Introduction

Recently, I have seen a lot of comment on social media where fellow believers of Jesus have used the fact that Jesus spoke harshly to the Pharisees as a justification of why they were making similarly harsh comments to other sons of God (i.e. particularly about public figures). The question has been wrestling in my heart for about a week. In this time, Holy Spirit began to remind me of scripture, which He used to built upon several years of study I have made into the nature of Jesus. My hope is that Holy Spirit will use this article to bring understanding and revelation.

Whenever I look at scripture, I have learnt to apply a set of principles that aid in my study. I don’t want to make this article a Bible college exercise but I do find the following list helpful:

• First and foremost, be lead by Holy Spirit. We need to be actively listening to Him as we read and consider the Word of God.
• Scripture is all about context. To properly understand a given scripture, we need to view a given scripture in the light of what precedes and proceeds it. A key point is the chapter markers were not in the original text.
• Our worldview plays a big part in our understanding of scripture. We tend to filter all we read or hear through our way of thinking (called our worldview). Societies as a whole tend to have a collective perspective or way of thinking. In Western countries, this is called the “Western Worldview”. Although this subject is beyond the scope of this article, the Western Worldview is heavily influenced by the teachings of Plato and Aristotle. When you look into the teachings of these Greek philosophers, you find that their concepts about God are at odds with the Hebraic understanding of Jehovah. This sounds academic, but the Western Worldview causes many followers of Christ to misunderstand His true nature.
• We need to understand and look at who a scripture was originally written for, and what the situation was when it was written. For example, the various books of the New Testament were originally intended for either first century Jewish or Gentile ears. They have great value to us, but we need to realise that we were not the readers the authors originally had in mind.
• Each of the biblical translations have issues. Some of these translation issues can completely change the general understanding of scripture for those that favour the given translation. I recommend checking anything key verse in multiple translations, or if you are inclined, check key words in a Thesaurus for the original language definition.

The most important thing I have discovered is that even though an eminent man or woman of God has taught something from the Word, it does not mean that it is the entire truth on a subject. Isaiah says this:

Isaiah 28:10
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

Holy Spirit builds upon lesser truth, so He can teach us a greater truth. I want to always be open to Holy Spirit “blowing my mind” and bringing me into greater truth.

I believe we need to look at why Jesus spoke so harshly to the Pharisees? Was their something special about this group of people, or indeed should we be mirroring His actions today when we confront any other child of God.

Context – The Pharisees

Okay let’s examine the Pharisees. They were the religious elite of the day and had been so for hundreds of years. These men knew the text of what we call the Old Testament. They had been rote learning the text since childhood.

There was a competing sect amount the Jewish religious elite called the Sadducees. The prominent different between the two was that the Pharisees believed in the letter of the law as the primary source of revelation – they completely discounted the supernatural.

The Jewish nation were waiting for a Messiah, which the Pharisees understood as being like David, and they taught that this Messiah would free them from Roman rule and re-establish the Hebrew nation to its former glory. Prophetic signs in the Old Testament has shown them that the time of the Messiah was imminent.

The Pharisees were the scribes and teachers of the people. Until John the Baptist, there had been no word from Jehovah for four hundred years. In these four hundred years, the Pharisees had set themselves up as intermediary between the people and God – an incredible place of power.

Context – Jesus

If you look at the gospels in their entirety, we see that Jesus had a single message – the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. He talked on many subjects, but always in reference to the Kingdom. His plan was to die and rise from the dead, causing Holy Spirit to be released to all, thus ushering the Kingdom of God to this world. His plan was to make a way that all could because sons of His Father, and taste of the Kingdom of God. Oh, what a glorious plan!

Rationale

Let’s examine some of the scriptures that detail what He actually said to the Pharisees…

Luke 12:56
You hypocrites! You know how to analyse the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyse this present time?

Jesus accused the Pharisees of being hypocrites. In fact, He is quoted doing so sixteen times in the gospels. Jesus gives many examples of their hypocrisy, and is scathing of them because of it. The question is, does Jesus deal with all hypocrites in the same way?

Consider the following scripture from Matthew concerning Peter.

Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

Peter is asking Jesus how many times he must forgive his brothers. The irony of the situation is that Peter is forever offending people. He is the one that people need to forgive, making him a hypocrite. If you study the chapter, Jesus explains forgiveness to Peter, making reference to the Kingdom of God. He doesn’t castigate Peter like He does the Pharisees.

Logic tells us that Jesus must have encountered others who were hypocrites. The gospels do not specifically record these meetings, so logically there are two possibilities: the meetings were not highlighted by Holy Spirit to the authors of the gospels, or Jesus continually showed grace to people. Either way, it was not hypocrisy per se that drew Jesus’s ire to the Pharisees.

Matthew 23:13
But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

As we saw earlier, Jesus’s primary message was the coming of the Kingdom of God. Here he accuses the Pharisees of preventing others from entering the Kingdom. They are literally leading the people that follow them to destruction.

Logically, there would have been many in Jesus’s day who did not wish to enter the Kingdom of a God, because not everyone followed Him. There is no record of Jesus castigating anyone else who did not want to enter the Kingdom of God, or for that matter, obstructed others from entering the Kingdom of God. Again, this leaves us with two possibilities: the meetings were not highlighted by Holy Spirit to the authors of the gospels, or Jesus continually showed grace to people. Either way, it was not failing to enter the Kingdom of a God per se that drew Jesus’s ire to the Pharisees.

Matthew 23:37-39
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is HE who comes in the name of the Lord!’

These verses are Jesus’s words to the Pharisees, before they had Him arrested and eventually killed. You can see the love, the longing He had for the people of Jerusalem to return. The tragedy of this situation was the people of Jerusalem on the whole weren’t willing. Jesus prophesied, “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”. We know from history that Jerusalem was catastrophically destroyed in 70AD. At that time, and in the proceeding years, millions of Jews were killed. The consequences of the fall of Jerusalem cannot be overestimated. With the fall of Jerusalem, so the end of the Old Covenant. No longer can the covenant of ritual sacrifice in the temple be fulfilled. The world as the Jews knew it came to a sudden end.

Conclusion
By analysing scripture and taking into account the context, we find the Pharisees had the following traits which appear to be specific to them in the time of Jesus:

• The Pharisees prevented others from entering the Kingdom of God.
• The leadership of the Pharisees was going to lead to the downfall of Israel, their religion and their whole society.
• Their religious ways had become devoid of God.

My belief is that Jesus was harsh with the Pharisees because their case was desperate. He loved them unconditionally, but He knew their actions were going to end in imminent disaster for them and everyone who followed them. My observation of Father God over the years is that He only makes one of His children’s sin public when it is the last option to turn them from disaster. It is never the first option – He is too good and has abounding grace.

Getting back to the original question. I believe I have shown that the Pharisees were a specific case. They represent a specific set of circumstances which has no modern equivalent. Jesus spoke to them harshly for these reasons. I don’t believe any followers of Jesus can use these scriptures to justify being harsh with any child of God.

This is where we need to be real. A child of God, if they choose, can speak harshly about another child of God. What I believe they can’t do, is try to use these scriptures to justify their actions. I have no doubt that Father God still reveals people’s sin publicly, but if we wish to live in the will of God, we will need a specific word from Holy Spirit before we proceed to harsh words. Without, a specific word from Holy Spirit, a child of God operates from their own thoughts (and are not guaranteed to be operating from the will of God)