The Error of the Pharisees

The Failure to Keep Reading

The error of the Pharisees and scribes was the failure to distinguish between their teachings based on Scripture and the Scriptures themselves. Generations of men had treasured and pored over the Scriptures and contributed their insights into the meaning of the Scriptures. These became the Talmud, the record of Rabbinic discussion and the fundamental source for rabbinic legislation and case law. Jesus condemns them for giving greater authority to these  interpretations and applications of Scripture than Scripture. “For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God, you hypocrites!” (Matthew 15:6)

The incremental nature of this error conceals its scope. The Pharisees had not set out with the intention of replacing Scripture with tradition. One generation proposed an interpretation of a passage, the next affirmed it, and soon few bothered to question the validity of the interpretation. It was simply accepted by all good scribes and Pharisees. But the danger lay in the uncritical reliance on traditional interpretations. I doubt the Pharisees in Jesus’ day had realized their hypocrisy. They did not realize the scope of their error, and felt no need for correction. After all, how often do you read Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, or Deuteronomy 27:16, the passages Jesus alluded to.

They could not escape their traditional interpretation because their dialogue with Scripture didn’t challenge their conclusions. They could not escape the fossilized remains of ideas that had grown from a once active, but now discontinued, conversation with God. They replaced a humble approach to Scripture with confidence in their interpretation of Scripture. But just as God does not share his glory with another, Scripture does not confer its authority on any interpretation of it. When Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their error, they were offended. They were not only unwilling to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah (giving him authority over them), they did not even acknowledge the authority of Scripture to correct their traditional interpretation.

There remains a warning for any who follow the error of the Pharisees and do not continue to allow the Scriptures to correct their doctrine. When the disciples told Jesus that the Pharisees were offended Jesus answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

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