QUESTION #35 Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

  QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED BIBLE STUDY

     Read Matthew 23 KJV: 

 

  Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? (Matthew 23:17)

  Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? (Matthew 23:19)

  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Matthew 23:33)

 

THE SEVEN WOES

Reference: Matthew 23

 

The 23^rd chapter in the book of Matthew is a notorious chapter that is commonly referred to as “the Seven Woes”, and entails Jesus criticizing the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Jesus is issuing a warning to the people about the “teachers of the law and the Pharisees.”

 

The Jewish religious and political leaders of Jerusalem tried their best to discredit Jesus and undermine His authority. In chapter 23, Jesus now turns the tables, attacking their leadership and authority. He accuses them of wrongfully exercising authority in “the seat Moses”. If their assumed role was legitimate, then everything they said should have been followed and preserved. But what they say must be judged by what they do. You might call this the height of hypocrisy “behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel”.  Jesus then goes on to show that they are complete hypocrites, and thus should not be followed.

 

Jesus said, “Whatsoever they tell you to observe, observe that and do; but do not do as they do, for they say, and do not” (vs 3). In other words, they do not practice what they preach.

 

To begin with, all that they do are things to be seen of men. They spend all their energy creating massive burdens to place upon the people, and yet will not lift so much as a finger to remove them (vs 4). They were supposed to know God and help others know Him and follow His ways. Instead, they added to God’s Law, making burdens too heavy to carry. And, while they do not have any compassion towards those they lead, they delight in the honor and status that these common folks bestow upon them. They love the seats of honor and the titles that set them apart from and above the rest (vs 5-6).

 

Jesus uses the scribes and Pharisees as examples of what not to do. He cautions His disciples not to take titles for themselves that distinguish some of them above their brothers, nor to accept titles that rightly belong to the Father or Christ. In His kingdom, it is the humble who are exalted, while those who exalt themselves will be humbled (vs 11-12).

 

In verse 13, Jesus pronounces “woes” on the scribes and Pharisees. Woe is a word used to express grief, regret, or distress. This was not the first time Jesus had some harsh words for the religious leaders of His day. Why did Jesus rebuke them so harshly here? Looking at each woe gives some insight.

 

In the first woe (vs 13), after rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus lamented over a rebellious Jerusalem. Jesus clearly cares for His people, He desires for them to know Him and to enter into His kingdom. It stands to reason, then, that He would have harsh words for those who prevented people from finding salvation. The teachers of the Law were not truly seeking after God, though they acted as if they were. Their religion was empty and they could not see the kingdom of God even when He was standing among them (Luke 17:20-21), and their unbelief was preventing others from following the Messiah.

 

In the second woe (vs 14), Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees for making strenuous efforts to win converts, and when one is made, then leading those converts to be “twofold more” the child of hell as the scribes and Pharisees were. In other words, once a person has been converted over to false doctrine they are twice as hard to be won to the truth. These scribes and Pharisees were more intent on spreading their religion than maintaining the truth. 

The third woe (vs15), Jesus pronounces against the scribes and Pharisees calls the religious leaders “blind guides” and “blind fools”. Specifically, Jesus points out, they nit-picked about which oaths were binding and which were not, ignoring the sacred nature of all oaths and significance of the temple and God’s holiness.

The fourth woe (vs 23), calls out the scribes and Pharisees for their practice of diligently paying the tithe while neglecting to actually care for people. While they were counting their mint leaves to make sure they gave one tenth to the temple, they “neglected the more important matters of the law -- judgement, mercy, and faith”. Once again, they focused on the letter of the Law and obeyed it with pride, but they missed the weightier things of God. Their religion was external; their hearts were not transformed.

Jesus elaborates on their hypocrisy in the fifth woe (vs 25). He tells the religious leaders they appear clean on the outside, but they have neglected the inside. They perform religious acts but do not have God-honoring hearts. It does no good, Jesus says, to clean up the outside when the inside is “full of greed and self-indulgence”. The Pharisees and scribes are blind and do not recognize that, when the inside is changed, the outside, too, will be transformed.

In the sixth woe (vs 27), Jesus claims the scribes and Pharisees are “like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean”. The deadness inside of tombs is likened to the “hypocrisy and iniquity” inside the religious leaders. Once again, they appear to obey God, but their hearts are far from Him (see Matthew 15:7–9 and Isaiah 29:13).

Jesus concludes His seven-fold rebuke (vs 29) by telling the religious leaders that they are just like their fathers, who persecuted the prophets of old. In building monuments to the prophets, they testify against themselves, openly admitting that it was their ancestors who killed the prophets, although they arrogantly claim that they would not have done so. But, they are the ones who will soon plot the murder of the Son of God Himself.

The word woe, also carries with it a tinge of sorrow. There is an element of implied damnation to be sure, but with it an element of compassionate sadness. The seven woes that Jesus pronounces on the religious leaders are solemn declarations of future misery. The stubbornness of the sinners to whom He speaks is bringing a judgment to be feared. The scribes and Pharisees are calling down God’s wrath upon themselves, and they are to be pitied.

Immediately after Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, we see Jesus’ compassion. He asks, “How can you escape the damnation of hell?” Jesus then expresses His desire to gather the people of Israel to Himself for safety, (vs 37) as a hen that gathers her young chicks… oh, if only they were willing. God longs for His people to come to Him and find forgiveness. 

 

Jesus came to His own, and they rejected Him (John 1:11). As he laments these woes it’s because He loves them. He’s not trying to be mean or unnecessarily offensive, but describing how they missed what they were aiming for. 

 

Woe to us if in the process of pursuing religion and morality we miss Christ! 

 

Jesus left off declaring, “Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:39).

 

BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!

 

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