Pharisees

Biblical References

The Pharisees do not appear in the Old Testament. In the New Testament they are mentioned in the Gospels, Acts, Philippians, and elsewhere. In the Gospels they usually appear alongside the scribes as a group disputing with Jesus. Their conflicts with Jesus include the following:

• The disciples plucking ears of grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)
• Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10-13)
• Eating with unwashed hands (Mark 7:1-5)

In Matthew 23, Jesus rebukes their hypocrisy with the repeated words "Woe unto you." The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14 is also a well-known passage featuring a Pharisee.

Not all Pharisees, however, are portrayed as hostile. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus (John 3:1), and Gamaliel, who counseled against putting the apostles to death (Acts 5:34), were Pharisees. A Pharisee also invited Jesus into his home (Luke 7:36), and some Pharisees warned Jesus that Herod sought to kill him (Luke 13:31). Paul describes himself as having been, "as touching the law, a Pharisee" (Philippians 3:5; Acts 23:6).

Background

The Pharisees were a Jewish group that arose during the Intertestamental Period and are believed to have been active from around the second century BC. The name is commonly explained as deriving from a Hebrew or Aramaic word meaning "separated ones," though views differ on its precise origin.

Alongside the Law of Moses, they valued the interpretations of the law handed down through the generations, namely "the tradition of the elders" (Mark 7:3), and they meticulously observed tithing and the laws of ritual purity. Unlike the Sadducees, who were closely associated with the priestly class of the temple, they believed in the resurrection of the dead and in the existence of angels (Acts 23:8). They exercised considerable influence among the people, and some were members of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council. Rabbinic Judaism, which took shape after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70, is regarded as having inherited much of the Pharisaic tradition.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

In the Gospels, the Pharisees are depicted as religious people who zealously kept the law yet omitted "judgment, mercy, and faith" (Matthew 23:23). Jesus says that the righteousness of his disciples must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). Paul, himself formerly a Pharisee, confesses that he counts the righteousness of the law as loss for Christ (Philippians 3:5-9). This confession is read in connection with the doctrine of justification.

Interpretation and Debate

Since the Reformation, Protestants, particularly in the Lutheran and Reformed traditions, have read the Pharisees as the epitome of an attitude that seeks to be justified by works. Beginning in the late twentieth century, some scholars, including E. P. Sanders, proposed a different reading. They argue that the Judaism of the time was not simply a legalism that denied grace, and that the Gospels reflect the controversies of their own setting. They therefore caution against readings that generalize all Pharisees as hypocrites. This line of thought is connected with the "New Perspective on Paul," and assessments of this view are divided even within evangelicalism.

The biblical text itself distinguishes between teaching and conduct: Jesus says of the Pharisees, "All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works" (Matthew 23:3).

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, expressions such as "like a Pharisee" or "Pharisaic faith" are used to criticize an attitude that appears outwardly pious but is inwardly proud or judgmental of others. These expressions are commonly heard both in sermons and in everyday conversation. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is frequently used as a sermon text on the themes of humility and repentance.