Matthew 23:15
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Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte--from heathenism. We have evidence of this in JOSEPHUS. and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves--condemned, for the hypocrisy he would learn to practice, both by the religion he left and that he embraced.
Open source ↗23:15 A convert (proselyte) made a full conversion to Judaism, performing such observances as baptism, sacrifice, and circumcision (see Acts 13:43). A convert was thus distinct from a “God-fearer,” who adopted certain Jewish beliefs, most notably monotheism, without fully converting to Judaism (see Luke 7:4-5; Acts 10:2). It is likely that to make one convert means to persuade God-fearers to become full converts to Judaism by undergoing circumcision (cp. Gal 2:3, 14; 5:2-12; 6:12-13). • of hell: Greek of Gehenna; see study note on 5:29.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
After the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.
Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.
In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome,