comparison of tombs to the deadness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Throughout the history of Israel, God sent prophets to warn Israel during their times of disobedience and to correct them, and Israel mistreated them, sometimes killing them. Being a prophet to Israel was a dangerous job. The author of Hebrews describes the dangers and the fate of the prophets:
Hebrews 11:32-38 (KJV), “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. 34Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”
Some despise the truth and especially those who bring it to them. That was the case with Isreal throughout their history that killed the prophets. The Pharisees proclaimed that they would have stood up for the prophets if they were present during those times. Would they have? They killed Jesus, the greatest prophet of all, their Messiah. The Pharisees built gravesites that honored the past Old Testament prophets and built monuments. Like everything else they did, they did it for show. The dead Old Testament prophets were no threat to them like they would have been if living. Jesus said that their words were a testimony against them for their responsibility toward Israel for misleading them and barring them from the kingdom. They failed to embrace the very ones the prophet Isaiah foretold, John the Baptist and Jesus Himself. Instead, they killed them both.
Jesus pronounced the seventh woe against the Pharisees because they thought they were righteous. A sense of pride kept them from embracing Jesus as the Messiah and accepting the mercy of almighty God. Today some consider their self-righteousness adequate and therefore refuse God’s forgiveness through His Son Jesus. Like the Pharisees, they are blind to their predicament, and that is why Jesus referred to the Pharisees as blind guides.
We will wind up our study of the seven Woes of this chapter with a summary of all seven of them. Chapter 23 of Matthew is what is referred to as a chiasm (Definition: “A chiasm (or chiasmus if you rather) is a writing style that uses a unique repetition pattern for clarification and emphasis. Chiasm is pronounced ky′-az-um”). The seven woes were paired, as we have seen, so they complement or complete the meaning of each other.
The seven Woes covers seven ineptitudes, false beliefs, or opinions:
• Believing in works instead of the gospel
• A religion based on works
• Religion was used as a means of gaining personal wealth
• Selective use of the Bible
• Emphasizing ritual rather than a relationship with God
• Leading their followers to be unrighteous
• Believing in their self-righteousness
The main benefit of chiasms is that it reveals the author’s central thought or main point. In Matthew, the main issue is that the Pharisees manipulated God’s word to suit their own needs and desires. By doing so, they selected the parts of the law they abided by and ignored the rest. They chose what they wanted to do and ignored those things they didn’t want to do. Therefore, they played the game of a hypocrite while rebelling at the authority of Scripture. None of us keep the word of God perfectly, and that was not the reason Jesus condemned the Pharisees. It was not that they tried and failed to keep the word; they ignored what didn’t suit their needs, which was primarily their self-interest. That was at the very center of why Jesus pronounced the seven woes against them.
In conclusion, there are three ways that we can relate to the Bible, but only one is acceptable to God: First, we can ignore God’s word, which is common in the modern church. Second, we can use it occasionally to look up answers to specific questions like we use a dictionary. Third, we can use it to guide our life and study it regularly. Of course, the third is the only one acceptable to God. When we approach God in this fashion, it changes us and makes us the person God wants us to be. The way we approach God’s word determines the person we become, and the person we become determines the success and well-being we experience in life.