Have you ever been in a discussion with someone and no matter how much proof you offer to validate your Biblical claims they still reject them? When a religious person is confronted with Scripture that contradicts their traditions, they may call a New Testament Christian a Pharisee. No one wants to be called that, but how do you respond to such an accusation? Moreover, has it ever made you think, “What if I am being a Pharisee?” It is certainly Scriptural for each of us to test our actions against the Word of God (John 12:48; 2 Cor 13:5; James 1:25). So how can we know if we are speaking where God speaks or if we are speaking in the spirit of the sectarian Pharisees? In order to make a fair assessment, we can consider New Testament examples of the spirit of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees Were Self-Righteous
The Pharisees were very self-righteous. Consider the prayer of one Pharisee in Luke 18:11-12,
“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get.”
The Pharisee justified himself by measuring himself to others rather than measuring himself by the Lord (cf. 2 Cor 10:12). The New Testament Christian must not fall into this trap of feeling superior to any person, but rather remember who we once were outside of Christ and how He washed, sanctified, and justified us (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11).
The Pharisees Were Religious For the Sake of Appearance
“But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi.”
Matthew 23:3-5
How will you recognize the spirit of the Pharisees? You can observe their religious costumes. We may think of the robes and hats of the Roman Catholic clergy and other denominations, but who else might this be a good description of? Sadly, some of our brethren portray Christians on Sunday and live as the world Monday through Saturday. John the Immerser rightly confronted the counterfeit righteousness of the Pharisees when he said,
“ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance”
Matt. 3:7-8
The righteous will produce fruit worthy of repentance, and it will be genuine and observable.
The Pharisees Made the Commandment of God Ineffective By Their Tradition.
Can you back up what you believe, preach, and teach? If you cannot, you are teaching either traditions of men or the inventions of your mind. Jesus asked the Pharisees, “And he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition” (Matt. 15:3)? This charge could be levied against the sectarians today. They love their traditions of infant sprinkling, premillennialism, one-man pastoral leadership, none of which are in God’s revealed Word. Jesus continued and said, “But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men” (Matt. 15:9).
Who Is the Pharisee?
Are members of the church of Christ Pharisees? I would hope not, since we believe the Bible, we must not have the spirit of the self-righteous Pharisees when amongst the publicans of our day. If you are acting self-righteously, you have the spirit of the Pharisees.
It is our hope that “going to church” is not something on a checklist, like a dentist appointment. We hope that assembling with the saints is not something you do for the sake of appearance. If so, you are someone with the spirit of the Pharisees.
If you have always trusted in what some man has said over what the Bible says, you are like the Pharisees. Coincidentally, the Pharisees in the time of Jesus also rejected the counsel of God, in what way, Luke records, “But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not baptized of him” (Luke 7:30).
Brethren, if you are called a Pharisee when you speak the words of Jesus, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned”(Mark 16:16), kindly point them to the Scriptures to define Phariseeism.
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
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