Matthew 3:7

Pharisees and Sadducees

Today's study covers just one verse, Matthew 3:7. Yet it is rich in lessons for those who would presume to be the arbitrators of righteousness. These arbitrators of the Law were the Pharisees and Sadducees, who truly had little in common. Pharisees were ritualists; Sadducees were rationalists. Pharisees were legalists; Sadducees were liberals. Pharisees were separatists; Sadducees were compromisers and political opportunists. Yet they were united together in their opposition to the coming Messiah whom the Voice In The Desert proceeded. John knew all about them, and this is why he publicly chastised them as vipers who needed to repent. 

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 

Matthew 3:7

The doctrine John the Baptist preached was that of repentance, in consideration of the kingdom of heaven being at hand. Today’s lesson we see that doctrine put to use, in the application of the life of preaching. Thus in John’s teachings we learn a great lesson from one single verse. I’ll dwell upon four portions of this verse;

1.)  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees

2.) Brood of Vipers

3.) Who warned you to flee

4.) Wrath to come

1. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees

1. The Pharisees and Sadducees along with the Herodians, Scribes, and Sanhedrin are all groups we will encounter as we go through the book of Matthew. Throughout the years Christians have had to deal with individuals that represent one or more of these groups in the Church, and until Christ returns we will continue to run into them.

1. Christ called them many things;

1. “Leaven” dough from the preceding baking which had fermented and become acidic (Matthew 16:6)

2. “Vipers” as John did, (Matthew 12:34) They were a wicked race; like poisonous reptiles, with a corrupt and evil nature. They could not be expected to speak good things - that is, to speak favorably of him and his works.

3. “Serpents” differ from vipers (Matthew 23:33) This name is given to them on account of their pretending to be pious, and very much devoted to God, but being secretly evil, At the heart, with all their pretensions, they were filled with evil designs, as the serpent was, (Genesis 3:1-5)

4. “Children of the devil” (John 8:44) They do as the devil commands them, they deceive, they oppose, and they ridicule any who are truly righteous

5. “Liar” (John 8:55) Used by Christ twice to describe the Scribes and Pharisees, used only 8 times in NT

1. Twice in the Gospel of John (John 8:44 and John 8:55

2. Once by Paul in Romans (Romans 3:4)

3. Four times by John his epistles (1John 1:10; 1John 2:4; 1John 2:22 1John 4:20; 1John 5:10)

6. “Hypocrites” (Matthew 6:2) taken from the Greek word for “stage-players, or actors”, acting the part of others with masks on, however they are really someone else, An apt description for this group

2. Pharisees; According to a popular and reasonable tradition, the Hasideans did not agree with the Jewish rulers during the Maccabean period. The Hasideans felt the rulers’ behavior violated Jewish laws in several ways. Because of this, some of the Hasideans separated themselves from the nation and developed into groups of their own, such as that of the Essenes. The Hasideans who remained in Israel tried to exert their influence on Jewish life. Most likely, it was these people who eventually became the first Pharisees.

1. Considered the progressive or liberal wing of the religious leaders

2. Originally represented the poorer commoner, as opposed to the Sadducees who represented the wealthy

3. Between 250 BC and the birth of Christ they grew in stature and influence becoming the example of purity

4. Committed to the idea of two different forms of God’s law, the written Torah and the Oral Torah

1. “Written Torah” just called the “Torah”

1. Originally only first five books of Moses; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

2. Moses told the people to raise their children to follow the law (Deuteronomy 17:19)

3. Consisted of both hearing and doing the law as a manner of life Israel was a Theocracy

4. After the return from exile synagogues gave rise to leading Rabbi’s interpreting the law

1. Synagogues originated out of a need for the dispersed Jews to commune with God

2. Jesus was selected to read the Scriptures as a respected teacher at one (Luke 14:16-20)

3. These interpretations and “Oral Law” is what Christ called “Traditions of men” (Mark 7:6-9)

2. “Oral Torah”

1. Traditional laws handed down orally from teacher to student (halakoth)

2. Compiled over a time of approximately 335 years from 200 BC t0 135 AD

3. In 210 AD these traditions were collected and put in a book called the “Mishnah”

4. These traditions became a huge stumbling block for the normal Jew, and the leaders were Hypocrites

5. Isaiah warned against oral traditions (Isaiah 29:13)

6. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy in it (Matthew 15:1-11)

7. Paul warned the Colossians to watch out for it (Colossians 2:8)

3. Sadducees; Founded around the time of the Maccabean Revolt about 167 BC

1. Considered the conservative wing of the religious leaders

2. They came from the leading families of the nation such as the Priests, Merchants, and Aristocrats

3. While the Pharisees were the dominant religious leaders the Sadducees dominated the High Priesthood.

4. Holding the High Priesthood allowed them to hold power and exert their authority over many people

5. They believed the laws of the Old Testament should be mandatory for all people but not the “Oral Law”

6. All the Sadducees were priests but not all priests were Sadducees

7. Besides representing the wealthy, as opposed to the Pharisees who claimed to represent the common folk, there were many areas the disagreed with the

1. They thought that most of the Old Testament legal laws should be mandatory for all people

2. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or the immortality of the soul, because nowhere in the books of Moses are they mentioned. In defending the idea of eternal life, Jesus quoted the Torah to them (compare Matthew 22:23-32). Also in the early days of the church, the Priests, the Temple Police, and the Sadducees all became annoyed because Jesus’ disciples were preaching about the resurrection of the dead (Acts 4:1-2).

3. They did not believe in angels or spirits (Acts 23:6-9)

4. They disagreed with the doctrine of heaven or hell, as in rewards or punishment after death.

8. When Jesus showed up on the scene they had more to lose if He was the Christ

9. With the increasing conflicts the Romans had with the Jews their influence became greatly reduced until AD 70 when Titus destroyed the Temple and the Sadducees faded from history altogether. Without a Temple to control they lost all their power and prestige.

2. Brood of vipers

1. The first and last animal villain in the bible, (Genesis 3 and Revelation 20:2)

2. Often used as a symbol of evil and wrongdoing in the OT (Psalm 140:3 and Jeremiah 8:17)

3. In the desert the Israelites were plagued by fiery serpents (Numbers 21:4 and 21:9)

4. It seems their parents before them were vipers, and their offspring were like them, in hypocrisy and malice. The viper appears very beautiful outwardly, but is full of poison; it looks harmless and innocent, as if it neither could nor would do any hurt, its teeth being hid, but is a most deadly and hurtful creature: so these men, though they made specious pretenses to religion and holiness, yet were full of the deadly poison of hypocrisy, malice, and error

3. Who warned you to flee?

1. What brings you hither? Who thought of seeing you here? What fear have you been given, that you inquire after the kingdom of heaven?” Malachi had predicted the wrath to come (Malachi 3:2 and Malachi 4:5). John's question expresses doubt of their sincerity. But those who, in their own eyes, held the chief place among the people, were in the eyes of the prophet who loved the people according to God, the objects of the judgment he announced. Wrath was impending. Who had warned these scornful men to flee from it? Let them humble themselves like the rest; let them take their true place, and prove their change of heart.

4. Wrath to come

1. John expresses his astonishment that sinners so hardened and so hypocritical as they were should have been induced to flee from coming wrath. The wrath to come, means the divine indignation, or the punishment that will come on the guilty. (1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)