Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Mel B]

Do you mind helping break down Matthew 23 in simpler terms? I’m having a really hard time understanding the significance

[jimwalton]

Jesus reserved His harshest words for religious hypocrites. He was gentle and compassionate with sinners of all sorts, but with people who claimed to be God-followers but who were fakers, distorters, and teaching false things about God, He was intolerant. Matthew 23 is about His condemnation of their hypocrisy.

They made up religious rules (“Oh, you have to do this and that and do it in just this way or God will condemn you”) that just crushed the people who were trying to have a real relationship with God and most made them not want to bother. Jesus was intolerant of that! And then they didn't even follow those rules themselves!

For these religious hypocrites, it was all about people thinking they were like super-religious people, so people would bow to them and revere them. It wasn’t about God at all. They were just using God for their own gain. It made Jesus angry. How dare they mess up what God was trying to do, and in the name of God, nonetheless.

From verses 13-39 Jesus pronounces 7 woes (sort-a like curses) on them, seven being the number of completion—meaning they were totally condemned for their hypocrisy.

The problems (the woes): (1) They were so wrapped up in themselves and their own price they didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah; (2) They acted all “godly,” but were doing more harm than good; (3) They twisted the Bible to say what they wanted it to say; (4) They didn’t even really understand what the Bible was saying; (5) They were just like Jews through the centuries who rejected the prophets, made God what they wanted Him to be (rather than what He truly was), and didn’t recognize the truth when it was right in front of them.