When we read our Bibles as Christians, we are often looking for what God wants us to believe, commands to guide our lives, and examples to follow. As we read, we should also be learning what not to be like. The Pharisees were a group of people that Jesus was the hardest on, and so we want to learn from them what not to be like. In fact, Jesus exhorted His disciples in Matthew 23:3 to not do “the works they do, for they preach but do not practice.” Jesus’ instruction here reveals to us his main concern with the Pharisees—hypocrisy.
In politics in the late 80s, the term “race card” was born. It was used to weaponize people against their political foes to discredit them. The same is happening today with the “gender card.” People pull these cards out and use them in a fallacious way. Today in Christendom, this tactic is being used with the “Pharisee card.” This label is thrown out often today to discredit other professing Christians because their practice or belief is out of line with their own, especially if they express concerns with their own views vocally.
The “Pharisee card” is often used today to try to discredit believers who care about doctrinal and ethical purity. Did Jesus condemn the Pharisees for a concern for doctrinal and ethical purity? No, if you know your New Testament, you know Jesus is very concerned with doctrinal and ethical purity. He calls those who follow Him in these concerns disciples (John 8:32; Matt. 5:18-19). In the place where Jesus talks about the Pharisees being meticulous about following the details of the Bible in tithing on their garden veggies, he says, “these you ought to have done” (Matt. 23:23).
While trying to make applications of Jesus’ exhortation to His disciples to learn from the bad example of the Pharisees, we can make two mistakes if we are not careful. The first is we could conclude that since there is no group alive today that believes and practices religion like the Pharisees did, there is no application. The second mistake we could make is to make the wrong kind of connections to modern people, condemning them as Pharisees and condemning the wrong folks.
The Pharisees were Jesus’ enemies, and he really was hard on them. It is a powerful card – who wants to be called or known as a Pharisee? This card can silence people, even making them afraid to contend for doctrinal or ethical purity.
The truth is, Jesus didn’t condemn everything about the Pharisees. As far as beliefs go, they were as close to Jesus as just about any group. Many of the Pharisees believed in Jesus. They believed the Bible was the Word of God – not just parts of it – like the Sadducees. They believed in the resurrection of the dead, the coming of the Messiah, the coming day of judgment for the righteous and wicked, and believed in personal holiness. These are good things, right? Jesus never condemned them for these things. There were lots of things Jesus didn’t condemn the Pharisees for. If we are going to apply the label of a modern-day Pharisee properly, then we need to figure out how to make the right application.
It would be fallacious to say to a Bible believing Christian who hates liberal and/or compromising tendencies, calls out sin and compromise, and condemns worldliness are a modern-day Pharisee. Yes, the Pharisees were hard on compromise and transgression of their traditions (Matt. 15:1-9), rather than the pure Word of God. It would be fallacious to make the connection to those who call out transgression from God’s Word because that is what Jesus did and taught. But this is what happens all the time in modern evangelicalism, and it is simply an association fallacy. For the label Pharisee to be properly applied, it needs to be used in the sense that Jesus used it, to condemn the Pharisees. You must find a parallel in the behavior of the person you are attacking that matches what the Pharisees did to draw Jesus’ condemnation.
It is not that difficult to figure out what Jesus condemned the Pharisees for. It is quite clear; His main concern was for their hypocrisy. Like we mentioned earlier, this was Jesus’ point in teaching the disciples about the Pharisees: do not do “the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matt. 23:3). In this key teaching on Jesus’ problem with the Pharisees, He uses the word “hypocrite” explicitly 7 times in this passage. If we go over to Luke to study the parallel passage (Luke 11:37-12:3), we see this statement by Jesus that again makes it clear what His main problem with the Pharisees was: “Beware of he leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).
The other major account where Jesus condemned the Pharisees is in Matthew 15:1-9. In this passage, Jesus’ concern is again expressed in terms of hypocrisy, “You hypocrites” (15:7). Their hypocrisy is a little different in this passage in that they are nullifying the authority and sufficiency of Scripture with their human traditions. We play the part of the Pharisee when we exalt human traditions and teachings to the same authority of God’s Word. This will always have the effect of taking away from God’s Word.
If we are going to make the right kind of application in labeling someone a modern-day Pharisee, we are going to have to do it legitimately. When pastors or other Christians who are being held accountable to the Word on their compromise or drifting, then throw out the Pharisee card as an attempt to silence their theological opponents. Ironically, they are playing the Pharisee with this hypocritical approach. By nullifying God’s Word for human traditions, they should not only be held accountable by the church, but can honestly be labeled as modern-day Pharisees, for that is what Jesus condemned the Pharisees for in Matthew 15.
That pastor is playing the role of the Pharisee when he cancels the Sunday worship gathering every 5th Sunday and encourages his people to go paint a park bench or mow a neighbor’s lawn in an effort to serve the community. Or when he establishes his new tradition, then, upon getting flak from the more biblically rigid folks in his congregation, he attempts to silence them by calling them Pharisees; he is the one playing the role of the Pharisee. He does this by establishing his human tradition (by not meeting) and nullifying the Word of God (which commands meeting: 1 Cor. 16:2).
Jesus’ main concern with the Pharisees was not doctrinal rigidness but spiritual hypocrisy. When we find hypocrisy among professing Christians, we should rightly make the connection to the condemnation Jesus pronounced upon the Pharisees. Jesus makes it clear: spiritual hypocrisy is deadly.
The Pharisees are an important group in the Bible to learn from, particularly in what not to be like. It is beneficial to apply these lessons to ourselves and to others whom we care about. But let’s do it legitimately (biblically) and not play the “Pharisee Card.”
