For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
mathew 5 v 17-20
Modern Christians tend to see the Pharisees in a negative light—mostly because the New Testament authors portray the Pharisees as legalistic and hypocritical. While that might describe their confrontations with Jesus/ Yashya and early Christians/ believers. It hardly tells the whole story of this important Jewish/ hebrew group.
By preserving and advocating for the importance of oral tradition, which was believed to have been handed from God/Ahayah to Moses along with the Torah. The Pharisees played an integral role in giving us both the Talmud (the written record of the oral tradition) and the Masoretic Text (the original/oldest Hebrew Bible, which relied on oral tradition to correctly identify and pronounce ambiguous words).
So at least in part, Christians can thank the Pharisees for ensuring the Old Testament was so carefully preserved. But beyond emphasizing oral tradition, the Pharisees also helped Judaism prepare for life after the Romans destroyed Herod’s temple, and they helped Jews/ hebrews apply and obey the Mosaic Law in everyday Jewish life. ( Who Were the Pharisees? The Beginner’s Guide – OverviewBible )
They were also a sect that originally were extremely righteous and kept the torah . They even added rules around the commandments to prevent themselves from breaking them. These rules later became traditions that mattered more to them than the commandments.
Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”
John 7 v 19
So how did they loose their way. Here they were reprimanded by Yahsya/ Jesus about putting tradition over the torah/ word. They were also called white washed sepulchers by Him, which implies that they were presenting an image that they did not sustain on the inside.
Making the word of God/Yah of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Mark 7 v 13
They also were more vigilant in keeping the less important commandments than the major ones. While trying to appear righteous to others outwardly.
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone.
Mathew 23 v 23
How are we like them
We have many traditions like Christmas etc that we take more seriously than the word. We also have paid more attention to less important commandments than major ones as they did. We also say and do not do.
The world is full of traditions that is derived from pagan practices. “Paganism is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians/ Believers for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism.”
So basically it is any religion or group that does not worship or is in covenant with The Most high. Yisreal was chosen by Him to be in covenant with Him. And He revealed His commandments and His ways to them but other nations had to join them in order to be in covenant with Him.
…and when Ahayah your God/Elohim delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Most high will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their [a]wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 “For you are a [b]holy/set apart people to the Most high your God/Elohim; Ahayah your God/Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
deuteronomy 7 v 2-6
So basically in order to serve The Almighty we need to be set apart, which means we should not be doing what everyone else is doing who don’t really know Him. We should also be only doing the things that He commanded us to do.
“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God/Yah will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God/Yah will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy/set apart city,
revelation 22 v 18-19
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 Most high your God /Elohim which I command you.
When Constantine wanted to unite his kingdom , he arranged the council of nicea and merged the practices of the pagans with the biblical ways. He created the Roman Catholic Church. In doing so many paganistic practices were incorporated into the church. The mother of all modern churches are rooted in the Roman Catholic church.
How are we like them
Most of us read the word but don’t literally obey it or even believe it. We lean to our own understanding and our own culture.
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
Mrk 76
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.
And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God/Yah in order to observe[c] your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[d] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[e]11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother.
Acts 7 v 9
There is no real respect and regard for parents in our modern society. They are not treated with honor but often ignored and disrespected.
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Acts 7 v 20
The laws about sexuality are largely ignored by most churches from the pulpit to the pew. Pastors sleeping with members is common. members sleeping around with members and others is common. Malice and bitterness are commonplace and seen as trivial. Slander and backbiting are the order of the day. The teaching about grace has given them a license to sin, because it has become a false teaching.
For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly/unrighteous people, who pervert the grace of our God/ Elohim into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Master.
Jude 1
Pointing the finger
Most believers are walking around with sin in the heart, while they accuse others who they see doing religious’ activities as being pharisees. Yes if the law is only being kept outwardly and conveniently then that is hypocrisy because it is to be written in the heart. But since the scriptures tells us that we should take the beam out of our own eyes before correcting someone else. Who then qualifies to point the finger on this one.
Since messiah said looking at a woman is adultery and hating your brother is murder.
“You have heard that it was said [a]to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Mathew 5 v 27
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. [
John 8 v 7
Keeping the law is not legalistic or pharisaical, pretending to outwardly while not doing so inwardly is the real problem. The messiah did not do away with the law. He had no problems with it. What he had a problem with was the traditions being made more important . And the minor laws being kept while the major ones were ignored.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mathew 5 v 17
So really we are all like the pharisees if we do not root up the sin in our hearts through confession and repentance. So that we actually walk in love.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4 v 22