Matthew 23:13-22

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 23

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

In our last time together we looked at the introduction, or what some have called the preamble to Jesus’ indictments against the scribes and Pharisees. In verses 1-12 Jesus is standing inside the Temple walls addressing the crowds and his disciples. The scribes and Pharisees are presumably there also but he doesn’t address them directly yet, at least not until verse 13. He tells the crowd that the scribes and Pharisees are hypocrites. That while they sit on Moses’ seat, that they don’t practice what they preach, that they lay heavy burdens on the people, that they do their deeds in order to be seen by others, that they love the praise of men, and that they teach as doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus tells them that they should not follow their example, but rather reminds them that the greatest among them must be their servant, and that whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. That the hallmark of humility is being a servant.

Oracle of doom (woe)

But then in verse 13 Jesus turns his attention directly at the scribes and Pharisees. And when he does he pronounces upon them seven oracles of doom, or seven oracles of judgement. And he does this using the word ‘woe’ each time. The definition of the word is literally, “great sorrow or loss,” or “things that cause sorrow or distress.”

This literary device was used frequently by the OT prophets, like Amos, Habakkuk and Isaiah when they delivered messages of terrible judgement against Israel, or of the surrounding nations. For example, in the Book of Isaiah there are six famous woes against Judah in chapter 5, I’ll read a few of them for you,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

18  Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,

who draw sin as with cart ropes,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

20  Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

21  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight!

22  Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23  who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of his right!

There are also many examples throughout the NT, for instance, when the Apostle John writes concerning the final judgment at the end of the age in Revelation 8:13 he says,

English Standard Version Chapter 8

“Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

So it’s important to see that Jesus is using language that’s intended to carry with it the understanding of God’s impending judgement. This isn’t Jesus being vindictive or spiteful, but judicial. (D.A. Carson, Matthew) Like the prophets before him he’s pronouncing God’s judgement against Israel’s religious leaders.

Provocative indictments

Therefore, the seriousness of Jesus’ words would have been clear to them, and not only clear, but provocative. His charges against them were very offensive. Jesus chose his words purposefully when he used phrases like “greed and self-indulgence,” “dead people’s bones and all uncleanness,” “hypocrisy and lawlessness,” and “sons of those who murdered the prophets” (R.T. France, Matthew, p. 867) The scribes and Pharisees saw themselves furthest from these kind of descriptions, that they had nothing to do with such things, yet Jesus tell them these are precisely the words that described them.

And as I mentioned last time, we can’t forget that the Pharisees were probably largely unaware of their own hypocrisy and sin. Which is one of the great dangers of sin, especially pride. We’re prone to justify it, ignore it, trivialize it, and even call it good. Most of us are remarkably good at this. In fact, I doubt most of the people even noticed the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees either. So don’t forget that these pronouncements against the Pharisees are an opportunity for us to examine our own hearts.

Unwilling to recognize the Messiah

With that being said, let’s start there in verse 13,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Without question, the biggest rub that Jesus had with the Pharisees was who he claimed to be, and what his miracles testified about him, that Jesus was the Christ, that he was Son of the living God. It was the thing that the Pharisees took the most issue with, and it’s the issue for which they would kill him. The bottom line was that they rejected him as the Messiah, because he made himself equal with God. They concluded that he was a blasphemer, that he wasn’t from God, that he wasn’t the Son of David foretold in Psalm 110. That John the Baptist’s prophetic testimony couldn’t be true. That Jesus’ miracles couldn’t have been work of the Holy Spirit.

This is the issue Jesus is addressing here in verse 13, when he says, “for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would to enter in.” In other words, the Pharisees are standing in the way of the people from entering the kingdom of heaven, that they neither enter themselves or allow those who would to enter in. The scribes and “Pharisees do not enter the kingdom because they refuse to recognize who Jesus is.” (D.A. Carson, Matthew)

And “when the crowds begin to marvel at Jesus and suggest [that] he may be the Messiah” the Pharisees panic and do everything they can to dissuade them. Turn with me to Matthew 9:32,

English Standard Version Chapter 9

32 As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

Nothing to see here, this man isn’t from God, he’s “obviously” casting out demons by the power of Satan. Uhhhh, really?

Then turn a few page over to Matthew 11:18,

English Standard Version Chapter 11

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

In other words, you can’t win with these guys. John the Baptist came neither eating or drinking and they claimed he had a demon, Jesus comes eating and drinking and then they call him a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. There’s no pleasing them. They’ve refuse to recognize him as God’s Messiah.

Now, turn with me to chapter 12, verse 22. It’s just like what we read back in chapter 9, but listen to what the people say this time,

English Standard Version Chapter 12

22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

Can this be the Son of David? Some of the people seem to be catching on, but the Pharisees do whatever they can to dismiss the obvious, no matter how insanely ridiculous their argument is.

And finally, turn with me to chapter 21, verse 14,

English Standard Version Chapter 21

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies

you have prepared praise’?”

It’s maddening to the priests and scribes that these children are crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” so they become angry at these children, because these children are bearing witness to their unwillingness to acknowledge Jesus for who he is.

Again, this is what Jesus means when he says back in chapter 23, verse 13,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Textual variant

Now, before we continue on to verse 15, many of you may have noticed that verse 14 has been omitted. However, if you’re using a King James translation you should still have verse 14. The reason for this is that verse 14 is what we call a textual variant. In other words, because of a textual discrepancy between certain ancient manuscripts modern translators have made a decision to omit verse 14 that was previously included in older translations.

They’ve made this decision largely because over the last 400 years since the King James translation was written we’ve discovered more ancient manuscripts, or copies, of the Bible. Some of which date as early as the first and second centuries. And while these new discoveries haven’t provided any flood of new material, or caused us to changes any significant components of the Bible, in this case scholars noticed that verse 14 wasn’t included in any of the older manuscripts, which seems to indicate that it may have been a copyist error over the centuries at some point.

Now, you may ask, then where did it come from? Why did it suddenly appear in the later copies of Matthew’s Gospel. Well, there are a couple possibilities, but probably the most likely is that this 8th woe accidentally came from Mark’s Gospel account, in Mark 14:20, or Luke’s Gospel account, in Luke 20:47. In both of those accounts the John Mark and Luke include this particular statement by Jesus almost verbatim, however, it appears that Jesus says it in a different circumstance than here in Matthew 23.

So, first of all, this variant doesn’t add any new doctrine or teaching by showing up in the later manuscripts of Matthew 23, and second, these words of Jesus don’t just appear out of thin air in later centuries, but are also found elsewhere in Mark and Luke’s Gospels all along. The most remarkable fact within the field of textual criticism is just how well God has preserved his word over many thousands of years. Every time they find an earlier, or an older copy of the Bible scholars are amazed at how virtually nothing has changed. So don’t let textual variants like this give you any cause for concern, in fact, if you know anything about textual criticism and the Bible you’ll be amazed at just how much confidence you can have in the accuracy of the Bible you hold in your hands today.

Proselytes, twice as much children of hell

Now, with that, let’s read verse 15,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Now, the Jews over the course of history have’t been generally known for their proselytizing, or trying to convert others to becoming Jewish, and we have very little extra-biblical evidence of any proselytizing that they may have taken place during that first century, but we do have evidence of it in Luke’s book of Acts. The book of Acts is much like the synoptic Gospels in that it’s a narrative of events, there’s obviously records of teaching, but like the Gospels the teaching is set within the context of a storyline. And the storyline of Acts is essentially the acts of the Apostles, or a narrative of what took place in the early church. And within the book of Acts there are accounts of Jewish proselytes, or Jewish converts, mentioned along the way.

In fact, when the people of Jerusalem gathered in Acts chapter 2 to hear Peter’s first sermon we’re told that there were people of all kinds present, including what Luke specifically calls, “both Jews and proselytes.” (Acts 2:11) Then in Acts chapter 6 when the church is selecting deacons for the first time we’re told that one of the men selected was named “Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.” (Acts 6:5) And lastly, in Acts chapter 13, when Paul and Barnabas are in Antioch preaching the Gospel in the local synagogue, Luke tells us that many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas” (Acts 13:43). The word translated ‘converts’ there is the same Greek word translated ‘proselyte’ earlier in Acts, and here in Matthew 23, verse 15.

There appears to be two categories of Jewish converts, the first category was what they called God-fearers who were sympathetic to Jewish monotheistic teaching about Yahweh, and a second category know as these proselytes who took their conversion a step further by even becoming circumcised. In fact, it’s believed that these proselytes were largely disciples of Pharisaism. In other words, they were those who the Pharisees had converted not only to Judaism in a general sense, but they had even adopted the oral traditions of the Pharisees. They were their direct disciples, and the Pharisees appear to have been very zealous for winning, even Gentiles, to their religious traditions.

Now, Jesus isn’t criticizing them for being zealous to make converts, but he’s criticizing them for discipling these Gentiles into a theological system full or oral traditions that had no room for Jesus, and therefore no possibility of them entering the kingdom of heaven. (D.A. Carson, Matthew) Which is why Jesus tells the Pharisees,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Baptizing disciples in my name

I think, even as Christians today, we can have this propensity, when we’re intending to obey Christ’s command to go and make disciples, that instead we end up trying to make people look and act like us rather than teaching them to look and act like Jesus. Now, obviously, the goal is that we too would look and act like Jesus (thereby providing an example to follow), but looking like and acting like Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean that people must do everything in the same way that I would. Whenever a fellow Christian asks me for advice in a particular situation that the Bible doesn’t give specific guidance, aside from basic principles, I usually myself tempted to try and convince that fellow Christian to do things my way, and when they don’t, I can feel like they have somehow neglected to follow Christ because they haven’t don’t things my way. But I have to be careful to remember that I’m not making disciples and baptizing them in my name, but in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I have to be careful not to get in the way and become a hindrance to them from following Christ, as though I were Christ himself.

Oaths and vows

And then finally, starting there in verse 16,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

Thus far Jesus has 1) criticized their failure to recognize him as the Messiah, 2) criticized them for their superficial zeal that has only done more harm than good, and 3) now he criticizes them for their misguided use of Scripture, using an example of how they lead the people to evade keeping their oaths.

Now, I think many Christians often get tripped up with Jesus’ references to keeping oaths and vows, we’re tempted to conclude that Jesus must have intended to abolish the practice of making oaths altogether, but I don’t think that’s the case, so hopefully I can clear up some of that confusion. And hopefully that’ll simultaneously help us see what Jesus is saying here in verses 16-22.

To do so I think the context is key here. Usually when the biblical authors are writing they’re assuming that their reader is familiar with the cultural context of their day, and all of the current events, which is what makes reading certain parts of the Bible challenging for those of us who are thousands of years removed from that time period, which is also why I think it’s important that we always make an effort to understand the historical setting as much as possible so that we can have the clearest understanding of the biblical text as possible.

Oaths are biblical

That being said, there are a few things we need to keep in mind here in Matthew 23 about oaths and vows, first, making oaths and vows is biblical, and it’s practiced in both in the OT and the NT. Numbers 30:2 says,

English Standard Version Chapter 30

2 If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

It wasn’t a question of whether one was allowed to make a vow, but whether one kept it or not. Moses instructs us to keep our oaths and pledges. Paul in Roman 1:9 invokes God as his witness that he prays unceasingly for the church in Rome. Jesus even submits himself to an oath made by the high priest in Matthew 26:63 when he confesses that he is the Christ. So oaths and vows are biblical, and I don’t think Jesus is saying otherwise.

Creating non-binding oaths

Now, the second thing we have to keep in mind is that Jesus’ references to oaths and vows, whether here or elsewhere, is in response to the Pharisee’s creation of non-binding vows. The Pharisees had essentially created within their oral traditions a category of vows that were not binding, oaths that didn’t have to be kept. They had taught the people a way to swear falsely, or to go back on their word under certain circumstances, giving them permission ultimately to lie. And in doing so they had made void the word of God. This is why Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, famously said,

English Standard Version Chapter 5

37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

He was confronting the Pharisee’s practice of oath keeping that they had been taught, and telling them that under no circumstance were they ever permitted to go back on their word, that they should always do what they say they’re going to do, oath or no oath, that they should always tell the truth.

So by the time get to verses 16-22 here in Mathew 23 Jesus is still confronting that same problem, except this time he’s talking to the Pharisees rather than his disciples. And while he does so he gives us some insight as to how they had created this category of non-binding vows. He tells us there that they’re making distinctions between things like swearing by the Temple and swearing by the gold on the Temple, and that they seem to think that if you swear by the Temple that the oath somehow isn’t binding, but if you swear by the gold on the Temple which is supposedly more sacred than the Temple itself that then you have to keep your oath.

You almost wonder if you’re reading it right, but it sounds so ridiculous, like little children adding and changing the rules of a game while they’re playing to avoid losing. It’s crazy! But that’s what they’re doing! It’s why Jesus says,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

In other words, you can’t separate these things or make these kind of distinctions, let alone find this kind of thing taught in the Scriptures. And he goes on,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

Then Jesus takes it one step further to bring his point home there in verse 21,

English Standard Version Chapter 23

21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

Like, you guys realize who make all of this stuff right? You do realize that it is God who dwells in the Temple, and if you’re going to swear by the heavens, that its God throne that is in the heavens and God who sits on the throne.

Swearing by inanimate objects

In fact, this bring me to the third thing we need to keep in mind about oaths, that the Pharisees were, whether knowingly or unknowingly, blaspheming God by swearing by inanimate objects, objects that couldn’t hold anyone accountable to their word. You’ve probably heard it said by some something like, “I swear on my mother’s grave that’ll I’ll never…” fill in the blank. Now, if you fail to uphold your vow, what’s your mother’s grave gonna do about it? Absolutely nothing! It’s an inanimate object that can’t hold you accountable to what you say, only God can do that.

So by teaching the people to make oaths in this way, and by telling them that not all oaths were binding they were leading them astray, and even into sin. The Pharisees had fundamentally misused the Scriptures, so Jesus called them “blind guides” and “blind fools”.

So in summary, 1) the scribes and Pharisees had not only refused to enter the kingdom of heaven, but kept others from entering by refusing to acknowledge Christ, 2) they zealously traveled across sea and land to make a single proselyte, yet they turned them into twice as much a child of hell as themselves, and 3) they had mishandled the law of God, creating traditions that encouraged oaths that evaded telling the truth.

In the end, the Pharisees were blind guides who lacked spiritual perception and discernment, they were blinded by their sin of hypocrisy and pride, so much that they resisted their own Messiah, even hindering others from coming to him.

Therefore, my prayer is that our sin would never be allowed blind us from our savior. That our Lord would be merciful to us and open our eyes, even as Christians, to no be unaware of our own sin. That the Holy Spirit would give us the strength to put to death the deeds of our bodes, to put to death the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.

Prayer

Lord, I pray that we would always be a people that keep with repentance, that we would not be hardened and blind to our sin, so as to be blind to your Son. Give us hearts that turn from sin and embrace your Son.

Lord, I ask that you would give us keen spiritual discernment, that you would sharpen our spiritual perception by your Word. Give us eyes to see and hearts to obey, and help us to lead others in that same way.