Dr Paul Allen

Dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees over tribute money (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees , hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” ( Matthew 23:13 ) Our Lord Jesus pronounced eight “woes” in Matthew 23 on the religious leaders of His day. This one condemns them for refusing the liberty that Christ was bringing with the new covenant. The first “formal” message that Jesus preached was taken from the great prophecy in Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” ( Luke 4:18 ). Later, the apostle Paul noted that “before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” (...

Dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees over tribute money (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 23:37–39 “O Jerusalem , Jerusalem…! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (v. 37). Today we return to Matthew’s gospel and resume our study of the last week of Jesus ’ life, during which the Jerusalem authorities will crucify the Lord (chap. 27). Passion week, however, is not the first time Jesus’ countrymen reject Him as the Christ. Herod would not tolerate any rival and tried to kill the newborn king (2:16–18). Many Pharisees said He was of the Devil (9:32–34), and the towns of Chorazin , Tyre , and Nazareth did not repent when Jesus preached the Gospel to them (11:20–24; 13:53–58). Both Sadducee and Pharisee have asked trick questions of Jesus (22:15–40), falsely believing themselves pious when they denied Jesus’ messianic office. Yet those who reject Christ reject God Himself, ...

Oil painting of a young John Calvin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 3:11–12 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I…. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” ( v. 11 ) John Calvin looked to John the Baptist ’s condemnation of the Pharisees and Sadducees as an example of how the church should deal with those especially hard in heart. He comments on Matthew 3:7–10 that “those whose habits of uttering falsehood to God, and of deceiving themselves, lead them to hold out hypocrisy and pretension, instead of the reality, ought to be urged, with greater sharpness than other men, to true repentance.” At times only strong confrontation will rescue the soul of a professing believer who has grown complacent and presumed upon the Lord’s grace ( 18:15–20 ; James 5:19–20 ). Matthew 3:7–10 is clear that the Sadducees and Pharisees needed such upbraiding. These Jewish leaders during the Lord’s earthly ministry were ofte...

Matthew 23:37–39   “O Jerusalem , Jerusalem…! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” ( v. 37 ). Today we return to Matthew’s gospel and resume our study of the last week of Jesus ’ life, during which the Jerusalem authorities will crucify the Lord ( chap. 27 ). Passion week, however, is not the first time Jesus’ countrymen reject Him as the Christ . Herod would not tolerate any rival and tried to kill the newborn king ( 2:16–18 ). Many Pharisees said He was of the Devil ( 9:32–34 ), and the towns of Chorazin , Tyre, and Nazareth did not repent when Jesus preached the Gospel to them ( 11:20–24 ;  13:53–58 ). Both Sadducee and Pharisee have asked trick questions of Jesus ( 22:15–40 ), falsely believing themselves pious when they denied Jesus’ messianic office. Yet those who reject Christ reject God Himself, and they will suffer for their impudence ( 23:1–36 ; see  Luke 10:16 ). Christ ...

Crucifixion of St. Peter by Caravaggio. The early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." ( Matthew 7:15 ) There are three Greek words translated "beware," all of which stress watchfulness and potential danger. In a world under the control of Satan , there are many of his devices which can deceive and undermine the faith and life of the unwary Christian. Our text cautions against false prophets who appear to be true prophets (or teachers, or pastors), but whose apparent spiritual teachings are subversive of biblical truth. John warns that "many false prophets are gone out into the world" ( 1 John 4:1 ), and Jesus said they "shall deceive many" ( Matthew 24:11 ). Jesus also warned that His followers should "beware of . . . the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees " ( Matthew 16...

A n angel prevents the sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham and Isaac, Rembrandt, 1634 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 22:31–33 “Have you not read…‘I am the God of Abraham , and the God of Isaac , and the God of Jacob ?’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” ( vv. 31–32 ). The Sadducees denied the reality of angels, and Jesus probably intended to address this point as well in His answer to their question ( Matt. 22:23–30 ). He affirmed the existence of angels, who do not marry, when He said we will be like them — functionally — when resurrected ( Matt. 22:23–30 ). The idea here is that marriage itself, as a God-ordained institution to be fruitful and multiply, will be rendered irrelevant in a renewed world without death. Remember that the Sadducees’ question was not about affection and companionship in the resurrection but about fulfilling the mandate to keep the family line going ( Deut. 25:6 ). Jesus then gives the theology of resurrection that underlies His comments th...

The Pharisees Question Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 22:23–30 “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage” ( vv. 29–30 ). Matthew 22:15–40 records three points at which corrupt leaders tried to get Jesus to take positions that He might later regret. Ironically, the various sects these men represented were usually at odds, but they ganged up on Christ , their common foe. John Calvin writes, “Satan brings together all the ungodly, who in other respects differ widely from each other, to attack the truth of God.” Little, save hatred of the Gospel, united Sadducee and Pharisee. The Sadducees rejected the oral tradition of the Pharisees and denied the resurrection ( v. 23 ). It was once thought that the Sadducees read only the five books of Moses as Scripture, but we are increasingly sure that they received the entire Old Testament canon . Still, the Sadducees affirmed...