Being Called A “Pharisee” By Fellow Christians

The Pharisees are portrayed very negatively in the New Testament:

• Jesus referred to them using offensive terms like “hypocrites” (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16; 15:7; 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29; Mark 7:6; Luke 12:56; 13:15) and “offspring of vipers” (Matthew 12:34; 23:33).
• They were “two-fold more a son of hell” than their converts (Matthew 23:15), and hence would not escape the fires of hell themselves (Matthew 23:33).
• They oppressed and bullied the weak and the widows, but acted all religious on the outside just for show (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47).
• Their hearts were so evil that they often plotted to kill Jesus (Matthew 12:14; 26:4; Mark 3:6; 14:1; Luke 22:2; John 7:1; 11:53).
• And probably the worst of all, they were guilty of committing the “unpardonable sin” (Matthew 12:22–32; Mark 3:22–30)!

All that pretty much sums up what God thought about the Pharisees, their ways, and their attitudes: absolutely not good. The Pharisees were essentially the embodiment of everything a Christian should not be, characterized by all the traits that a Christian should not have.

That is why calling a fellow Christian a Pharisee is no light matter; it is not just a great insult, but even a very serious accusation. We do not need even explicitly use the term “Pharisee” in order to level such an accusation against someone. We only need to think it in our heart, and we will treat that person accordingly.

Sometimes, when a Christian tries to show other Christians from the Bible that their beliefs are unbiblical or even anti-biblical, they would implicitly call him a “Pharisee”. Of course, they would never say it explicitly because they want to be “loving” and “tactful”. So instead, they would say something like, “Oh, I don’t think we should be like the Pharisees, always trying to be biblical about everything.”

Notice how this attitude assumes that the Pharisees were people who diligently sought to live according to the Bible, and that God does not approve of their endeavour of “always trying to be biblical about everything”. However, these assumptions could not be further from the truth.

The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to “let them be esteemed worthy of double honour, especially the ones who toil in word and teaching.” (1 Timothy 5:17) The Greek word for “toil” here is kopiaō, which means to work hard until one becomes worn out, exhausted and depleted. What does God think of their laborious efforts in “always trying to be biblical about everything”? The text says that such persons “especially” are to be “esteemed worthy of double honour”. Whatever that means, it certainly does not involve being called a “Pharisees” by fellow Christians!

The Lord Jesus himself stood for the Bible and always sought to be biblical in everything he said and did. He said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17) He came to fully preach the true meaning of the Bible as originally intended by God. In fact, Jesus never rebuked the Pharisees for “always trying to be biblical about everything”. Rather, he frequently rebuked them for doing the exact opposite!

Let us take a look at some of the things that Jesus said to the Pharisees:

• Matthew 15:3, “Why do you also violate the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”
• Mark 7:8, “Having forsaken the commandment of God, you are holding on to the tradition of men!”
• Mark 7:9, “Well do you set aside the commandment of God so that you could keep your tradition!”
• Mark 7:13, “[You are] unauthorizing the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down, and you do many such similar things!”

Therefore, contrary to popular belief, the Pharisees were not zealous Bible scholars who kept God’s law. According to Jesus himself, they were religiously following man-made traditions which caused them to violate, forsake, set aside, and unauthorize the word of God in the Bible! Jesus’ problem with the Pharisees was not that they were “always trying to be biblical about everything”, but precisely that they were not!

So actually, biblically speaking, who really is the “Pharisee”—the one who is “always trying to be biblical about everything”, or the one who calls him a “Pharisee” for doing so?