Pharisee

Phariee (defA)-a member of an influential Jewish social movement and school of thought in Judea and Galilee during the Second Temple period (515 BCE–70 CE) known for strict adherence to both the written Torah and oral traditions. Here are some of the interactions between the Pharisee and Jesus.

Matthew 12:1 At that time, Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. ⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Why did the Pharisees try to trick and find fault with Jesus? Because they were self-righteous accusers!. Do you know some people who go around trying to judge others according to their own self-righteousness? They are accusers!! They are Pharisees!! You know a person is an accusser when they take something you say and bring that up by saying "I thought you said" as a way to catch you, even when circumstances beyond your control changed.

It is very dangerous territory to be in when you put yourself as a judge like God!

There is only one true God, and we are not Him. We follow Him and honor Him by letting His Word call out those who are sinning. What is the intent of an accuser? To set themselves up as being 'better' than others. The devil is called the 'accuser of the brethren,' and that is not a compliment, so do not line up with the evil one, and deal with your sin, and you will see others in a different light. Jesus had the adulterous woman brought to Him, and He wrote something in the sand after saying the following words. John 8:⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

Jesus dealt with her personally as the perfect Son of God. Perfect!! He then told her to go and sin no more. Finished. She was no longer hopeless, but filled with the hope and forgiveness of the one who truly can forgive and change hearts.

If self-righteous Christians are going around finding others sinning and making them repent, then that repentance is worthless because it was not accomplished by the motivating love of Jesus, and it is tainted. Nothing is run through the tainted lives of forgiven sinners because it is always tainted, as in the case of the Pharisees!! Paul was a Pharisee, but because of his encounter with Jesus, all of that changed. Here is what Paul said about who he WAS. Philippians 3: ⁵ I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demanded the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. ⁶ I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.⁷ I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. ⁸ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ ⁹ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.

The change that took place in Paul's life changed him from a man who was an accuser to a man who lived a life of love for Jesus, who dispelled all accusation from a human reasoning standpoint. Jesus was accused by the Pharisees, like Paul, but He was not like the accuser, Satan, because he was love personified and died to prove it. Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. If you are a born-again believer and you have an accusing heart, you need to change and thank God, as a sinner, you have already been forgiven for the sins you commit. Not accused, but forgiven!! Line up with Jesus, our Savior, not the Pharisees who followed Him around trying to stop Him and accuse Him.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren