Paul and the Pharisees
In a previous blog post I wrote this statement about the necessity of the Law in our conversion. “Yet it was, that without that fledgling obedience they never would have come to God. That sounds like a paradox or even heresy to some Evangelical Christians. But the inside scoop is that the apostolic Christians came to faith through the Law! (Gal. 3:22-24). Now that begs a question! And that question is this: How did the Christians get to Christ through the Law, but the Pharisees couldn’t?” I would like to pursue the answer to that most important question.
The difference lie in the fact that the Pharisees didn’t come to know Jesus because they didn’t keep all the Law. They broke Moses’ foundational rule. “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deut. 4:1,2). “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul...” (Deut. 11:13).
They failed to keep all of God’s Law given through Moses, including the loving and serving the Lord, and, instead, turned to a designer religion. “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.” (Is. 29:13). They kept only the laws that were suited to their inclinations. They tailored God’s will to their own. The things they found easy to do became the whole of the law to them, and the things they couldn’t find easy they tritely ignored as unnecessary or impossible. Categorically speaking, outward actions are easy to perform because of the applause we get from people who are naturally awed by them. With all that human praise behind us we push on and put ourselves more and more into the center of attention. This became the whole of religion. (Jn. 12:43;Matt. 6:2,6,16). But the secret life, where God alone sees, was left undeveloped and unkempt. The real heart of the Pharisee was godless and empty of God’s graces (Matt.5:20), this being the natural bent of fallen man. (Matt. 16:23). Thus they couldn’t recognize the Son of God when He came; and thus they missed out on salvation due to their designer religion.
When Paul wrote, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10), he wasn’t referring to the precepts of God, but those that Isaiah had referred to, the traditions of men that had been added to the heaven-inspired law of Moses: a meticulous religion of “days, and months, and times, and years” (Gal. 4:10), “washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables” (Mk. 7:4), “and many other such like things,” “laying aside the commandment of God,” and holding to the “tradition of men.” (Mk. 7:8).
If they had worked to accomplish all of God’s Law—even the 613 Mosaic laws—and declined their prided mountain of man-made laws in the Mishnah, they would have become vulnerable to the God of Moses, and would have responded to Him as had Moses and all the other prophets. They wouldn’t have perpetuated the proud attitude of their fathers who said, “All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. We’re pretty good and our natural willpower is pretty strong.” Instead it would have been, “There is no way! I’ve got to have Your help. I can’t climb Your mountain of righteousness unless You give me some supernatural power to scales those impossible heights!”
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” (Is. 1:10-15).
The same people who were so religious in outwardly serving God were also the ones who secretly followed pagan practices.
“A people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” (Is. 65:3-5).
“And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.” (Ez. 8:16).
“So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.”(2Kings 17:41).
Were they following all the Law? If we look, we will find that they never even tried. If they would have sought the Lord for obedience they would have found Him. “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”(Matt. 7:8). “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6). Only those who desperately needed to obey God made it to Him for a relationship. It is this experiential knowledge of God’s grace, through obedience to His Law, that alone can save us from the control of the devil. An intellectual, theoretical, theological knowledge will never bring us to reconciliation and peace with God.
“Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart,’ to add drunkenness to thirst.” (Deut. 29:18,19). “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” (Heb. 12:15).
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1 Tim 4:1, 2).
By the time St. Jerome lived (347-420), the church had lost its first love; it had fallen completely away from God and His law and gospel, and true heart conversion was rare indeed. The standards dropped, allowing pagans to join the Christians, neither group having a change of life. Money had begun to be the motivating force of the church and the race for wealth and political power among the church leaders determined the direction of the recognized church. The same condition found in Judaism returned centuries later to the church, which Paul warned against to the believers at Rome, “Boast not against the branches [Israel].… Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (Rom. 11:18-22). But in spite of the warning, the Spirit of God left them as He had the Jews four centuries prior to the incarnation of the Messiah. Pagan Egyptian asceticism took the place of spirituality and Jerome fell into that discipline in order to find peace. The vacuum left by the ignorance of God’s love gnawed at the church as it gnawed at Jerome.
We get an inside view of the praised doctor of papal theology, recorded in the book, Truth Triumphant, in the chapter, VIGILANTIUS, LEADER OF THE WALDENSES
If the thunders of Jerome had not been turned against Helvidius, we would know less concerning him [Helvidius]…. That part of the ecclesiastical system of the fourth century, which was peculiarly ascetic and rigid, found an impersonation in Jerome, who exhibited its worst and most repulsive traits in the whole tenor of his life and conversation. Sourness, bitterness, envy, intolerance, and dissatisfaction with every manifestation of sanctity which did not come up to his own standard, had become habitual to him, and were betrayed in almost everything that he wrote, said, or did. Censoriousness, and the spirit of invective, were amongst his most strongly marked failings, and the very best men of the age did not escape his censure.”…. Jovinian drew the wrath of Jerome because he taught that the lives of married people, all other things being equal, are fully as acceptable in the sight of God as those who are not married; that eating with thanksgiving is as commendable with God as abstemiousness; and that all who are faithful to their baptismal vows will be equally rewarded at the day of judgment. Because of this, Jerome said that Jovinian had “the hissing of the old serpent,” “nauseating trash,” and “the devil’s poisonous concoction.” Vigilantius was convinced that the new system of austerities, processions, and sacraments did not result in making men preeminently happy and holy.
Here we see in the Dark Ages, that the same rejection of God’s law and of the form of service to Him that He had established led to the same failed condition in spirituality among the people as had plagued the Pharisees and religious leaders in Christ’s day. “Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” (1Thess. 2:15,16). In the wrath of God we see the increasing strength of Satan’s control. God had given them up to satanic control. It took the strong armies of Rome to finally wrestle them to the ground, which wasn’t easy even for Rome.
Thus, later for the same causes, the Church of Rome adopted the same fallen religion and received the same evil traits of character as did the Jews whom God finally rejected. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” (Heb. 3:12). “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them [Israel]: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Heb. 4:1,2). “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17). “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:25).
The difference lie in the fact that the Pharisees didn’t come to know Jesus because they didn’t keep all the Law. They broke Moses’ foundational rule. “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deut. 4:1,2). “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul...” (Deut. 11:13).
They failed to keep all of God’s Law given through Moses, including the loving and serving the Lord, and, instead, turned to a designer religion. “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.” (Is. 29:13). They kept only the laws that were suited to their inclinations. They tailored God’s will to their own. The things they found easy to do became the whole of the law to them, and the things they couldn’t find easy they tritely ignored as unnecessary or impossible. Categorically speaking, outward actions are easy to perform because of the applause we get from people who are naturally awed by them. With all that human praise behind us we push on and put ourselves more and more into the center of attention. This became the whole of religion. (Jn. 12:43;Matt. 6:2,6,16). But the secret life, where God alone sees, was left undeveloped and unkempt. The real heart of the Pharisee was godless and empty of God’s graces (Matt.5:20), this being the natural bent of fallen man. (Matt. 16:23). Thus they couldn’t recognize the Son of God when He came; and thus they missed out on salvation due to their designer religion.
When Paul wrote, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10), he wasn’t referring to the precepts of God, but those that Isaiah had referred to, the traditions of men that had been added to the heaven-inspired law of Moses: a meticulous religion of “days, and months, and times, and years” (Gal. 4:10), “washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables” (Mk. 7:4), “and many other such like things,” “laying aside the commandment of God,” and holding to the “tradition of men.” (Mk. 7:8).
If they had worked to accomplish all of God’s Law—even the 613 Mosaic laws—and declined their prided mountain of man-made laws in the Mishnah, they would have become vulnerable to the God of Moses, and would have responded to Him as had Moses and all the other prophets. They wouldn’t have perpetuated the proud attitude of their fathers who said, “All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. We’re pretty good and our natural willpower is pretty strong.” Instead it would have been, “There is no way! I’ve got to have Your help. I can’t climb Your mountain of righteousness unless You give me some supernatural power to scales those impossible heights!”
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” (Is. 1:10-15).
The same people who were so religious in outwardly serving God were also the ones who secretly followed pagan practices.
“A people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” (Is. 65:3-5).
“And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.” (Ez. 8:16).
“So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.”(2Kings 17:41).
Were they following all the Law? If we look, we will find that they never even tried. If they would have sought the Lord for obedience they would have found Him. “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”(Matt. 7:8). “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6). Only those who desperately needed to obey God made it to Him for a relationship. It is this experiential knowledge of God’s grace, through obedience to His Law, that alone can save us from the control of the devil. An intellectual, theoretical, theological knowledge will never bring us to reconciliation and peace with God.
“Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart,’ to add drunkenness to thirst.” (Deut. 29:18,19). “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” (Heb. 12:15).
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1 Tim 4:1, 2).
By the time St. Jerome lived (347-420), the church had lost its first love; it had fallen completely away from God and His law and gospel, and true heart conversion was rare indeed. The standards dropped, allowing pagans to join the Christians, neither group having a change of life. Money had begun to be the motivating force of the church and the race for wealth and political power among the church leaders determined the direction of the recognized church. The same condition found in Judaism returned centuries later to the church, which Paul warned against to the believers at Rome, “Boast not against the branches [Israel].… Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (Rom. 11:18-22). But in spite of the warning, the Spirit of God left them as He had the Jews four centuries prior to the incarnation of the Messiah. Pagan Egyptian asceticism took the place of spirituality and Jerome fell into that discipline in order to find peace. The vacuum left by the ignorance of God’s love gnawed at the church as it gnawed at Jerome.
We get an inside view of the praised doctor of papal theology, recorded in the book, Truth Triumphant, in the chapter, VIGILANTIUS, LEADER OF THE WALDENSES
If the thunders of Jerome had not been turned against Helvidius, we would know less concerning him [Helvidius]…. That part of the ecclesiastical system of the fourth century, which was peculiarly ascetic and rigid, found an impersonation in Jerome, who exhibited its worst and most repulsive traits in the whole tenor of his life and conversation. Sourness, bitterness, envy, intolerance, and dissatisfaction with every manifestation of sanctity which did not come up to his own standard, had become habitual to him, and were betrayed in almost everything that he wrote, said, or did. Censoriousness, and the spirit of invective, were amongst his most strongly marked failings, and the very best men of the age did not escape his censure.”…. Jovinian drew the wrath of Jerome because he taught that the lives of married people, all other things being equal, are fully as acceptable in the sight of God as those who are not married; that eating with thanksgiving is as commendable with God as abstemiousness; and that all who are faithful to their baptismal vows will be equally rewarded at the day of judgment. Because of this, Jerome said that Jovinian had “the hissing of the old serpent,” “nauseating trash,” and “the devil’s poisonous concoction.” Vigilantius was convinced that the new system of austerities, processions, and sacraments did not result in making men preeminently happy and holy.
Here we see in the Dark Ages, that the same rejection of God’s law and of the form of service to Him that He had established led to the same failed condition in spirituality among the people as had plagued the Pharisees and religious leaders in Christ’s day. “Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” (1Thess. 2:15,16). In the wrath of God we see the increasing strength of Satan’s control. God had given them up to satanic control. It took the strong armies of Rome to finally wrestle them to the ground, which wasn’t easy even for Rome.
Thus, later for the same causes, the Church of Rome adopted the same fallen religion and received the same evil traits of character as did the Jews whom God finally rejected. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” (Heb. 3:12). “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them [Israel]: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Heb. 4:1,2). “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17). “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:25).
posted by David | 6:26 AM
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