Faith Omitted from the Law by Israel's Leaders

Faith in the Synoptic Gospels as taught by the Greek word “pistis” - Part 4:

We continue our examination of the Greek word “pistis,” translated with the English noun “faith,” found 24 times in Matthew, Mark and Luke. (It is not found in the Gospel of John.) Jesus is recorded as having uttered it 23 times while His disciples did so once. Part 1 of this series (Vol 3, No 15) described 8 incidents in which Jesus alluded to the faith (pistis) of 13 people as the key to their healing and/or forgiveness of sins. In Part 2 (Vol 3, No 16) we studied 4 incidents in which Jesus told His disciples everything they could accomplish even if they only had a tiny amount of faith. In one of these 4 incidents the Apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, this being the only occasion when anyone other than Jesus is recorded as having uttered this word. In our last study (Part 3, Vol 3, No 17) we examined the word used once regarding the Apostle Peter's faith being tried. The 13 incidents studied to date account for 22 of the 24 occurrences of the Greek “pistis” in the Gospels. We will examine one of the remaining two in this study.

Matthew used “Pistis” in his account of the time when Jesus called the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, stating they had omitted judgment, mercy and faith from the law, Matthew 23:2323 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

. The context is the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew. An abbreviated version of this account is also recorded by Mark (12:38 - 40) and Luke (20:45 - 47.) Therefore we find one incident reported by three authors but “pistis” is used only once and that is in Matthew's account. The question for this study is: what does it mean that the Scribes and Pharisees omitted faith from the law? To find the answer we must first review the context.

In the first 12 verses of Matthew 23 Jesus addressed His disciples and some bystanders there with them. He told them they were to follow the Scribes and Pharisees' instructions regarding the Mosiac law but they should not imitate the lives of the Scribes and Pharisees. Verses 1 - 3 of Matthew 23 are important because they show that Jesus was still living under the Mosiac dispensation. In other words, Jesus and all those who believed in Him during His earthly ministry strictly adhered to the same law that was instituted when Moses received it from God on Mt. Sinai as recorded in Exodus.

In the remainder of the chapter (Matthew 23:13 - 3913 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

) Jesus turned from His disciples and the Jews there with them to the Scribes and Pharisees who He condemned. We must keep in mind that at that time the Scribes and Pharisees were ordained or recognized by God as the religious leaders of the Jews. Any person who wanted to be right with God at that time had to follow the Law of Moses within the system the Scribes and Pharisees oversaw. So it was that Jesus told His followers they should do what they said but not what they did. But nevertheless, Jesus laid bare the depths of their hearts: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. [Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” Matthew 23:23 - 2523 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

. Put in the vernacular of today, they were all front and no back, i.e., like a large building fa