Journal: Reformation and Revival
Volume: RAR 07:3 (Summer 1998)
Article: Where Are The Pharisees Today?
Author: Eric L. Johnson

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RAR 7:3 (Summer 1998) p. 37

Where Are The Pharisees Today?

Eric L. Johnson

The Pharisees make up one of the most notorious groups in western history. They are central figures in the gospels in which Christ is the hero and the Pharisees are the villains whose actions lead to the tragic climax (which of course is ironically overturned in the resurrection). The Pharisees are Christ’s foils, providing a powerful contrast to Him and His teachings in their practices and views of God, humans, and true religion. And it was these differences that fueled an angry, defensive response to Christ that led the Pharisees to help bring about Christ’s eventual death.

The Pharisees, then, are very important characters in the greatest story ever told. But what are we to do with them today? If we only see them as bad guys in the old, old story, we will miss their importance for us today. For the Pharisees also provide a stunning parody of true religion. As passionate followers of God who nevertheless unwittingly fought against God, they offer a perplexing and disturbing picture of humanity’s capacity for religious self-deception in the extreme.

To better understand the Pharisees we need to grasp how they saw themselves and God. First, the Pharisees believed they possessed a special standing with God (Matt. 23:6). They thought they were good in God’s sight. God had blessed the people of Israel, setting them apart from the pagans, and had given them a set of laws,

RAR 7:3 (Summer 1998) p. 38

the following of which guaranteed their special standing.

Second, the Pharisees seemed to think that this good standing was also a result of their own efforts, what Paul called having “confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3–7). According to Christ’s parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, they may have had some sense that God was to be thanked for their righteousness (Luke 18:11). Yet it was ultimately they who were to be admired and congratulated for their special standing (Matt. 23:5). God was not so much the source of their goodness as He was the judge and rewarder of their good works. They were good because they had worked hard to be good.

Third, certain deeds and beliefs came to be seen as evidence of their goodness—deeds and beliefs that were influenced by the Old Testament rules for purity, but that went beyond those standards on the basis of newer, human traditions (Matt. 12:2; 15:2). Following this fuller path ...

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