More on the Pharisees

A reader commented of my previous post about Scot McKnight’s talk on the Pharisees that "Jesus did call the Pharisees hypocrites". His right. Jesus did call the Pharisees “hupokrites” (only in Matthew, I think), but Scot McKnight mentions in passing that the Greek word has a much broader meaning than the English word “hypocrite”. However, he does not elaborate further in his talk, so you will have to go to his book to fully understand what he meant.

A quick look at Strongs indicates that the word “hupokrites” also means “actor” and “interpreter”. These meanings are linked. Actors interpret the world to the people who watch their plays. The Pharisees did see themselves as interpreters of the Torah for the Jewish people, so I guess that is what Scot meant.

Jesus confronted the Pharisees. He did accuse them of not practising what they preached. “They say and do not do” (Matt 23:3). However, his critique goes much further than that. He said that many of their interpretations of the Torah were wrong and made the faith extremely difficult for new disciples. Their interpretations also pushed the Jewish people away from the Kingdom of God.

Interestingly, Scot suggests that the modern equivalent of the Pharisees in the United States are the evangelicals. They believe that their interpretation of the gospel is the correct one, and they come down hard on anyone who disagrees with their interpretation. They believe that their nation needs their interpretation of the gospel to become strong again.

Scot says that he would not call evangelical hypocrites, because although some of their beliefs are wrong, they are sincere in their beliefs.

I presume that any religious group that sets a high standard for themselves will inevitably fail to meet that standard at times, soi will be open to the charge of hypocrisy. The higher your standards, the more likely it is that you will fail. It is better to aim high and miss occasionally than to set easy goals.

Pharisees

Scot McKnight has an interesting talk about the Pharisees. They are not quite what many Christians assume. He says we should not accuse any religious group of being hypocrites. It is not fair, and never true of everyone in the group.

Scot translates the word Greek word for Pharisees as “The Observants”.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls called the Pharisees “Seekers of Smooth Stones”. They were looking for interpretations that made the law easier to follow.

• The Essenes were conservatives. They thought the Pharisees were too liberal.

• The Sadducees were also conservative. They were the “sons of Zadok”, so they were the true priestly families. They also held political power in Jerusalem.

• The Pharisees were a reformed movement reacting to encroaching hellenisation (Greek influence through Jews in the Greed Diaspora).

• The Pharisees were trying to help the ordinary people obey the law. They believed their nation must go back to obedience to the law, and they expected the people to accept their interpretations. Religious groups have a tendency to claim that they have got things right and that if the people follow their guidance, they will be right with God.

• The Pharisees sometimes added to the law. For example, they suggested fines instead of stoning. For the Sabbath, they made rules that would help the people know what they could and could not do on the Sabbath. They were trying to make the law practical for ordinary people to understand and apply.

• The Pharisees were a populist movement. They had pastoral and social skills, because their teaching was popular with the people (until Jesus came along with better interpretation and greater authority).