It seems that in discussions about biblical
“truth” today, “truth” is not enough. Instead
it seems to be the prevailing view among many
spiritually-minded persons to look, not just
for truth, but for a group of people who in
some sense uniquely represent, by their
teachings and by their conduct, “the truth.”
Such a view is not without any biblical
precedent. Indeed, from God’s selection of
Noah and his family (Genesis 6:8, 18; 7:1, 23;
9:1), to his taking “Abram” and making him
“Abraham,” the “father of a crowd of nations”
(Genesis 12:1, 2; 17:4-6) who were “chosen” in
part to serve as “witnesses” to the fact that
Jehovah is God (Isaiah 43:10-12), to the
selection by Jesus Christ of twelve seemingly
unlikely followers (Matthew 10:2), to the
establishment of a congregation of thousands
(Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7), Jehovah God has often
chosen people to represent him, his Son, and
his teachings to others.
In this series of three articles I will
explore the kinds of persons the Bible
describes when it speaks of those who
represent Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. The
objective here is not really to try and “find
out” who today are God’s people, for it is
always easier, and wiser, to simply find out
what is true than it is to find people who
teach truth. Once you find out what is true
based on the evidence available to you, then
you can look around and see who is teaching
it, and from there determine the extent of
association that is appropriate for you and
for your family. But there is a difference
between “truth” and the types of persons who
might possess it. Indeed, in this article I
intend to focus specifically on types of
persons, and ultimately types of groups of
persons. I intend to give people biblical
reason for caution when seeking first to find
“the people of God,” before finding out what
is true, even though that search might lead
you to different people or to groups of
persons as you find and evaluate reasons to
believe.
By saying this I mean to make clear that I do
not believe that a person cannot find truth
from other people or through a religious
organization. I believe, in fact, that through
such interaction and association one is more
likely to find truth! But my concern, based on
my own experience and from what I have
observed from others, has to do with the
extent to which people are willing to
accept something as true simply because of
someone or some group, apart from reasons that
may exist independently of a particular person or
group.
Being drawn to someone or to some group
because of a belief that another person or
group more outstandingly represents, for
example, the actual teachings of the Bible
than someone else is an understandable
approach. Jesus himself taught
Matthew 7:16-20 (NWT)
By their fruits YOU will recognize them. Never
do people gather grapes from thorns or figs
from thistles, do they? Likewise every good
tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten
tree produces worthless fruit; a good tree
cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can a
rotten tree produce fine fruit. Every tree not
producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown
into the fire. Really, then, by their fruits
YOU will recognize those [men].
But if this is taken to mean that we should
simply look for those who possess the greatest
number of true teachings, then we set
ourselves up for accepting the smallest number
of false teachings, which in the end means we
will accept some false teachings no matter how
small in number they may be. Yet, good is good
and bad is bad; that which is false is false
and that which true is true: “Woe to those who
are saying that good is bad and bad is good,
those who are putting darkness for light and
light for darkness, those who are putting
bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah
5:20). To keep ‘good from being bad’ and ‘bad
from being good,’ we should strive to be “on
the side of the truth” (John 18:37). Truth
will always safeguard us from being misled or
deceived by others, or by ourselves, and it
will also help us identify the people of God,
“because no lie originates with the truth” (1
John 2:22).
In this series I am going to present the
Bible’s descriptions of persons and groups
chosen by God and by Jesus Christ to represent
them and to bear their names to the world. In
so doing I hope to provide a helpful contrast
between those “trees” that ‘produce rotten
fruit’ and those that ‘produce fine fruit,’ by
looking first at the Jewish religious leaders
of Jesus’ time and then at what Jesus himself
taught about the marks of his followers.
Finally, I will consider the descriptions and
prophecies from the time of Jesus and his
early followers concerning the identity of
Christians who would live long after their
time. This series will be presented in the
following installments:
Part One: “The
Pharisees and Sadducees” (March 1, 2007).
Part Two: “On the Side of the Truth”
(April 1, 2007)
Part Three: “The Sons of the Kingdom”
(May 1, 2007)
It is my hope that these articles will help
those who are struggling with finding a way to
express their faith with any organized group
of Christians to be better able to discern
which group may today best represent the
teachings of the Bible. But it is an even
greater hope of mine that all who read these
articles will come to know that Christian
faith, though it may benefit and be benefited
by a Christian group or organization, is only
really dependent on
“one God, and one mediator between God and
men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a
corresponding ransom for all” (1 Timothy
2:5-6). Thus, no matter how many today serve
God and Christ Jesus faithfully, “where there
are two or three gathered together” God
through Jesus will be with you (Matthew
18:20).
Nevertheless, since this “ransom” has “bought
persons for God out of every tribe and tongue
and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9), then
it makes sense that after “we have put
our faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 2:16) we
then look around for “the people of God.” If
we find them, then “there may be an
interchange of encouragement … by each one
through the other’s faith” (Romans 1:12).
Unfortunately, though, finding the people of
God sometimes involves tasting some “rotten
fruit.” But even that can be avoided, if you
look closely enough before tasting it. With
this in mind, let us consider those who were
“the people of God” in Jesus’ day and then
look at some of the “worthless” or ‘bad fruit’
they produced, which Jesus himself called “the
leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees”
(Matthew 16:11-12).
“The Leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees”
During the earthly life and ministry of Jesus
Christ, those known as “the scribes and the
Pharisees,” “the scribes and Pharisees,”
“scribes and Pharisees,” and “Pharisees and
scribes” are referenced throughout the four
New Testament Gospel accounts (Matthew 5:20;
12:38; 15:1; 23:2, 13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29;
Mark 7:5; Luke 5:21; 6:7; 11:53). There are
still more references to “scribes” (Matthew
7:29; 9:3; 17:10; Mark 2:6; 3:22), “scribes
and older men” (Matthew 26:57), “chief priests
and scribes” (Matthew 20:18, 21:15), and even
“the scribes of the Pharisees” (Mark
2:16). Further, the Pharisees are also mentioned together with
another influential group called the
“Sadducees” (Mathew 3:7; 16:1, 2), and the
Sadducees are themselves at times mentioned in
isolation from the others (Matthew
22:23).
But in the New Testament Gospels, these groups
who claimed to represent the people of God all
had one thing in common: They resisted the
teachings of Jesus. At times these groups
resisted him for different reasons, reasons
that related mostly to their own groups’
particular views and teachings. But they also
had certain shared political, social, and
religious views, relations, and aspirations
that could bring them together against Jesus
Christ (John 11:47-48). Thus, Jesus could
speak in reference to two of such groups with
opposing religious views (Matthew 22:23) as if
they were one when he said, as recorded in
Matthew 16:11-12 (NWT):
“But watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees
and Sadducees.” Then they grasped that he said
to watch out, not for the leaven of the
loaves, but for the teaching of the Pharisees
and Sadducees.
Therefore, in this sense we will consider the
teachings of these groups as if they were one.
Also, since “scribes” could belong to either
the Pharisees or to the Sadducees (compare
Mark 2:16), and since members of these parties
could also be among the “chief priests” and
“older men” (Matthew 20:18; 26:57; Acts 23:6),
I will also consider the teachings or “leaven”
of the scribes and the chief priests and older
men in relation to that of the Pharisees and
Sadducees, again, as if they were all one. But
what were some of the teachings of these
scholars, older men, priests, and religious
politicians? How could they have gotten things
they appeared to love dearly, things to which
their lives and careers were from all
appearances completely devoted, so wrong? Why
was Jesus, a man who had “not studied at the
schools” (John
7:15) and who never did claim to belong to any earthly political
party, so worried about these men and their
teachings?
To find out we must first look at the
teachings, the “leaven” of those who
represented themselves and who were respected
by others as “versed in the Law” (Luke 11:45,
46, 52). While it is not necessary to review
every single reference to these first-century
Jewish religious leaders, scholars, and
politicians in order to get a sense for why
Jesus was so concerned about them, I will
present a healthy sampling of seven “leavens”
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and of
those associated with them. I will use only
the New Testament record’s presentation of
these “leavens,” as translated by the New
World Translation (NWT), followed by a
simple contextual analysis for you to consider
in the course of this series’ broader look at
“the people of God.”
The Seven
Leavens
Though there are more than seven instances of
“leaven” found among the teachings of “the
Pharisees and Sadducees” and those associated
with them in the New Testament, I have
selected seven examples that I believe capture
the essential problem with their teachings,
namely, they did not give priority to truth.
The reason Jesus used “leaven” to represent
“the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees”
(Matthew 16:12) is well explained by the
Jehovah’s Witness publication Insight on
the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Brooklyn:
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1988),
page 230:
“Leaven” is used in the Bible to denote sin or
corruption. Jesus Christ told his disciples:
“Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees,” and, “Watch out for the leaven of
the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” The
disciples at first did not understand that
Jesus was using a symbolism, but they finally
discerned that he was warning them to be on
guard against false doctrine and hypocritical
practices, “the teaching of the
Pharisees and Sadducees,” which teaching had a
corrupting effect. (Mt 16:6, 11, 12; Lu 12:1)
He also mentioned Herod (evidently including
his party followers) in one of his warnings,
saying: “Keep your eyes open, look out for the
leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of
Herod.” (Mr 8:15) Jesus boldly denounced the
Pharisees as hypocrites concerned with outward
show. (Mt 23:25-28) He pointed out the wrong
doctrinal viewpoint of the Sadducees. He
exposed the hypocrisy and political treachery
of the party followers of Herod.—Mt 22:15-21;
Mr 3:6. The apostle Paul employed the same
symbolism when he commanded the Christian
congregation in Corinth to expel an immoral
man from the congregation, stating: “Do you
not know that a little leaven ferments the
whole lump? Clear away the old leaven, that
you may be a new lump, according as you are
free from ferment. For, indeed, Christ our
passover has been sacrificed.” He then clearly
showed what he meant by “leaven”:
“Consequently let us keep the festival, not
with old leaven, neither with leaven of
badness and wickedness, but with unfermented
cakes of sincerity and truth.” (1Co 5:6-8)
So in the New Testament “leaven” can be used
to represent “badness and wickedness,” as
opposed to “sincerity and truth.” “Leaven,”
then, is opposed to “truth,” for “truth” is
neither bad nor wicked, neither hypocritical
nor corrupting. If this is true, then in the
“Seven Leavens” that follow we should expect
to find wickedness and hypocrisy, badness and
corruption. If we find that those who
controlled the centers of biblical learning
and worship in Jesus’ day and who maintained
their control and position over the “lesser”
members of that society by teaching wickedness
and corruption, but who were nonetheless
considered by many to be the people of God,
then what lesson does that hold for us today?
I have listed the Seven Leavens in relation to
a word or concept that represents the teaching
of the cited texts. The text in parentheses
that is underlined is the text chosen to
represent the others in the discussion of each
“Leaven”:
1) Presumptuousness (Matthew 3:7-10;
Luke 3:7-9):
When he caught
sight of many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to the baptism, he said to them: “YOU
offspring of vipers, who has intimated to YOU
to flee from the coming wrath? So then produce
fruit that befits repentance; and do not
presume to say to yourselves, ‘As a father we
have Abraham.’ For I say to YOU that God is
able to raise up children to Abraham from
these stones. Already the ax is lying at the
root of the trees; every tree, then, that does
not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and
thrown into the fire.
Here John the Baptist points out that rather
than repent and produce “fine fruits” the
Pharisees and Sadducees “presume” things about
themselves that suggest they are primarily
interested in their lineage and association
with others, in this case Abraham, for
legitimacy and righteousness. They took pride
in the fact that ‘Abraham was their father’
(John 8:39), but they did not “do the works of
Abraham” (John 8:39)! So even though they were
Abraham’s descendants they took liberties for
themselves that were not justified by lineage
alone. The Leaven of Presumptuousness corrupts
sincerity and truth because it provides a
false basis for security and action, causing
people to rely on things that do not qualify
as a justified basis for the belief held or
the action taken. Thus, the Leaven of
Presumptuousness leads to false beliefs (John
8:48; 11:51) and wrongful actions (John 8:59;
11:53).
2) Condemning the ‘guiltless ones’ (Matthew
9:10-13; 12:1-7):
At that season
Jesus went through the grainfields on the
sabbath. His disciples got hungry and started
to pluck heads of grain and to eat. At seeing
this the Pharisees said to him: “Look! Your
disciples are doing what it is not lawful to
do on the sabbath.” He said to them: “Have YOU
not read what David did when he and the men
with him got hungry? How he entered into the
house of God and they ate the loaves of
presentation, something that it was not lawful
for him to eat, nor for those with him, but
for the priests only? Or, have YOU not read in
the Law that on the sabbaths the priests in
the temple treat the sabbath as not sacred and
continue guiltless? But I tell YOU that
something greater than the temple is here.
However, if YOU had understood what this
means, ‘I want mercy, and not sacrifice,’ YOU
would not have condemned the guiltless ones.
Jehovah gives his people laws and guidance in
matters of personal health and on being holy
before him. But he does this for people
and for his holiness. The Pharisees and
the Sadducees and those like them carry
Jehovah’s laws to an extreme for their
benefit, for their righteousness.
They condemn those for whom God made these
laws when others do not share an equally
extreme view of Jehovah’s laws. Again, the
laws they carry to an extreme are not those
where there is no excess, such as for mercy,
but those with extremes that provide a basis
for them to ‘condemn the guiltless ones.’
3) Teaching men’s commands as God’s
commands (Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13):
Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem
Pharisees and scribes, saying: “Why is it your
disciples overstep the tradition of the men of
former times? For example, they do not wash
their hands when about to eat a meal.” In
reply he said to them: “Why is it YOU also
overstep the commandment of God because of
YOUR tradition? For example, God said, ‘Honor
your father and your mother’; and, ‘Let him
that reviles father or mother end up in
death.’ But YOU say, ‘Whoever says to his
father or mother: “Whatever I have by which
you might get benefit from me is a gift
dedicated to God,” he must not honor his
father at all.’ And so YOU have made the word
of God invalid because of YOUR tradition. YOU
hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about YOU,
when he said, ‘This people honors me with
their lips, yet their heart is far removed
from me. It is in vain that they keep
worshiping me, because they teach commands of
men as doctrines.’”
The Pharisees and scribes and those like them
put too much emphasis on “the tradition of
men,” to the point where they “overstep the
commandment of God.” They take something good
(for example, God’s command to “honor your
father and your mother”) and they try to make
it “better” (in their minds, by requiring that
all such honor be “dedicated to God”), but in
the course of trying to honor him in this way
they invalidate his commands! This kind of
deception is one of the most despicable, for
it tricks one into breaking God’s commands for
the sake of God! Yet for this reason it is one
of the most alluring deceptions for those
desirous of pleasing God. Ultimately, however,
it only succeeds in trapping those who are
unwilling to see past the “commands of men” to
what “God said” (compare Isaiah 29:13).
4) Questioning the authority of others
to teach, rather than the teaching itself
(Matthew 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33; Luke
20:1-8):
And they came
again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in
the temple, the chief priests and the scribes
and the older men came to him and began to say
to him: “By what authority do you do these
things? or who gave you this authority to do
these things?” Jesus said to them: “I will ask
YOU one question. YOU answer me, and I will
also tell YOU by what authority I do these
things. Was the baptism by John from heaven or
from men? Answer me.” So they began to reason
among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From
heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why is it, therefore,
YOU did not believe him?’ But dare we say,
‘From men’?”—They were in fear of the crowd,
for these all held that John had really been a
prophet. Well, in reply to Jesus they said:
“We do not know.” And Jesus said to them:
“Neither am I telling YOU by what authority I
do these things.”
Instead of addressing the biblical basis for
what Jesus was teaching, “the chief priests
and the scribes and the older men” questioned
his authority to teach what he taught, and do
what he did. Rather than sit down with him and
“search and see” (compare John 7:52) what was
written in the biblical scrolls, to find out
if what he was saying had any merit, they for
the most part simply disregarded what he said
and instead they tried to undermine his right
to speak about such things in the first place.
Who was he to say such things, they thought?
“Who are you?” someone might ask. Frankly, who
do we have to be to speak the truth? Who do we
have to be to seek the truth? Quite simply, we
just have to have truth to speak it, or to
want truth to seek it.
5) “They like … to be called Rabbi by
men” (Matthew 23:2-7; Luke 11:43)
“The scribes
and the Pharisees have seated themselves in
the seat of Moses. Therefore all the things
they tell YOU, do and observe, but do not do
according to their deeds, for they say but do
not perform. They bind up heavy loads and put
them upon the shoulders of men, but they
themselves are not willing to budge them with
their finger. All the works they do they do to
be viewed by men; for they broaden the
[scripture-containing] cases that they wear as
safeguards, and enlarge the fringes [of their
garments]. They like the most prominent place
at evening meals and the front seats in the
synagogues, and the greetings in the
marketplaces and to be called Rabbi by men.”
There is nothing wrong, of course, with
getting an education, with using that
education to help others, and then being
acknowledged by others for your academic
achievements. But the Pharisees and Sadducees
and those similar to them “like” it. They like
being in the “seat of Moses” so others come to
them, and only to them, for ‘judgment’ and to
“inquire of God” (Deuteronomy 18:13-16).
Moreover, they want these things not so they
can help others, but in order to be “viewed
by” them. They like the prominence. They like
the power. They enjoy being addressed by
titles such as “Rabbi.” They want others to
acknowledge their religious devotion and then
treat them accordingly, comparatively with
others. So they make their reputation and
person known and visible to others in one way
or another, but not by their works (compare
James 2:24), for “they say but do not
perform.”
In thinking this way, “the scribes and the
Pharisees” become corrupt in mind, which
dramatically affects their ability to think
reasonably and with proper regard for others.
Instead of their knowledge and understanding
leading them to further repentance and
lowliness of mind toward others (compare
Philippians 2:1-8), they allow their learning
and position to create class distinctions and
a dependency on them for that which rightly
belongs to God. They not only want to be the
planters, but also the ones responsible for
‘making it grow,’ taking over God’s role in
the life of others (compare 1 Corinthians
3:6-7).
6) Use of “crafty device” to further
their desires (Matthew 26:3-4; Mark
14:1-2; Luke 22:1-2):
Then the chief
priests and the older men of the people
gathered together in the courtyard of the high
priest who was called Ca´ia·phas, and took
counsel together to seize Jesus by crafty
device and kill him. However, they kept
saying: “Not at the festival, in order that no
uproar may arise among the people.”
The “chief priests and the older men of the
people” and the scribes and the Pharisees and
those like them are cowards. Instead of
dealing with matters of religious and social
importance out in the open they use trickery
and “crafty device.” They question, not with
the intent to learn or even to righteously
challenge, but to “trap” people in their
speech (Matthew 22:15). They ‘observe closely’
those who threaten them, in order to do away
with them (Luke 20:20; compare Luke 11:54;
Psalm 37:32). They do not act in accordance
with God’s requirements for dealing with
disputes. Instead they put themselves out of
harm’s way by dealing with others secretly, so
that “no uproar may arise among the people.”
This is not Jesus’ way (Matthew 18:15-17).
But because they ‘love the glory of men more
than even the glory of God’ (John 12:43), the
scribes and the Pharisees and those like them
take God’s role upon themselves. Again, they
“like” it (Matthew 23:6-7), and they will use
“crafty device” to keep it. The result is that
others are misled and even kept from
confessing things they believe to be true, for
fear that they will be “expelled from the
synagogue” (John 12:42). Thus, once again,
“the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees”
and those like them suppresses truth through
fear.
7) Fear of losing their “place” (John
11:45-48):
Therefore [after Jesus resurrected Lazarus]
many of the Jews that had come to Mary and
that beheld what he did put faith in him; but
some of them went off to the Pharisees and
told them the things Jesus did. Consequently
the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered
the San´he·drin together and began to say:
“What are we to do, because this man performs
many signs? If we let him alone this way, they
will all put faith in him, and the Romans will
come and take away both our place and our
nation.”
The Greek word translated “place” in verse 48
is topos, which can mean “a place of
habitation” (such as Jerusalem), or a
“position held in a group” (A Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature, 3rd ed.,
edited and revised by Frederick W. Danker
[Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press,
2000], page 1011). Given the reference here to
the threat of “the Romans” to the Jewish
“nation,” topos likely refers to the
entire place of habitation, that is,
Jerusalem, which if removed would also
naturally take away the “position” or office
held by each member of the Jewish religious
and political society.
The “chief priests and the Pharisees” and
those with and like them are preoccupied by
fear, fear of losing ‘their place and their
nation.’ This fear occupies the place where
faith and love should be, because “there is no
fear in love, but perfect love throws fear
outside, because fear exercises a restraint”
(1 John 4:8). But if you love your position or
your “place” more than you love truth, then
you will constantly be in fear of losing it.
Such fear will affect your judgment and your
teaching, for it will ‘restrain’ you, as it
did the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes,
the chief priests, and the “older men,” from
accepting the truth (John 8:40). This in turn
will keep you from the Father, Jehovah, for
the Father is looking for those who ‘worship
him in truth’ (John 4:23; 8:54).
Conclusion
The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief
priests, the scribes, and others belonging to
the religious and political society of Judaism
in Jesus’ day, were looked upon by many in
first-century Judaism as the people of God.
These men were “Abraham’s offspring” (John
8:33, 37). They claimed to be “disciples of
Moses” (John 9:28). They were the most “versed
in the Law” (Luke 7:30; 11:45-46, 52; 14:3).
They controlled the synagogues (John 9:22;
12:42). They controlled the Jewish Sanhedrin,
or high court (Mark 14:55; Luke 15:1; 22:66;
John 11:47). Yet, Jesus condemned them over,
and over, and over again (Matthew 23:13-39;
Luke 11:42-54).
The reason they stood condemned before Jesus,
in spite of all the reasons people might offer
to the contrary, as cited above, was because
they “disregarded weightier matters of the
Law, namely, justice and mercy and
faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). The allowed
their minds and their teachings to become
corrupt and to ‘take away the key of
knowledge,’ causing spiritual ruin to
themselves and harm to others (Luke 11:52).
Truly, then, the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
the chief priests, the older men, and the
scribes were not the people of God, regardless
of what they thought or how others perceived
them. But that did not mean that some from
among them could not rise up and restore honor
to the Jewish faith, and then establish it as
revealed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Indeed, some not only could, but did (Acts
23:6; Romans 1:16-17; Galatians 3:23-25), with
a little help (Acts 9:3-9).
But the Seven Leavens and other false and
misleading teachings of the Jewish religious
leaders and scholars of the first century did
not die with them. Today we all face the
danger of having our faith in God and our
desire to help others become “corrupted away
from the sincerity and the chastity that are
due the Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). There
are, as there were in Jesus’ and in Paul’s
day, “false apostles [and] deceitful workers,”
those who like Satan himself ‘keep
transforming themselves into angels of light’
(2 Corinthians 11:13, 14). Though “their end
shall be according to their works,” (2
Corinthians 11:15), as was also the case with
the Pharisees and the Sadducees and those like
them (John 3:19), if we are not careful we
might also fall victim to such teachings,
perhaps without ever realizing it (John 16:2).
While we have the example of the wicked
religious and scholarly men who opposed Jesus
to serve as a warning, Jesus also set a
pattern for those who would follow in his
footsteps, and he also said that his true
followers would display certain “fruits”
(Matthew 7:16, 20). But what are these
“fruits,” according to the Bible? Is there one
‘fruit’ in particular that stands out above
all others? I think there is, and it will be
the subject of Part Two in this series on “The
People of God.”
Greg Stafford
For IN MEDIO (March 1, 2007).
