Matthew 23:25 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ rips off the mask of hypocrisy with the violence that it deserves. There is nothing in the hypocrite that justifies his being treated gently, for he proceeds on the basis of deception from start to finish. Calvary was approaching and the Lord knew it well, and therefore the time had come for the false shepherds of Israel to be fully exposed for what they were. This would be done before the new order of the church of God was brought in and replaced the old.One thing after another was exposed as a sham, a playact, a device to conceal what was really there. In another passage Mark tells us in more detail what was their common practice: ‘For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. ⁴ And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables’ (Mark 7:3-4). All this was done as a public performance intended to earn approval, and with the undiscerning it was highly successful. The supposed contamination their had incurred in the marketplace by mixing with sinners, was to be studiously washed away. The people assumed that the same diligence that was seen in the cleansing of utensils was also apparent in the cleansing of their hearts, but not a bit of it. The Pharisees were very well aware of the cut-off point. The moment their behaviour dropped out of sight, all attention to godliness ceased. The visible part was all there was; it was all an act. The rigorous cleansing which was on display in the cup and the plate, was completely missing in the soul. The people extrapolated in vain. It was a fiction that they admired in their religious leaders.