Matthew 23:13
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Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men--Here they are charged with shutting heaven against men: in Luk 11:52 they are charged with what was worse, taking away the key--"the key of knowledge"--which means, not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge as the only key to open heaven. A right knowledge of God's revealed word is eternal life, as our Lord says (Joh 17:3; Joh 5:39); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions.
Open source ↗23:13-36 Matthew collected seven statements of what sorrow awaits you (literally woe to you), drawing upon similar Old Testament listings (Isa 5:8-23; Hab 2:6-20), and he arranged them to climax in the murder of the prophets. 23:13 What sorrow awaits you: A stark warning of judgment from God. • Hypocrites! In English, hypocrisy describes a contradiction between reality and appearance. But in biblical usage, hypocrisy is misperceiving God’s will, leading people astray, and thus incurring God’s judgment. Coupled with this is often a desire for prestige and power (23:5-12), abuse of teaching authority, false teachings on doctrine or practice (23:13-22), and preoccupation with ethical minutiae (23:23-28). An accurate English term for this combination of factors is heresy. The Pharisees and teachers of religious law displayed all of these characteristics. As the Christian church began to grow, these characteristics continued to appear (e.g., 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Pet 2:1-22), so God’s children always need to guard against them (Jas 4:7-10; 1 Pet 2:1-3). • shut the door of the Kingdom: By their false teaching and opposition to Jesus (see Matt 9:32-34; 12:22-37; 15:12-14; 21:15; John 9:13-34), the teachers of religious law and Pharisees prevented others from hearing and believing the truth about the Messiah.
Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
Woe to the worthless shepherd,who deserts the flock!May a sword strike his armand his right eye!May his arm be completely witheredand his right eye utterly blinded!”
You too should beware of him, for he has vigorously opposed our message.
And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.