Matthew 23:13-15 13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 14[Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.] 15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go around the sea and dry land to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Jesus next gives seven “woes” to the scribes and Pharisees for how they were acting. Each of these statements reflects in some way the opening ideas of this chapter. These are strong words of warning and conviction. Woe is a word that expresses sorrow over a person’s situation or outcome. Jesus saw the direction they were taking and knew that it would bring sorrow and eventual condemnation. He looked at them with compassion, not judgment. His words should have been interpreted as a warning and brought conviction. This was their last opportunity to repent and accept the authority of Jesus. Luke records a similar event in Luke 11:42-52.
Jesus uses strong words like hypocrites through the chapter. Verse 13 begins the strong rebukes about the affect of the misguided piety of the scribes and Pharisees upon other people. The word “hypocrite” was used for actors who put on face masks to make themselves look like someone else. Being a hypocrite means pretending to be someone or something other than what one actually is. These Jews made people think they were religious, holy, and sincere, but deep down, they lacked the power of God. They may have looked holy on the outside but their hearts were corrupted. As a result of their false testimony and focus on ritual, they were keeping people from God’s kingdom. They set up so many rules that no one could keep them all. They defined holiness by following a set of laws that were their own interpretation. They deceived themselves into thinking that they were righteous before God but far from God’s will for them.
Verse 14 is not found in the best and earliest manuscripts but is included here for reference. Scribes at some point copied this verse from Mark 12:40 or Luke 20:47. Even some of the manuscripts that have this verse put it in different locations before or after verse 13, demonstrating that it was inserted on purpose at some point. It also makes the woes total eight. Seven is the perfect round number in the Bible and would more naturally fit Jesus’ style. The focus of verse 14 is on how the scribes and Pharisees were financially greedy and pompous in their prayer. They think they are doing God’s will but were far from it.
Verse 15 hints at their missionary enterprise. The Pharisees were known for their efforts to make converts to Judaism. The problem was not their goal but the result because they ended up making disciples of themselves rather than God. Saul the young Pharisee had that same fervor, as indicated in Acts 8:1-3 and Galatians 1:14. His Pharisaic zeal was transformed by the indwelling Spirit of God to inspire him to be a great missionary to the Gentile world. Zeal and religious piety can be good things and inspire us to do great things for God, but we must keep the focus on God’s glory and not making ourselves look good. The danger of holy living is that it can shift the focus from loving God and loving neighbor to loving oneself. Holy living, piety, and religious zeal must be constantly laid at the foot of the cross and be means of grace rather than grace itself.
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