The Irony of the Pharisee. . .

“A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself,but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.” ~ A.W.Tozer

The irony of this statement in today’s culture (although I agree entirely with its premise) is that people are now calling those who stand for True Biblical Christianity “Pharisees” while it is the spiritually blinded who are in fact the ones who reflect most closely what a Pharisee really is.

The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment. . .

~ I Corinthians 2:15

Most people identify a Pharisee as one who is over-legalistic in regards to what the Bible says. However this is a stunted and deficient view of what a Pharisees really is.

We live in an age of deception. And the line between a believer’s biblical call to discern and the act of judging another person is a very smudged line indeed. I deal with it myself – and so does every Christian with the spiritual gift of discernment.

I do agree with Tozer's idea – and I am taken straight to Matthew 7:1-5:

“Jesus said to his disciples: "Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."

We all have a propensity to judge others. It's just part of being flesh. And Jesus knew this when spoke of the ease in which we see the splinter protruding from our neighbor’s eye. Who couldn’t notice that!?

Our neighbor’s faults, however, should not distract us from a sincere examination of our own lives. We have our own splinters to deal with and at the end of the day, judging obtains little or nothing productive. A spiritual person knows it is far more fruitful to spend one's time rooting out their own defects.

When I was in college, I developed a rather sophomoric and fruitless practice of name-calling with a few of my girlfriends.

If one of us was acting selfish or carnal we were a “Canaanite.”

If one of us was complaining about something, we were an “Israelite.”

If one of us was acting superior or judgmental, we were a “Pharisee.”

(And so on. . . )

While we had perfected the art of sarcasm, we were the subject of the Matthew 7 passage.

In a sense, we were “Pharisees.”

But. . . What exactly is a Pharisee?

In Jesus’ day, a Pharisee was inclined to be very rigid in regards to the written Jewish Law (The Old Testament). But their greater error was that they held their “Oral Law” (the oral traditions/customs/way of life, etc.) just as important -- or more important -- than the written law.

Here’s where the Pharisees got into trouble: The oral tradition of the First Century – in most cases -- contradicted the Old Testament. The Pharisees danced around the contradiction by embracing the idea that you could not understand the Old Testament by simply reading it, but instead the Law had to be interpreted within the context of the oral traditions/customs/way of life, etc.

Good Grief! Isn’t this EXACTLY what non-believers and many “Christians” do today? Ever heard this statement? . . .

The Bible was written thousands of years ago. It isn’t relevant today. We can only glean simple moral lessons from it.

How ‘bout this one:

Biblical Submission is out-of-date because I Peter 3 was written when women were considered chattel. Today, women are “equal” with men.

Bologna!

God’s Word is GOD’s WORD. Period.

You have to understand that in Jesus day, the Jews had strayed far from God. Very much the same way that America has strayed from its Christian Heritage.

The Jews in the New Testament had allowed pagan ideas and practices to creep into their culture. It happened over a period of some four hundred years – going back to the time of Ezra and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple.

While the Pharisees of Jesus’ day thought of themselves as true followers of God because they followed the written law (The Old Testament), JESUS had something quite different to say to them:

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?" He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.'"

And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

~ Mark 7:5-9

Here's where I get into trouble:

This is EXACTLY what is happening in churches today!

Over a period of several decades, our society has allowed pagan ideas and practices to creep into our culture. And way too many churches have allowed the culture to make its way into the life of the church. . . . and when someone speaks God’s Word and points it out, we call that person a “Pharisee.”

In our culture – and yes, our churches too - we validate the corruption of our culture while at the same time claiming to believe what God’s Word says. (Do I dare say this?. . . ) The average churchgoer is a Pharisee calling the spiritual man who believes in the inerrancy of Scripture a "Pharisee."

We definitely live in an age of deception. A.W. Tozer's quote is most certainly well received by this blogger. I agree totally with his thought. Please don't misread me here. I do not want to judge others. Believe me -- or ask my husband -- I've got plenty of beams with which to deal!

But the light of the Gospel has definitely been eclipsed today by way of both pagan culture and false teachings. They come at us by way of television, radio, Internet, books, seminars and any other media that is available. No believer could possible discuss and work out each of these specific disagreements/faults/heresies (whatever you wish to label them) with their authors as Matthew 18:15-20 requires.

Thus. . . speaking out against them is seen as "judging."

If that makes one a "Pharisee?. . . "

Well. . . I, for one -- have been called worse.

Esthermay Bentley-Goossen
© 2008 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife
Amy is hosing In Other Word's this week. Visit her at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31.