Faith
The Pharisees were… Progressive?!
Re-examining the Bible’s Biggest Baddies
Often, we see the Pharisees as the old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy, party-pooping, dislikable people. This is perhaps because, after two thousand years, they are old-fashioned and fuddy-duddy to us. We look back at them from our twenty-first-century viewpoint and see their ideas as really, really, old.
We also see them as the ones that everyone hated. The Pharisees didn’t care about the normal people and were seriously out of touch with what was happening.
But this portrayal is not accurate and can probably hinder how we interpret the New Testament.
In fact, the Pharisees perhaps shared some traits with progressive Christians and liberal politics.
Progressive Christianity is marked by a strong focus on helping the poor and oppressed.
Progressive Christianity also does not rely on a literal reading of the Bible but instead insists on overall truths. In progressive Christianity, postmodern truths and sensibilities are used to interpret the Bible.
If you want to read more about progressive Christianity read here for an argument against it; here for an article in favour of it.
There are some areas where there isn’t overlap. Progressive Christians have a concern for all people, whereas the Pharisees were quite sometimes hardline in only accepting or helping the Jews.
They were popular
The Pharisees were the popular religious teachers of the time. Think of some popular church leaders or Christian preachers today and that’s what they were. If the Pharisees in the New Testament were here today, they probably would have had book deals and TV shows and podcasts.
In Jesus’s time, the Jewish people loved them.
This popularity also meant that they were highly influential. They didn’t hold many positions in the Sanhedrin—the religious council of the Jews—and there weren’t as many of them as other priests. But, due to the support of the Jewish population, they often got their own way. They had a disproportionate amount of power.
It’s not that popularity and influence is wrong in itself. But if it becomes the motivation for your spirituality, then things get ugly.
Jesus often criticised them for this. One of the most obvious examples was in Matthew 6:1 (NIVUK):
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward in heaven.
They were anti-elite and helped the poor
Whilst the Sadducees were the rich leaders in important social positions, the Pharisees were mostly normal people. They were often businessmen and scribes. Due to the Sadducees’ position in society, they were often disliked by most of the people. They were perhaps seen as stuck up and out of touch. Think of how people often view old Etonians: those who only got where they are because of their connections and privilege.
The Pharisees, however, would have gone to the local comprehensive.
The Sadducees were more political than the Pharisees. Often, the Sadducees made decisions based on what would keep Rome on their side and keep people quiet.
This did not go down well with the Jewish population, which is one reason why the Pharisees were so popular. The Pharisees seemed to understand the difficulties of the normal person under Roman occupation.
The Pharisees often would help the poor and give to those who needed it.
But, this concern was often fake and deployed to gain popularity. They made a big show of it, as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 6:2 (NIVUK):
So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
The Pharisees’ concern with giving and justice was more to protect their image and to present their way as better.
They were flexible
The Sadducees were unbending in their interpretation of the Scripture. They believed that if it wasn’t in the Torah, it was not acceptable. The Pharisees, however, believed that the Oral Torah—the traditional sayings of the Jewish people—were just as important to the interpretation of God’s will.
Furthermore, they realised that their context was complex and different to the one in which Moses lived. Therefore, they felt the Torah had to be read in a way that was relevant to that society.
Sadly, the Pharisee’s interpretation was lacking. Not only did they not practice what they preached, but their interpretation “shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces” (Matthew 23:13 NIVUK).
What Worship Was
Another way in which they were flexible was in their beliefs about worship. The Sadducees believed worship had to be done at the Temple. The Pharisees believed that worship could be done in the person’s community. It was them that led the synagogues, that allowed the Jewish people to worship closer to home.
For the Pharisees, it wasn’t the Temple that was the most important part of worship. Rather, prayer and reading of Scripture were considered true worship. This, of course, is very similar to today’s call for quiet times of prayer and Bible reading.
In their desire to make worship more accessible, however, they lost sight of some of the sacred and important things of their faith. For example, in Matthew 23:17, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that the Temple is itself sacred.
They Were Smug
Now, this is perhaps where the comparison ends. The next bit is up to you to decide. Whether progressive Christians are smug or not is not something I’m going to debate here. Perhaps argue it out in the comments. (All press is good press, eh?)
The Got Questions article called “Who were the Pharisees?” summarises their problem like this:
As a general rule, the Pharisees were self-righteousness [sic] and smug in their delusion that they were pleasing to God because they kept the Law — or parts of it, at least.
They believed that their way was right. They often looked down with condescension on those who didn’t believe their ideas. Perhaps they thought they were too old-fashioned, or their interpretation of scripture was too rigid and closed.
Jesus notes in Matthew 23:30, that they thought themselves better than the ones that came before. The Pharisees looked at traditions, past believers, and anyone who dared to hold on to conservative views, and condemned them.
They said that if they had lived in the days of their ancestors, they would not have committed the crimes and terrible acts of the past.
The irony of this, of course, is that a couple of chapters later they do exactly the same. They plot to kill Jesus, the Son of God. This is far worse than any of their ancestors ever did.
The Pharisees were blind to the sin in their own hearts and to the problems their beliefs were causing.
They Thought They Were Better
They were arrogant in believing that they were free of sin. In Luke, Jesus tells a story. There’s a Pharisee and a tax collector:
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (Luke 18:11–12, NIVUK)
It is here that you see the attitudes of the Pharisees at work. The Pharisee is right in some ways. The lives of robbers, evildoers, adulterers, and, yes, probably, tax collectors were full of sin. They should not have been doing what they were doing: stealing, oppressing others, ruining families, exploiting others for money.
However, the Pharisee in his prayer could only think to congratulate himself and list the good things he was doing.
So, perhaps, that gives us a moment’s pause. Are we, too, blind to our own sin. Who is on our list?
Do we secretly say to ourselves or to God thank you that I’m not like them? Have you ever thought “I thank you that I’m not like others, and that…
- … I didn’t vote Trump?”
- … I didn’t vote Biden?”
- … I support gun control?”
- … I support the right the bear arms?”
- … I’m not a Bible-belt preacher?”
- … I’m not a Christian that supports the LGBTQ+ community?”
- … I’m pro choice?”
- … I’m pro life?”
- … I deconstructed my faith?”
- … I walked away from the church?”
- … I’m still in church?”
- … I hold onto traditional values?”
We need to recognise that we’re all one and the same: the robber, adulterer, tax-collector, Republican, Democrat, straight, LGBTQ+, traditional conservative, progressive…
We all need to recognise we need grace.
And we need to know that grace is freely given.
Other Resources
The Britannica.com has a helpful article on ‘Pharisees’.
I really enjoyed this article by Dr McKay Caston, called ‘Your Inner Pharisee is Showing’.
Justin Marsh is a missionary who has served in Asia for over six years. He is the country leader of a team of missionaries and has just completed an MA that looks at missional practice. Whilst his team works within a range of contexts across the country, Justin’s focus is the Muslim minority groups. He is the owner of the publication THE CO-MISSION.
