Matthew 23:23-24 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin… A clear conception of the real nature of Phariseeism is all that is needed to vindicate the severity of this denunciation. 1. The error of the Pharisees was not superficial, but fundamental. Their religion was not simply defective, but positively false. 2. Such radically erroneous notions concerning religion, lulled the Pharisees into absolute self-security. 3. Still further we may account for the severity of these denunciations from the fact that the Saviour foresaw that Phariseeism would in after ages become the greatest hindrance to the progress of His cause in the world. There is a constant tendency to retain the form after the life has departed. I. THAT THE COMMANDS OF GOD ARE OF DIFFERENT DEGREES OF IMPORTANCE. There are matters of more weight than others among the Divine precepts. The heart that reverences God will seek to obey all, but each in its own order. In morals as in doctrine there are things essential and non-essential. The weightiest of all God's commands have respect to judgment, mercy, faith. The inner is more important than the outward life; out of the heart are the issues of life, and therefore should have the greatest attention. So the great things and the smaller will follow in their train. II. THAT ATTENTION TO THE MATTERS OF LESS IMPORTANCE WILL NOT COMPENSATE FOR THE NEGLECT OF THOSE WHICH ARE OF ESSENTIAL MOMENT. Punctilious title-paying will not condone lack of humble faith in God. III. That when the heart is right with God through faith in Jesus Christ, BOTH THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS AND THOSE OF LESS IMPORTANCE WILL BE PROPERLY ATTENDED TO. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. |
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