Matthew 23:15-22 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
In the above focus we see evidence of the blindness of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They claimed that the things they could see of this world were more important than the God they could not see. Gold, gifts, materials in the temple and on the altar are counted as more important that the temple itself where God dwells and of more value than the consecrated altar where gifts on the altar were made acceptable to God. They believed if a person swears by these earthly things, he is more bound to keep his oath than one who swears by the holiness of the temple and altar. The temple and the altar were initially consecrated to God by sacrifices and prayers; they were made holy by these acts of the people. The priests and the teachers of the law had elevated the gold and silver of the temple and the items on the altar above the things that were consecrated to God. The temple was God’s dwelling place; He made it holy because of his presence. The priests and the teachers of the law contaminated that fact by making things of this earth more important than God’s dwelling place. The religious elite should have recognized that the temple was a holy place, a revered place because God’s Spirit was there. Anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. Confirming an oath or statement by supporting the truth of it by swearing on the existence of God or on the reality of the temple, his dwelling place, was very serious. You have placed God as supporting your oath. When God’s name is involved in a swearing, you are placing your words before God, words that will never be forgotten. Without God involved, with an oath based on the backing of gold and gifts, the statements are transitory and will fade in importance as soon as the words are released from the lips of the speaker. When Jesus spoke about the permanency of the law, He related how serious something is when God is involved, when He affirms it. The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law. (Luke 16:16-17) In other words, the law and its merits will exist forever. None of it will be forgotten by God. The words of the law will abide forever in God’s domain, for what God says or supports will be in existence forever. Consequently, any oath stated by man and supported by God will remain forever, never to cease. That is why the oath at a marriage ceremony is so important. Anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. This oath does not fade out of existence; just as the law does not fade, neither does an oath that carries God’s unchanging will drop out of existence. Jesus says something difficult for us to accept when He says not one part of the law will disappear from God’s awareness. Because of the eternal marriage oaths, Jesus concludes that, Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Luke 16:18) Now as with the Law, no man completely satisfies every jot and tittle of the Law. Therefore, we place our faith in Christ’s perfection not ours. Jesus is our perfection. He died as a man in the flesh and rose as the first of the redeemed. We died with him and our imperfections of following the law died there too. This work is complete. What about the waywardness in a marriage, violating God’s permanency of our oath? Grace also covers that, for we exist IN CHRIST as new creatures. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV) Our fleshly imperfections are covered by God’s redeeming work IN CHRIST. The priests and the teachers of the law could not conceive of this way to God. They were not spiritual; they were tied to the gold and silver of this world.
Jesus castigates the religious leaders as blind guides! They were recklessly ignorant of the important things of spiritual life. They were blind leaders leading the blind. Sadly, they were making their followers more devilish than themselves by considering the things of this world more important than serving God from the heart. We see John the Baptist calling all Israelites to repentance. Israel needed a revival, for the religious leaders had led the people astray. Considering what to swear upon in the temple, revealed the wickedness of their hearts. What is more important: gold or gifts? They were focused on the things of the world, not on God. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” (Matthew 15:8-11) The priests were accentuating rules and regulations to please God, but their hearts were steeped in blindness. Worldly possessions and wealth were important to them, more important than God’s ways and his desires. Jesus knew their hearts, so He tells them, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Luke16:13) They should not consider the gold of the temple and gifts on the altar more important than the consecrated temple and altar. These artifacts are made holy by God himself. With the wrong perspective of what is holy and what is not, they were serving their fleshly desires. They were serving the wrong master. They should have known they had strayed from God’s perfection. Jesus knew their hearts were far from God, fixated on the world. He intimated that they were serving another master, not God. This made the Pharisees angry. The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. (Luke 16:13-15) The wealth of this world is what people value very highly above God’s will, but for the priests to value these worldly things made them hypocrites! For the wealth of this world and the love of the things in this world were detestable in God’s sight.
Because God’s promises are eternal and always before him, these priests were being blessed as children of Abraham according to God’s will. When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. (Hebrew 6:13-16) God could swear by nothing higher than himself. His existence is conclusive, final, and forever. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) Jesus, the Word, God himself in the flesh, gave himself up to die on the cross, satisfying the wrath of God on sin. He took our place and paid the price for our sins. The redeemed who know Jesus the Christ as their Savior no longer swear on anything higher than themselves, for the Holy Spirit, God himself, dwells in each of us. We cannot and do not seek anything greater than God in us to confirm what we desire, what we want to do with our lives. We no longer swear on things that are greater than we are, such as the altar, the temple or even the throne of God. We do not have to swear on such things for the Holy Spirit exists in us; his purposes and laws are written on our hearts. His words are even at our mouths, and we need nothing more. Consequently as ambassadors of his will, his words, we should be careful of how we live and speak. We do not swear, asking God to confirm our desires in our lives or our promises to others. We do as James instructed us to do. Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned. (James 5:12) Do not say an oath such as, In God’s name, I will do this or that. God hears those words and as Christians will hold us to them. But because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we should be led by his words in us not by our own fleshly desires. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25) We do not need to make an oath so people will believe our words or intentions. We do not need to claim God’s authority in all we do. No, we are free in the Lord, but our fleshly desires should not be for the world and its things, such as the teachers of the law and the Pharisees desired. Instead, we are people of yes or no, all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, true servants of the living Lord. Brothers and sisters in the Lord, let us keep in step with the Spirit today and every day as we proclaim the Good News. May we declare: Yes, we are going forward; and No, we will not turn back!
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