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Chapter twenty-three is the easiest chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. This chapter contains only teachings; it does not have any doctrines.
Verse 1:"Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples." In the Lord's preaching, He never mixed the multitude with His disciples. Therefore, the mixing here is quite unusual. The reason the Lord mixed them together is that the following teaching put the disciples in the position of the Jews. The teaching in this chapter is specifically for the Jews.
Verse 2:"Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in Moses' seat." "Seated themselves in Moses' seat." According to Jewish history, since the time of Moses the Jews underwent several significant changes: wicked kings, captivity, and destruction. Therefore, people had become ignorant and no longer observed the law of Moses. The only exception was a group of zealous individuals who came out publicly to lead the Jews back to the original law. This kind of people were the forefathers of the Pharisees and the scribes. In the beginning these people were genuinely standing in the position of Moses to execute and teach the law. Yet generation after generation went by until the time of Jesus, when only the name remained but not the reality. Here the Lord did not deny that, nominally, they were still sitting in Moses' seat.
Verse 3:"Therefore all that they tell you, do and keep; but do not do according to their works, for they say things and do not do them." "Do and keep" all the law. Before the death of the Lord, the Jews still had to observe the law. The law did not cease until the Lord died. At that time they were not yet free from the law; hence, the Lord charged the Jews and His disciples to observe the law. The principle in this verse is very important. Today among the churches there are two opinions concerning the law: (1) A person is saved by grace and not by keeping the law. After one is saved, he still does not have to keep the commandments, except the commandment of grace. (2) A person is saved by grace and not by keeping the law. However, if one desires to be sanctified, he must observe the law. The first opinion is the correct one. According to the main focus of the book of Romans, a sinner cannot be justified by keeping the law. According to Galatians, a saved person cannot be sanctified by keeping the law. Therefore, these two books are sufficient to prove that justification and sanctification can never be obtained by keeping the law. The teaching in Romans 7 shows that a saved person who still keeps the law is an adulterer. If he still keeps the law, then the law is not yet dead. If he then desires to marry Christ, this is fornication. Therefore, we must die completely to the law in order that we may gain eternal life through Christ. Because of the period of time the disciples were in then, the Lord spoke concerning the keeping of the law. After the Lord resurrected, He did not mention this matter anymore.
"They say things and do not do them." This is altogether contrary to the Lord. The Lord is "powerful in work and word" (Luke 24:19). Today many preachers also can say things but cannot do them.
Verse 4:"And they bind burdens, heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." "And they bind burdens, heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders" means that based on the law, they created more laws besides the existing laws, and bound them on men's shoulders; yet they themselves would not follow the law. Originally, they decided that (1) the transgressor of Moses' law would be punished, but the transgressor of their law could be forgiven. (2) Gradually the two laws became equally important; transgressors of both laws would be punished equally. (3) Finally, it was the transgressor of the law of Moses who could be forgiven, and the transgressor of their law who had to be severely punished. They considered their law the essence of Moses' law, and that they were, therefore, more important. The corban was one example of this (Mark 7:11-13). (Today's charters, creeds, beliefs etc. are of the same principle.) Among the laws, they observed the easy ones. Those that they could not observe, they charged the multitude of Jews to observe. Today men are the same. They take the easy ones among the commandments in the Scriptures to be for the Gentiles, and the hard ones (such as Matthew 5—7) to be for the Jews or for the millennium. Can it be that they have learned from the Pharisees?
Verse 5:"And all their works they do to be seen by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and enlarge the fringes of their garments." Here the Lord pointed out that "all their works they do to be seen by men." The Lord exposed their true form and real image and pointed out that this was most dangerous. Donations and preachings are but the false masks of some who want to show off their zeal and "spirituality." "Phylacteries" — the Jews strapped Scripture quotations to their bodies (see Deut. 6:8; 11:18). "Fringes" — the borders of the garments; the Scriptures were sewn on the borders of their garments.
Verse 6:"And they love the place of honor at the dinners and the chief seats in the synagogues." This is pride before men. The following verses are concerning men.
Verse 7:"And the salutations in the market places and to be called by men, Rabbi." The same is true with men today: they like to be others' teachers. Nevertheless, here the Lord wants us to see clearly their goal and intention. Many times we are very zealous, and we do many good works. But what is the goal and the intention of all these?
Verse 8:"But you, do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers." The Lord turned the subject here for our instruction. "But you, do not be called Rabbi." All believers are equal on earth, and no one can be higher than another. In the church, the term pastor is but another name for Rabbi. Elders and deacons are appointed only for the purpose of service; there is no existence of rank. Whoever receives a clerical rank or a clerical position has degraded to the position of the Pharisees.
Verse 9:"And do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in the heavens." The word "father" here does not refer to the father in a family but to a father in the church, one who is in authority, such as the "fathers" in Catholicism. (The following "Father...who is in the heavens" proves that the "father" here denotes a religious father.) Unfortunately, by the second century the church fathers had come into being in the church; these were actually the disciples of the apostles.
Verse 10:"Neither be called instructors, because One is your Instructor, the Christ." An instructor is less honorable than a rabbi; it refers to a religious person. To be called a rabbi is a great thing, and one should never accept such a title. The Lord has ordained that we call one another brothers and sisters.
Verse 11:"And the greatest among you shall be your servant." This is the second time the Lord mentioned this matter (see Matt. 20:26-27). The principle here is most important. To be genuinely great does not depend on fame, position, or title; it depends only on whether one can work and serve.
Verse 12:"And he who will exalt himself shall be humbled, and he who will humble himself shall be exalted." This is the way of the cross. To humble oneself is a self-initiated humbling. A person does not need to wait until he is despised by others; he should be without vainglory in himself.
Matthew 23:13-33 mentions seven woes. (Verse 14 is found only in some ancient manuscripts and does not have sufficient support from the authorities.) The first through fourth woes belong to one category, and the fifth through seventh woes belong to another category.
Verse 13:"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you close off the kingdom of the heavens in the face of men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to enter." The Lord said woe only to the scribes and Pharisees. He did not say woe to the sinners, the harlots, the tax collectors, the Sadducees (the modernists), and the Herodians (traitors). This is because the woe of the latter group of people is obvious; even the women and the young ones all know it, and it is not worth describing. However, the Pharisees and scribes were like the respectable ones in the church; people think that they should receive a reward and a blessing. Hence, the Lord specifically exposed their real condition. "You close off the kingdom of the heavens." The kingdom of the heavens refers to a spiritual realm; it signifies the genuine church on the earth, the corporate entity that loves the Lord directly. The Pharisees and scribes prevented people from believing in Jesus; their unrighteousness stumbled others, and their erroneous teachings caused others to fall.
Verse 15:"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you go about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves." They proselytized Gentiles to Judaism. They zealously preached and declared that the Gentiles who worshipped idols would perish, and that they ought to worship the only true God, who created the heavens and the earth. After these Gentiles entered into Judaism and became proselytes, the Pharisees and scribes could not nurture them, nor could they testify anything to them. Instead, they brought in their original wickedness in addition to the wickedness of the Pharisees. Therefore, they became "twice as much a son of Gehenna."
Verses 16-17:"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound. Fools and blind men, which is greater, the gold or the temple which sanctifies the gold?" These were the laws they added, that is, that the gold is greater than the temple. The reason they prized gold as greater was because gold is valuable.
Verses 18-19:"And, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift which is upon it, he is bound. Blind men, which is greater, the gift or the altar which sanctifies the gift?" The Pharisees considered the gift as greater than the altar because they were for the gift. However, the Lord said that the temple and the altar were greater because they sanctified the gold and the gift. Here the Lord shows us the teaching related to sanctification. To be sanctified is not to uproot the root of sin, as in pulling out a painful tooth. Otherwise, what would both the gold and the gift pull out? To be sanctified means to be separated. There are gold and gifts everywhere, but those that are separated unto God are sanctified, and no one can touch them. It is the same with the sanctification of the believers; to be sanctified is to be separated from among men. There are two sanctifications, which are typified by the temple and the altar. The temple typifies Christ (Matt. 12:6; John 2:21), and the gold in the temple typifies our abiding in Christ. The altar typifies consecration, the consecration after being saved, which is to be separated for the Lord's use.
Verses 20-22:"Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by all the things upon it; and he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it." These verses point out how their laws were hypocritical and without foundation.
Verses 23-24:"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you give a tenth of the mint and the anise and the cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law — justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these you should have done and not neglected the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but swallow the camel!"
The following three woes speak of their living. They kept the ordinance of the law in vain and had no heart to walk in justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They would strain out the smallest gnat from their food, but would swallow a camel without feeling anything.
Verse 25:"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inwardly they are full of extortion and self-indulgence." The above passage speaks of the Pharisees' avoiding the important issues and dwelling on the unimportant ones. They seek only after the outward appearance. "Extortion" indicates utilizing one's own lustful desire to repress and control others. "Self-indulgence" refers to indulging in lustful desire with one's own body.
Verses 26-28:"Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the dish so that their outside also may become clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you resemble white-washed graves, which outwardly appear beautiful but inwardly are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." "Graves" refers to the dwelling places of the dead. White-washing means to beautify. To whiten the outward appearance when the flesh is dead is to cover up its death.
Verses 29-30:"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build up the graves of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been there in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." They were very fond of building monuments for people, thinking that their forefathers were most wicked because they killed the prophets. It is the same with the Jews today. They think that if Christ had been born in this age, they would not have crucified Him.
Verses 31-32:"So then you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. And you, fill up the measure of your fathers!" Their boasting only proved that they were the generation of vipers. "Fill up" refers to killing the Lord and His disciples.
Verse 33:"Serpents! Brood of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Gehenna?" The Lord here indeed did not "regard the person of men"; He rebuked them as serpents and as the brood of vipers (serpents refer to Satan). They called God their Father and they called themselves the descendants of Abraham (John 8:39, 41), and yet they were really "the children of the devil" (1 John 3:10; John 8:44). Here the Lord mentions more concerning hell. Preachers should mention hell because God is not "good" in an irresponsible way. But the heretical preachers would not teach this.
Verse 34:"Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city." In this verse the Lord prophesied how the saints would suffer persecution and martyrdom later on. The Lord said that the scribes and Pharisees not only white-washed the graves and adorned the tombs, but were setting traps.
Verses 35-36:"So that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, All these things shall come upon this generation." Abel was the first person who was killed. The Zachariah here is not the Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24:20-21. That Zechariah was too early, and he was also the son of Jehoiada. This is Zechariah the prophet, because he was the son of Berechiah (Zech. 1:1). Berechiah and Barachiah have a similar pronunciation, the only difference being that one name is Hebrew and the other is Greek. This is similar to Messiah and Messias, and Elijah and Elias, being the same person. The prophet Zechariah certainly was the last prophet, the prophet after the captivity. He was killed in the temple. After the destruction of the nation, he was one who suffered public persecution and was unfortunately killed. "This generation" extends from that day until now. Its scope is very broad and includes not only the Jews.
Verse 38:"Behold, your house is left to you desolate." "Your house" means the temple. The Lord did not say "the Father's house" or "My house," because the Jews were already rejected. (See the following passage in 24:1, where it says that Jesus left the temple.) After this the Lord said, "You shall by no means see Me from now on until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (v. 39). After the great tribulation and during the millennium, the Israelites will bless the Lord. But at the present time the wild olive tree of the Gentiles is being grafted in (Rom. 11:24).
The great tribulation means the end of the dispensation of grace. All the dispensations have similar endings. At the end of the dispensation of innocence there was the exile from Eden. At the end of the dispensation of the conscience there was the flood. At the end of the dispensation of human government there was the confounding of the languages. At the end of the dispensation of the promises there was the sojourning in Egypt. At the end of the dispensation of the law there was the captivity. At the end of the dispensation of grace there will be the great tribulation, and at the end of the dispensation of the kingdom there will be the destruction by heavenly fire.
