Hypocrisy and Error

Author: Joseph

Date: February 14, 2021

Sometimes people create seemingly “biblical” traditions with the guise that those same traditions are meant to direct peoples’ attention to what the Scriptures teach but, instead, they really distort the Scriptures into self-serving rituals or even disguised sinful acts. This has precedent in the Scriptures themselves and we will learn it can devastate well-meaning faithfulness.

Yeshua had a confrontation with the Pharisees who directly accused His disciples, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread?” (Matthew 15:2). While this may seem irrelevant to the distortion of Scripture, it is indeed relevant. It seems irrelevant only because it is such a far stretch of the truth. The Pharisees developed this tradition of ritual handwashing with the purpose of attempting to broadly apply a commandment that was only meant for the priests of the tabernacle (and temple) in which they were commanded to wash their hands before performing any sacrifices – and consequentially before eating anything that was included in their portion of the sacrifice (cf. Exodus 30:17-21; ex. Leviticus. 6:17-18). Instead of simply recognizing the commandment for the priests and applying it as God intended, the Pharisees broadened the scope of the commandment in an attempt to create a sense of “holiness” that was not required, nor intended by God.

Yeshua directly rebutted them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3). He pointed directly to the flaw of their accusation: they were basing their judgment and their accusation on the tradition of men and not in the Scripture. The Pharisees had no real argument against Yeshua’s disciples because their standard of discernment was distorted and divergent from God’s truth.

He then addressed their hypocrisy, citing their breaking of God’s commandments for their own tradition in regards to honoring parents and not speaking evil of them (Matthew 15:4-6). The Pharisees broke both of these commandments by adhering to their hypocritical traditions.

Yeshua quoted Isaiah in regards to their hypocrisy and then addressed their hypocrisy Himself by reteaching the audience who was listening to His rebuttal. Yeshua stated, “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man” (Matthew 15:11). Eating without washed hands did not defile either His disciples, nor anyone that did not adhere to that man-made tradition. What truly defiled people was the traditions and teaching the Pharisees were speaking from their mouths. Their hypocritical traditions and distorted understanding of Scripture defiled many people and led them astray from true obedience to God.

The Pharisees’ words had a great impact on the people in Israel. The people relied on their religious leaders for guidance, especially under Roman rule which was violently opposed to God’s teachings. The Pharisees, instead of helping the people seek God with their hearts and rely on Him, were instead leading the people to heavily rely on and honor themselves. The people felt vulnerable under Roman rule and were trapped into trusting religious leaders that did not have their best interest in mind. The people were being misled to honor men and be submissive to traditions rather than honor God and submit to His teachings. The Pharisees had created idols of themselves and became stumbling blocks to the people, separating people from God by leading them astray.

"Yeshua... wisely and discerningly used His knowledge of Scripture to boldly oppose anything that attempted to contradict it."

In our society today there are many religious leaders who live hypocritically – not in reference to those that occasionally and unintentionally sin (who is perfect, after all?), but referring to those that actually know they are misleading people in one way or another for their own selfish benefit. Even worse, there are those in society today who have been taught by these hypocritical religious leaders who genuinely believe that they have been taught the “truth” even though they have been misled. The Pharisees certainly had very loyal followers who trusted their teachings as inerrant and continued to teach their distortions to others. Today is no different. So, how do we ensure that we are not caught in this same hypocrisy or teaching others to do the same? Just remember how Yeshua responded to the Pharisees. Yeshua used the word of God, the written Scripture, and He wisely and discerningly used His knowledge of Scripture to boldly oppose anything that attempted to contradict it.

Learn the Scripture well, as Yeshua did, so that you can defend yourself from being misled into obeying errant traditions. Seek the wisdom of God’s Word, His truth, so that no man can lead you away with hypocritical teachings.

Matthew 15: 1 - 11

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Copyright by The Lockman Foundation (www.lockman.org).