When our Lord Jesus was on the earth he showed love and compassion to almost all types of people - Jews, Romans, Samaritans, all types of sinners, tax collectors, etc. He was gentle and kind to them but there was one group of people that He hated. He called the hypocrites, fools, white washed tombs, serpents, brood of vipers, etc. Who was He talking about? That is right, Pharisees and Scribes.

In fact, this is what He warned the people who wished to follow Him.

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven - Matthew 5:20

This the word God has given to us for 2019!!

We need to study why He gave this Word… We wouldn’t want Him to say the same words about us – replacing the word Pharisee….

So who were the Pharisees – a bit of History:

The Pharisees emerged as a distinct group in between the Old and New Testaments, about 165–160 BCE
The Pharisees emerged as a party of laymen and scribes in contradistinction to the Sadducees—i.e., the party of the high priesthood that had traditionally provided the sole leadership of the Jewish people.
The basic difference that led to the split between the Pharisees and the Sadducees lay in their respective attitudes toward the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the problem of finding in it answers to contemporary questions.
Sadducees, on the one hand, refused to accept any precept as binding unless it was based directly on the Torah—i.e., the Written Law.
About 100 BCE a long struggle ensued as the Pharisees tried to democratize the Jewish religion and remove it from the control of the Temple priests.
After the destruction of the Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, it was the synagogue and the schools of the Pharisees that continued to function and to promote Judaism in the long centuries following the Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jews beyond Israel. Jews living outside Israel)
The Pharisees, believed that the Law that God gave to Moses was twofold, consisting of the Written Law and the Oral Law—i.e., the teachings of the prophets and the oral traditions of the Jewish people as referenced by Jesus in Mark 7/ Matt 15
Their insistence on oral tradition (“the unwritten Torah”) still remains a basic component of Jewish theological thought, the Talmud - the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law and legend. The Pharisees added to the Law of Moses by clarifying all 613 Laws and adding things to the Laws to help people adhere to the Law better.
These instructions began to be emphasized to the level that adherence to the additional instructions became as important as obedience to the original commandment from God.

God’s intent in giving the Law vs Righteousness of the Pharisees

So the Pharisees added to the Law of Moses by clarifying all 613 Laws and adding things to the Laws to help people adhere to the Law better. Basically, they added through the oral teachings of the Rabbis even more Laws to follow. For example, one of the Ten Commandments given by God was to honor the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy (Exodus 20:8). The teachings of the Rabbis added to this commandment 39 instructions on how to do this perfectly including around 600 tasks that qualify as works!

Example: Matthew 15:1-9

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. ²Now ^[^a^]when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, ^[^b^]they found fault. ³For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ^[^c^]in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. ⁴When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. ⁵Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” ⁶He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
⁷And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—^[^d^]the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” ⁹He said to them, “All too well you ^[^e^]reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

The Yoke of the Pharisees

The “yoke of the Pharisees” is the burdensome yoke of self-righteousness and legalistic law-keeping. For example, it has been said by biblical scholars that the Pharisees had added over 600 regulations regarding what qualified as “working” on the Sabbath. That is a heavy burden!

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Can you think of any man-made rules, traditions of our cultures, churches, etc., that have made it into mainstream Christianity??

They are called by a different name - Legalism

Three Types of Legalism by R.C. Sproul Jul 29, 2016

Legalism manifests itself in many subtle ways. Basically, legalism involves abstracting the law of God from its original context. To be preoccupied in the Christian life with obeying rules and regulations, and perceive Christianity as being a series of do’s and don’ts, cold and deadly set of moral principles.

The first form of legalism is concerned merely with the keeping of God’s law as an end in itself (Catholicism).

The legalist isolates the law from the God who gave the law.
He is not so much seeking to obey God or honor Christ as he is to obey rules that are devoid of any personal relationship. There’s no love, joy, life, or passion. It’s a mechanical form of law-keeping.
The legalist focuses only on obeying bare rules, destroying the broader context of God’s love and redemption in which He gave His law in the first place.

The second form of legalism divorces the letter of the law from the spirit of the law. It obeys the letter but violates the spirit.

This second type of legalism can be illustrated by the Pharisees who confronted Jesus over healing on the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:9–14).

⁹Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned ^[^a^]Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him.¹¹And He said to them, “What man ^[^b^]is there among you who ^[^c^]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do ^[^d^]good on the Sabbath.”

These teachers missed the spirit of the law, which was directed against ordinary labor that is not required to maintain life and not against efforts to heal the sick.

The third type of legalism adds our own rules to God’s law and treats them as divine.

It is the most common and deadly form of legalism. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees at this very point, saying, “You teach human traditions as if they were the word of God.”
We have no right to heap up restrictions and enslave people where He has no stated restriction. For example, the Bible doesn’t say that we can’t play cards or have a glass of wine with dinner. We can’t make these matters the external test of authentic Christianity. That would be a deadly violation of the gospel. The gospel calls men to repentance, holiness, and godliness. But woe to us if we add unnecessarily by distorting the true nature of Christianity by combining it with legalism.
Because Christianity is concerned with morality, righteousness, and ethics, we can easily make that subtle move from a passionate concern for godly morality into legalism if we are not careful.

So how do we get out from under the yoke of the pharisee?

Matthew 11: 30

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am[f]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” - NKJV

We must first understand what a yoke is.

The figurative use of "yoke" in the sense of "servitude" is intensely obvious (compare especially Jer 27, 28). Attention needs to be called only to Lamentations 3:27, where "disciplining sorrow" is meant, and to Jeremiah 5:5, where the phrase is a figure for "the law of God." This last use became popular with the Jews at a later period and it is in this sense the phrase is employed. by Christ in Matthew 11:29 "My yoke" here means "the service of God as I teach it" The contrast is not between "yoke" and "no yoke," but between "my teaching" (light yoke) and "the current scribal teaching'; (heavy yoke).

In Jesus’s time, many people referred to Him as Rabbi. His disciples (Luke 7:40), lawyers (Matt. 22:35-36), ordinary people (Luke 12:13), the rich (Matt. 19:16), Pharisees (Luke 19:39), and Sadducees (Luke 20:27-28). Jesus fit the description of a first century rabbi especially one at the most advanced level, the one sought by talmidim.

Rabbis invited people to learn to keep the Torah. This was called taking "the yoke of Torah" or "the yoke of the kingdom of heaven". Rabbi's with s'mikhah would have a new interpretation or yoke.

The decision to follow a rabbi as a talmid meant total commitment in the first century as it does today. Since a talmid was totally devoted to becoming like the rabbi he would have spent his entire time listening and observing the teacher to know how to understand the Scripture and how to put it into practice. Jesus describes his relationship to his disciples in exactly this way (Matt. 10:24-25; Luke 6:40) He chose them to be with him (Mark 3:13-19) so they could be like him (John 13:15).

So in effect, the disciples came under the yoke of Jesus the Christ! This is what He was referencing in

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” – Message

The Yoke of Jesus- His interpretation of the Law of God! He simplified it into two commandments!

He is in effect saying, come out from under the yoke of legalistic rules made by the pharisees (or present-day Christians). You don’t need to keep the thousands of needless rules they added to the commandments of God. I will show you the right interpretation by focusing on love, grace, a change in heart and attitude. I will show you an easier way…

This is precisely what He was teaching in Matthew 5. This chapter will make a lot more sense now that we understand this context of the yoke.

Conclusion:

Our Righteousness

Whose Yoke is our righteousness based on?

Can you think of any man made rules, traditions of our cultures, churches, etc., we have added to the Word of God and not only observe them religiously but also judge others because they don’t follow our rules?

Matt 23: 4 -For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders

Do we live to show our “righteousness” before men? - Matt 23: 5-7 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. ⁶They love the ^[^b^]best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

Are we guilty of any of the three legalistic yokes?

Focus on rules and not the Law Giver

Ignoring the spirit of the Law – God’s heart

Adding our own rules to God’s law and teaching as doctrines

Surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees

Matthew 23: 8-12

But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰Do not be called ^[^b^]leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. ¹¹But the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Matthew5 ¹³“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how ^[^e^]can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

Future study

8 Woes in Matthew 23

Spirit of the law in Mathew 5

Category: 2026

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