Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
Every question has been asked and answered. No one dares ask another. In that silence Jesus turns and speaks to two groups at once. This verse opens His last public address, and who is listening shapes what He says.
One writer sets the scene as a courtroom where the case has closed and sentence is about to be passed:
The arguments were now closed. The Jews stood convicted and silenced. Not one adviser among them could answer a word when asked. As a religion and a nation, they stood condemned. The Lord then, as one in the place of judgment, sets out the matters in evidence against them and pronounces the solemn sentence.
The verse names both the crowds and the disciples. Commentators see real weight in that pairing. The disciples were Jews, still standing inside the nation and sharing its ground:
Matthew 23 shows how far the disciples are still seen as part of the nation, since they were Jews. Yet the Lord judges the leaders, who misled the people and dishonoured God by their hypocrisy... They are linked with all that is of God in the nation. That is, they are linked with the nation as God's recognised people, and so with the law as carrying God's authority. At the same time the Lord judges the walk of the nation, seen in public through its leaders, and the disciples were to judge it too.
That double address suited a particular hearer: someone who trusts Christ yet still holds Jewish hopes and Jewish ties:
It was an address both to the multitude and to the disciples, with woes for scribes and Pharisees. The Lord fully approved that mixed way of speaking for the time. It seems He provided not only for the disciples, but for the remnant in a future day who will hold this in-between place: believers in Him, yet still filled with Jewish hopes and Jewish associations.
Matthew's Gospel opened its teaching with a sermon on a mountain, spoken to the same mixed audience. That first sermon and this last one mirror each other, but the seat has changed:
In various ways the first discourse of our Lord in this Gospel, the sermon on the mountain, matches this last one, spoken to the crowds and to His disciples... He sat there as the great One greater than Moses, expounding and expanding the Law. Here He is upon the seat of judgment; the King is the Judge. In the sermon on the Mount He utters His Blessings, Beatitudes, but here as judge He pronounces His Woes.
Even so, the chapter that begins here does not end in pure darkness. One writer traces the arc and stops on the final verse:
In Matthew 23 the Lord, while owning the law's authority (despite the falseness of those who administered it), calls His disciples to the lowly position He had taken as their pattern; and He who began with "Blessed, blessed," now ends with "Woe, woe." ... But even here, in declaring the inevitable retribution, He cannot close without a door of hope in the last verse (39).
He spoke in the open, in front of the crowd these leaders were swaying:
This chapter records His burning words. In a few days the multitude, influenced by these men, would be shouting for His death. The Lord's warning about the true character of their leaders greatly increased their responsibility and guilt.
The next two verses split teaching from example: obey what these leaders read out of the law, but do not copy how they live. One writer marks the limit of that arrangement:
The Lord carefully warned against making the scribes and Pharisees a personal standard of right and wrong: they talked and did not act, so they were warning beacons, patterns of wrong, not of right. Still, not only were the disciples classed with the crowd, but even in the strongest denunciations of these religious guides they were still bound by the Lord to acknowledge those who sat in Moses' seat. They really sat there, and the Lord keeps that obligation in force instead of dissolving it: own them and whatever they set out, not from their own traditions, but from the law. This honoured God Himself, despite the hypocrites who only wanted honour from men for themselves. It gives no warrant for false apostles or their self-deceived successors today.
The failure exposed here is not confined to one nation or one century:
Pharisaism is still on the earth. Ritualism, traditionalism, and with them the rejection of the Lord's authority and His written Word — that is Pharisaism, the evil leaven the Lord warns about... And where in Christendom is a little of that leaven lacking? Only one thing keeps a believer from showing a Pharisaical spirit: the grace of God, an unbroken fellowship with the Father and His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Silence — The debates are over and no one can answer Him; He now speaks as the One who pronounces the verdict.
- Seat — He still owns the teachers' place, because it rests on Moses' law and honours God, not on the men sitting in it.
- Split — Keep their words, avoid their lives. Teaching and example come apart, and the disciples had to weigh their leaders' walk.
- Spoken aloud — He unmasks them in front of the crowd they swayed. That raises the crowd's own responsibility for what it does next.
- Sentence — The voice that opened Matthew's teaching with blessings now pronounces woes from the seat of judgment.
saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have set themselves down in Moses' seat
The Lord turns to the crowds and to His own disciples and speaks about the men who taught them. His first words are a surprise. Before He exposes their hypocrisy, He upholds the authority of the very men He is about to condemn.
The disciples were Jews. They still belonged to the nation, and its teachers still held real authority over them.
Matthew 23 shows how far the Lord still links the disciples with the nation, since they were Jews. He does judge the leaders, who misled the people and dishonoured God by their hypocrisy. He speaks to the crowd and to His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat." They were the ones who explained the law. So they were to be obeyed in all that they said from that law. Their own conduct, though, was nothing but hypocrisy.
How did they end up in that seat? One writer traces the story behind it.
The scribes and Pharisees had set themselves down in Moses' seat. They put themselves there. Even so, it was not entirely a case of seizing a place that was not theirs. A real zeal for the law of God, against the slackness all around, had first put them in the place they now held. Then decay set in. They lost the old spirit but kept the place. Here the Lord recognizes them in that place, and He recognizes the decay just as fully.
Owning the seat was no compliment to the men in it. It honoured the law they passed on, and so the God who gave it.
So part of our Lord's mission to the Jews was to say that "the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat: so practise and observe whatever they tell you." But He also gave a careful warning. His hearers were never to make the scribes and Pharisees personal standards of good and evil. "But not what they do. For they preach, but do not practise." In themselves they were warning lights, patterns of wrong, not of right. There they were in fact. The Lord upholds the duty to own them, and to own whatever they set out — not from their own traditions, but from the law. He does not dissolve that duty. This honoured God Himself, despite the hypocrites who only sought honour from men for themselves.
The command has a limit, and the limit is God Himself.
About that higher claim of obedience I mentioned: it is the safeguard wherever authority rests in hands that can be wrong. So Christ tells His disciples to obey the scribes sitting on Moses' seat. But when those scribes tell them not to preach Christ, they cannot obey, because God had told them to do otherwise. A parent's authority is sacred. But suppose I were a Jew, and my father told me not to become a Christian. I disobey him, because a higher obligation stands over his. This matters morally. No one may leave or refuse a lawful authority on the ground of his own will or self. The only ground is the direct authority of God.
The men in the seat failed one basic test.
The leaders occupied Moses' seat. As long as they enforced the law of Moses, they were to be obeyed. But they lacked the very first principle of a true lawgiver: he must be under the laws himself. These, on the contrary, exalt themselves at the cost of a burdened people.
The same failure tests anyone who teaches today.
Our teaching and our appeals have no more value than our lives give them. Of the scribes and Pharisees in His day, the Lord had to say that they preach but do not practise. How solemn this is! The teaching was good, but the teachers did not match the teaching.
One writer shows what has to happen before this verse can be applied to the church today.
The Lord had even authorized obedience to scribes and Pharisees sitting on Moses' seat. To make this text apply the way people apply it now, they first had to set up Moses' seat in the Christian Church.
- Seat. Moses' seat was the place of explaining the law. The scribes and Pharisees took it themselves, out of a real zeal that later decayed.
- Honour. The Lord upholds the seat, not the men. Obeying there honours the God who gave the law, not the hypocrites who sit in it.
- Limit. What they drew from the law bound the hearers. Their own traditions did not. No human authority holds when it commands against God's direct word.
- Failure. They enforced on others what they would not carry themselves. So they rose at the cost of a burdened people.
- Test. Teaching and life must match; our words carry only as much weight as our lives give them.
all things therefore, whatever they may tell you, do and keep. But do not after their works, for they say and do not,
Here the Lord grants the scribes and Pharisees one thing: the right to read out the law of Moses. In the same breath He takes away the right to be copied. Why obey men He is about to call hypocrites? And what does that mean for anyone who teaches a truth he does not live?
These men took that seat themselves. How they got there still matters.
The scribes and Pharisees had set themselves down in Moses' seat. It was their own act, yet it cannot be called a complete takeover. An earnest zeal for the law of God, against the slack ways of the day, first put them in the place they now hold. Then decline set in. They lost the old spirit but kept the place — and the Lord plainly recognises them in it here, while fully recognising the decay too.
The command has a clear limit. It binds the hearer to what these men draw out of the law, not to the life they live alongside it.
The Lord leaves the disciples in the relation with the Jewish leaders in which they were then found... All were subject to the authority of the scribes and the Pharisees. These men sat in Moses' seat. People ought to hear them about the instructions they drew from the law given through Moses. Still, one must carefully guard against following the way they lived: they were hypocrites who spoke and did not act.
Obedience here reaches past the speakers to the God who gave the law they read. It also sets a limit. The verse props up no office a man claims for himself.
But the Lord carefully warned them not to make the scribes and Pharisees personal standards of good and evil in any way: "but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice." They were in themselves warning lights, patterns of wrong, not of right... The Lord keeps that obligation in force instead of dissolving it. People still had to own them and whatever they set forth — not their own traditions, but what came from the law. This was to honour God Himself, despite the hypocrites who only sought honour from men for themselves. It gives no warrant to false apostles or their self-deceived successors now.
This arrangement belonged to one moment in time:
After the Lord's death the apostles laboured, and their work bore fruit in Israel. For that work the chief priests and scribes were wholly set aside. Before the cross it was different (Matt. 23:2-3).
The gap between their words and their works was not accidental. It ran in one direction: strictness outward, ease at home.
He began by granting them the place they claimed as the interpreters of the law of Moses. So the people were to keep and do the law as they heard it from their lips. Yet they were to carefully avoid taking them as examples. Their lives contradicted the law they proclaimed. They made rules for others without the smallest conscience about their own obedience... it is a very common fault among professional religious people, who love directing others while taking it easy themselves.
The verse leaves a standing test for anyone who teaches. Good words cannot carry a bad life.
An ounce of example is worth more than a ton of precept... When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the Jewish people had many teachers — scribes and Pharisees. Their teaching was good, but their own lives were bad... Mr. Spurgeon once spoke of a minister who was so good in the pulpit, but so questionable in the way he lived. When he was in the pulpit, the people said it was a pity he should ever come out of it. When he was not in the pulpit, they said it was a scandal that he should ever be allowed in! Let us above all things be real! God forbid that we should proclaim to others truths of which we do not know the power in our own souls.
Earlier in Matthew, the Lord had already tied greatness in the kingdom to this very union:
In Matthew 5:19 He links His promise to the agreement between actions and doctrine.
- Seat. The scribes took Moses' seat themselves, out of real zeal for the law. They kept it long after they lost the spirit of it. The Lord recognises the seat and names the decay.
- Say. Do what they read out of the law. Obedience there honours God, not them.
- Do. Their lives taught the opposite lesson. They were warning lights: patterns of wrong, never standards of good and evil.
- Burden. The strictness ran one way. They laid heavy rules on others and kept no conscience about their own obedience.
- Real. Teaching and living must agree. An ounce of example outweighs a ton of precept. No one should preach truths whose power he has never known himself.
but bind burdens heavy and hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of men, but will not move them with their finger.
Jesus turns to the crowds and to His disciples and exposes the men who taught them. His charge is not that these teachers taught wrong things. It is that they loaded others with what they never carried themselves. So what were these burdens, and why did the Lord still tell people to obey such men?
The Lord tells the crowd to do what these teachers say while refusing to copy what they do. He upholds their office. He strips the men who hold it of any claim to be copied.
He carefully warned them not to treat the scribes and Pharisees as personal standards of good and evil in any way. Do not do what they do, "for they preach, but do not practice." In themselves they were warning lights, patterns of wrong, not of right. Yet even while He condemned these religious guides in the strongest terms, the Lord still bound His disciples, for the time being, to acknowledge those who sat in Moses' seat. He kept that duty in force instead of cancelling it. The people were to accept these men and whatever they taught — not their own traditions, but what came from the law.
These men did not begin as frauds. Their position began in real zeal for God's law and then decayed.
A serious zeal for the law of God, against the general slackness, first put them in the place they now held. Then decline set in. They lost the old spirit but kept the position. They now claimed to serve God and bore no fruit, and their lives contradicted what they claimed. Meanwhile the rule of the rabbi was a tyranny of the harshest kind. It tied burdens hard to bear on men's shoulders — an oppression that kept growing, more and more unbearable, and never lightened.
The load was not simply the law of Moses. It was the mass of tradition stacked on top. By the rabbis' own rules, that mass could only grow.
"Rabbinism placed the rules of tradition above those of the Law... There was a general rule that no rule should be laid on the people heavier than they could bear. Even so, the teachers admitted this much: the words of the Law contained both what 'lightened' and what 'made heavy,' while the words of the scribes contained only what 'made heavy.' They held another principle too. Once they had increased a burden, that increase had to be kept for good." No wonder the Lord said they would not put out even a finger to move the unbearable load.
The word for "burdens" here does not by itself mean something crushing. The Lord uses the same word for His own burden.
The idea in the Greek word phortion (from a verb meaning "to carry") is that someone has to carry it, like freight or baggage, though it need not be heavy. The burden the Jewish leaders laid on others was heavy (Matthew 23:4; Luke 11:46). Or it may be light, as the Lord says, "my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30).
Refusing to lift a finger is the heart of the charge. This fault did not die with them.
They legislated for others without the smallest conscience about their own obedience. The Lord said this here. It is a very common fault in people who make a career of religion. They love directing other people while having an easy time themselves.
The One speaking is the exact opposite of these men. They pile burdens on. He takes the heaviest one away.
It is an easy thing to lay burdens upon others; it is hard to bear them. Christianity is the exact opposite of this. Christ comes down first and takes the heaviest burden of all — the judgment of our sin and guilt, our condemnation from God. Then He leaves us under the gospel, without that burden... Grace does bring the highest obligations. But they are the obligations of free men, who use their freedom for the One they love.
The warning reaches past the men in this chapter. Where believers take up law as the rule of Christian life, the Pharisee's habit comes back.
It was said of the Pharisees that they tied burdens hard to bear on men's shoulders. But they would not touch those burdens with one of their own little fingers. This was the spirit that was creeping in among the Galatians; the direct result of turning to the law as a rule of life.
- Seat — the Lord honours the place these men held, so the people were to obey what they taught from the law. He never asks anyone to copy their lives.
- Slide — the position began in real zeal for God's law and decayed into empty show. They kept the office and lost the spirit.
- Stacking — their tradition worked one way only. It could add weight but never remove it, and once added a burden had to stay.
- Fingers — the false teacher makes rules for others and keeps no conscience about himself. He loves directing people while he lives at ease.
- Substitute — the One who condemns them carries the heaviest load Himself, the judgment of sin, and leaves His people free. Where law becomes the rule of Christian life, the Pharisee's habit grows back.
And all their works they do to be seen of men for they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders [of their garments],
Jesus is describing Israel's religious leaders, and here He names the motive behind all they do: the eye of the watching public. Both things He picks out, the phylacteries and the fringes, came from God's own law — so how did a God-given reminder become a costume?
The first item was a wearable copy of Scripture. The Lord objected not to the object but to its size.
Short portions of the law were written on strips of parchment. These were placed in a case made of calf skin, and worn on the forehead and the left arm, supposedly in obedience to Deuteronomy 6:8 and Deuteronomy 11:18. The Pharisees and scribes made them large to attract attention, and the Lord condemned this making them "broad." In later times they wore them as a sort of charm.
The command they leaned on asked for something inward. The same passages that mention the forehead also mention the heart.
Strictly speaking, something to be worn on the forehead and, as the passages say, between the eyes. Israel's rescue from Egypt and the law were to be always before them, as a token on their hand and as frontlets between their eyes (Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18). They were also told to lay the words up in their hearts. So it seems clear that wearing them as frontlets was meant as a picture. In the New Testament we find that people took it literally, and they called the articles they wore phylacteries.
The fringes go back to a blue cord God told Israel to wear on the edge of their clothes. Its purpose was memory. This verse shows that purpose turned upside down.
When we turn to Matthew 23:5, we learn the sad use that man had made of this God-given institution. The very thing set up to make them remember the Lord, and to obey His precious word in lowliness, they turned into an occasion of self-exaltation and religious pride. Instead of thinking of God and His word, they thought of themselves, and of the place they held in the opinion of others. Not a thought of God. They lost the spirit of the original institution altogether, while keeping up the outward form for selfish ends. So let us take care. We must not turn the heavenly memorial into an earthly badge, or turn what should lead to lowly obedience into an occasion of self-exaltation.
God gave the blue cord to guard Israel from following their own will. The men with the longest fringes did the very thing it was meant to stop.
It was to be a reminder of the sacredness of the commands of God, and a protection against doing their own wills. As the centuries passed, men twisted even this, as Matthew 23:5 shows so plainly. The Pharisees showed a false piety by enlarging the borders of their garments. Yet these same men set aside the commands of God in favour of their own tradition.
They dressed for an audience of people. But another pair of eyes was watching the fringe too.
Yes, the eye of the Son of God saw that ribbon of blue on the fringe of their garments as a mark of hypocrisy and self-righteousness.
Verse 5 opens a list. The clothing was only the first symptom of a hunger that follows a man everywhere he goes.
Then, in verses 5-12, He exposed their love of notice and pre-eminence. All was for the eye of men. At feasts, in synagogues, in markets — the social circle, the religious circle and the business circle — they wanted the chief place as Rabbis and Masters. The disciple of Christ is to be the exact opposite of all this, so let us take it deeply to heart.
Making things broad and long is a way of climbing in other people's eyes. Christ's road runs the other way.
This is the only place where phylacteries are mentioned. They bound four portions of the word of God in a leather case on their foreheads and on their left arm. This was to show that they were obedient in mind and heart. God knows best. He is the searcher of the heart. This is the exact opposite of Philippians 2. The Lord Jesus is the great example of going down: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus." When I know I am a dear child, I can afford to go down.
- The gift. God gave Israel a reminder to wear. Words of the law sat near hand and eyes, and a blue cord ran along the hem, so they would remember His commands and obey.
- The heart. The same commands told them to lay the words up in their hearts. The outward token was a picture, and taking it literally already missed the point.
- The distortion. Broad phylacteries and long fringes turned a memorial to God into a badge about self. The form stayed, the spirit went, and tradition pushed God's commands aside.
- The spread. What starts with clothing does not stay there. The same appetite for notice reaches the social circle, the religious circle and the business circle.
- The reversal. Christ's eye reads the long fringe as hypocrisy. His own example runs downward, and whoever knows he is a dear child can afford to go down.
and love the chief place in feasts and the first seats in the synagogues,
The Lord is about to pronounce His woes on the religious leaders of Israel. First He names what they loved: seats. The verse exposes a heart that measures itself by the place other people give it.
The places named cover the whole of a man's public life.
Then, in verses 5-12, He exposed their love of notice and of being first. All was for the eye of men. At feasts — the social circle. In synagogues — the religious circle. In markets — the business circle. In all of them they wanted the chief place as Rabbis and Masters. The disciple of Christ is to be the exact opposite of all this, so let us take it deeply to heart.
The "best seats" in the synagogue were a real, visible place in the building — the seats beside the sacred books.
A chest stood at one end, holding the sacred books. Near this was the place of honour, or the 'chief seats,' which some people wanted, Matthew 23:6, and James 2:2-3 (where the word translated 'assembly' is 'synagogue').
Older translations say "rooms" here. One writer explains the word and draws the lesson from it.
In this verse, the word "rooms" is out of date in our language in this sense. It means "place." Standing above others, being higher in the church, is completely against what the Lord taught… The great thing is to be true inwardly. God will have truth in the inward parts no matter what others think of us.
The Lord moves past their personal conduct to something deeper: the standing they wanted other people to grant them.
But it was not only this God-dishonouring pettiness. "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces." Now we come to something else. It is not so much their personal conduct, or their claim to be the strictest of all in conscience. It is their love of a public name for holiness, and of honour in the religious world.
Elsewhere the chief seats appear inside a longer list, and the list has a direction to it.
Such people love display — "long robes;" public recognition — "greetings in the marketplaces;" top place in religion — "the best seats in the synagogues;" social standing — "the places of honor at feasts;" building themselves up, even at the expense of widows; and religious showing off, when "for a pretense they make long prayers." How solemn are the Lord's words: "They will receive the greater condemnation." The greater the pretension, the greater the judgment.
Christ taught the opposite of the chief seat, and He lived it Himself.
Then comes a more positive word: "When you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place." He had done so Himself. Then "when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.'" He took the form of a servant. He was found in human form, humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. "Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9).
Everything depends on who gives the place.
If I know I am a sinner, and so deserve no place, I will take none. I will wait until God gives me one… When God gives me a place, it is a place of power and nearness to Himself. When a man takes a place for himself, it is a place of weakness and separation from God, because self is the object.
God gave Israel a reminder meant to lead them into humble obedience.
So the very thing God set up to lead them to remember Jehovah, and to obey His precious word in lowliness, they turned into an occasion for self-exaltation and religious pride… Can we not see something like this around us and among us? Let us think of it — think deeply and seriously.
- The love. The sin named here is not sitting in a good seat but loving it — wanting the chief place at feasts and in the synagogue.
- The reach. That love spreads through the whole of life. It claims the social circle, the religious circle and the business circle for self.
- The root. Behind it is a hunger for a public name for holiness and honour in the religious world. What counts instead is being true inside.
- The end. Left to grow, it moves from display to profit taken from the defenceless, and to long prayers put on for show. The greater the pretension, the greater the judgment.
- The reversal. Take the lowest place, as Christ did, and wait for the host to move you up. A place God gives brings you near Him. A place you take for yourself leaves you far from Him.
and salutations in the market-places, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
Jesus is finishing His public charge against the scribes and Pharisees, and He points to something as small as a greeting in the market. The question is why He treats the craving for a name so seriously — and what should replace it among His own.
The greetings here are one item in a longer list. One writer shows how that list covers a man's whole world:
Then, in verses 5-12, He exposed their love of notice and pre-eminence. It was all for the eye of men. At feasts, the social circle. In synagogues, the religious circle. In markets, the business circle. In each of them they wanted the chief place as Rabbis and Masters. The disciple of Christ is to be the exact opposite of all this, so let us take it deeply to heart.
The title was more than politeness. It has a history, it was used of the Lord Himself, and it sat on a scale of honour:
A title of respect among the Jews, meaning "master, teacher." There is no known use of it before the time of Herod the Great. People used it of the Lord Himself... Jesus forbade His disciples to be called Rabbi, for Christ alone was their Master (Matthew 23:8). In Jewish use the steps of honour rose from Rab to Rabbi, and then to Rabban or Rabboni.
The root of the word explains the appetite behind it:
They liked to be recognised as something great — "Rabbi," my master. "Rab" means great one.
These greetings did more than flatter. One writer names what the title was really buying:
All this increased their power with the people. Power and place were what they were always seeking... With it came a love of prominent places too — at feasts and in the synagogues. They also loved greetings in the markets, where people addressed them as Rabbi, with all due respect.
The wish to be greeted looks harmless. Yet the Lord ties this taste for honour from men to unbelief:
There are few greater snares than human honour and praise, for they destroy faith. "How can you believe," said our Lord, "when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" (John 5:44). John 12:42-43 tells us the same thing. Many of the rulers believed in Him. Yet they did not confess Him, because they feared the Pharisees would put them out of the synagogue. They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.
The verses that follow turn to the disciples. Christ takes down the whole ladder of titles at once:
The spirit of the disciples was to be the opposite of all that. They were not to be called Rabbi, for Christ alone was their Master, and they were all brothers. They were not to call others by the name of father, for only One was their Father, He who is in the heavens. Finally, they were not to be called teachers, for Christ alone was the One who taught them. Whoever would be great among them was to be their servant.
This warning still applies, but it needs care. One writer weighs both sides:
All this calls for serious attention from everyone who truly calls Christ Lord. Yet it also needs wisdom in how we apply it. Scripture itself applies all these terms — "teacher," "father," "leader" — to disciples. So they cannot be forbidden outright. But that is what happened in Israel then, and it has largely happened in the Christian Church today. Men who should have been the servants of their brothers claimed to be masters. They stood between the consciences of men and Him who alone is Lord of the conscience.
- Greeting. The market greeting is the smallest item on a list that covers social, religious and business life — all of it staged for the eye of men.
- Great. "Rab" means great one, and the ladder ran Rab, Rabbi, Rabban; wanting the word was wanting the rank.
- Grip. The title was not empty flattery. It increased their power, and power and place were what they always wanted.
- Glory. Honour traded between men is one of the greatest snares, because those who take glory from one another cannot believe.
- Given up. The mark of a disciple is the reverse: no title, one Master, all brothers, and the greatest among them the servant.
But *ye*, be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your instructor, and all *ye* are brethren.
The Lord says this to His disciples, right after exposing the scribes and Pharisees who loved public greetings and the title "Rabbi." He is not correcting bad manners; He is naming who alone teaches His people, and what that leaves everyone else to be.
The title was a mark of rank, and it came with a ladder of grades to climb.
A title of respect among the Jews, meaning 'master, teacher.' There is no record of anyone using it until the time of Herod the Great... Jesus told His disciples not to let anyone call them Rabbi, for one was their Master (kathegetes), even Christ. According to the Jews the levels of honour rose from Rab to Rabbi, and from there to Rabban or Rabboni.
That word, kathegetes, means more than an ordinary teacher, and the claim to it did not stop with Israel.
The "leader" here (kathegetes) is more than a teacher: he is the teacher who may have many teachers under him... But it was so in Israel then, and it has become so in much of the Christian Church today. Those who should have been the servants of their brothers claimed to be masters. They stood between the consciences of men and Him who alone is Lord of the conscience.
(Older translations read "one is your Master, even Christ"; the ESV renders it "you have one teacher.")
His followers were to turn all of that around. The change reaches even to how they measure greatness.
The spirit of the disciples was to be the opposite of all that. They were not to let anyone call them Rabbi, for Christ alone was their Master, and they were brothers. They were no longer to call others by the name of father, for only one was their Father, He who is in the heavens. Finally, they were not to let anyone call them teachers, for Christ alone was the One who taught them. Whoever would be great among them was to be their servant. Whoever exalted himself on earth would be brought low, and whoever humbled himself would be lifted up.
The Lord is stopping something at its root, before it can grow.
Such things were not to be among believers. So the Lord next puts His finger on the beginnings of things. If allowed, they would produce the very same thing in Christianity as they had done in Judaism. So — they were to avoid the principles of the Rabbi who sought to form a school around himself. Their Instructor was Christ, and His word their sole authority and unerring guide... And there was to be no leadership apart from the leadership of Christ Himself.
A teacher's job is to make himself unnecessary.
Of course, there are God-given teachers. No one with Scripture in front of him could deny that... It is the intended glory of all these special 'gifts' to enable those they speak to to do without them — to send men from themselves to Christ.
Scripture itself calls some believers teachers and fathers. So the ban is not on the words but on the badge.
Scripture is clear that some believers are, in a spiritual way, "fathers" (1 Cor. 4:15), "teachers," "pastors," "evangelists" (Ephesians 4:11), and "leaders" (Heb. 13:17). But the Lord forbids anyone to give or to accept such a title. Only Christ has a right to the title "Teacher" or "Leader." Only God the Father in heaven has the right to be called "Father." "All you are brothers," He insists. That is, none are above others; all stand on the same level.
What is at stake is not gift but standing.
The question here is not about the various gifts the Lord gives by the Holy Spirit to His members in His body the Church. It is about religious authority in the world, and about the status and respect that come with church office or position.
The name the Lord leaves His people is not a demotion. It is the name He shares with them.
Here as elsewhere Scripture shows the dignity of using the term. Had not Christ said, "One is your Master, even Christ; and all you are brothers"? Besides, He is not ashamed to call us brothers... Since there will only be brothers in the Father's house, let us be only brothers down here.
Yet equality of standing does not erase order of service.
We are glad to receive the truth, "One is your Master, Christ; and all you are brothers." But if we make our common brotherhood a reason for ignoring God's order, we lose its blessedness and disobey the Master... Anyone who thinks that being a "brother" leaves him free to take up any function in the assembly makes a serious mistake.
- One Teacher. "Rabbi" was a graded ladder of honour; Christ removes the ladder by keeping the top place Himself.
- One authority. Christ is the Instructor, so His word is the only authority. No school gathers around a man. No leadership stands beside His.
- One level. The Lord refuses every title that lifts one believer above another. Scripture still names real fathers, teachers and leaders in service.
- One family name. "Brother" is the dignity left to us, and the name Christ Himself is not ashamed to use.
- One order. Being brothers is no excuse to ignore how God arranged service. Equal standing, distinct gifts.
And call not [any one] your father upon the earth; for one is your Father, he who is in the heavens.
The Lord has just exposed the scribes and Pharisees, who loved the best seats and the flattering greetings. Now He turns to His disciples with three short bans. One forbids calling any man on earth "father." Does that mean a child may not call his own father "father"?
The ban belongs to religion, not to family life. Scripture elsewhere tells us to honour our parents, so the Lord must mean something else.
This cannot refer to our father in the flesh. Scripture insists strongly that we owe full respect to our own father and mother on earth. It clearly refers to calling anyone on earth "father" in a spiritual sense, in contrast to the Father in Heaven. To call anyone "father" in a religious sense is an insult to the great Father in Heaven. But the Roman priesthood sets this ban aside. Their fatherhood is plainly a religious one, for they are celibate. Their own Church laws do not allow them to marry.
The command protects something. A rival father on earth would weaken what the disciples felt toward God as their own Father.
Nothing was to be allowed that would weaken their sense of relationship to God as their Father.
Verse 9 sits in the middle of a set of three names. Each one belongs to Christ or to the Father, and the Lord ends by turning the usual order upside down.
They were not to be called Rabbi, for Christ alone was their Master, and they were brothers. They were no longer to call others by the name of father, for only one was their Father, He who is in the heavens. Finally, they were not to be called teachers, for Christ alone was the One who taught them. Whoever would be great among them was to be their servant. Anyone who exalted himself on earth would be brought low, and anyone who humbled himself would be lifted up.
The same three words appear elsewhere in Scripture for ordinary believers. So the ban falls on the title, not on the work behind it.
On the other hand, Scripture is clear that some are "fathers" in a spiritual way (1 Cor. 4:15), and others are "teachers," "pastors," "evangelists" (Ephesians 4:11), and "leaders" (Heb. 13:17). But the Lord strictly forbids giving or accepting any of these as a title. Only Christ has a right to the title "Teacher" or "Leader." Only God the Father in heaven may be called "Father." "You are all brothers," He insists; that is, none are above others, but all on the same level.
The Lord is not limiting the abilities He gives His people. He is dealing with official position and public respect.
The question here is not about the various gifts which the Lord gives by the Holy Spirit to His members in His body, the Church. It is about religious authority in the world, and about the status and respect that come with church office or position.
The warning is not just ancient history. When servants take the place of masters, a man stands where only the Lord should stand. And the people themselves often want it that way.
But it was so in Israel then, and it has become just as common in the Christian Church today. Those who should have been the servants of their brothers claimed to be masters. They stood between the consciences of men and Him who alone is the Lord of the conscience. Neither the Church as a whole nor any group of men in it can rightly claim an authoritative place for their teaching. Scripture alone, as the word of the Lord, has that place. Yet in many forms this is what men keep doing, and the people of God, for their part, are not merely allowing the claim but encouraging it.
The same principle reaches past the word "father" to any title that borrows honour belonging to God. Take the word "reverend," which older translations use in Psalm 111:9 where the ESV reads "awesome."
It is striking that the word "reverend" is found only once in the Bible, and that time it refers to God. It appears in Psalm 111:9. That verse tells us God's name is reverend, and no other name in Scripture is ever called this. How then can any mortal man, however godly and worthy of respect, be given or take a title which God's Word gives to God alone?
- One Father. The title belongs to heaven, and heaven already fills it. The ban guards a relationship, not good manners.
- One level. Since the Father is one, the disciples are brothers — none above the others, all on the same level.
- One Lord of conscience. A title lets a man stand between your conscience and Christ, who alone rules there.
- One service. Spiritual fatherhood, teaching and leading are real in Scripture. The Lord forbids turning them into titles of rank.
- One direction. The whole passage runs downward. The great one serves, the one who exalts himself sinks, and the one who humbles himself rises.
Neither be called instructors, for one is your instructor, the Christ.
The Lord has just exposed teachers who loved public greetings and grand titles. Now He turns to His own disciples with a third ban. After "Rabbi" and "father" comes this one. If Christ alone is Leader among His people, what happens to every human title that competes with Him?
Behind the word "instructors" stands a Greek word that the Lord keeps for Himself. Older translations render it "masters." One writer gives its meaning:
Kathēgētēs means a Guide or Leader. It appears three times, and the Lord applies the title to Himself in Matthew 23:8, 10.
One writer notes how high that rank goes:
The "leader" here (kathegetes) is more than teacher: he is the teacher who may have many teachers under him.
The three bans of verses 8-10 belong together. Each one leaves a place open for Christ or the Father alone:
They were not to be called Rabbi, for Christ alone was their Master, and they were brothers. They were no longer to call others by the name of father, for only one was their Father, He who is in the heavens. Last, they were not to be called teachers, for Christ alone was the One who taught them. Whoever would be great among them was to be their servant.
Something easy to miss sits in the second half of the verse. Jesus calls Himself "the Christ." One writer uses this verse to settle a question about how the Lord spoke of Himself:
Matthew 23:10 proves that He did call Himself "the Christ." So Carr is wrong to say, about this passage in John, that our Lord applies the term "Christ" to Himself only there.
This ban does not touch the abilities God gives people to help others. It touches something else:
The question here is not about the various gifts the Lord gives by the Holy Spirit to His members in His body the Church. It is about religious authority in the world, and a certain status and respect that come from holding church office or position.
Commentators differ on how literally the words bind us. One points out that Scripture itself uses these same words of disciples. So the ban falls on the claim, not on the words:
Scripture itself uses all these terms — "teacher," "father," "leader" — of disciples. So they cannot be meant to be forbidden in an absolute way. But in Israel then, as widely in the Christian Church today, those who should have been the servants of their brothers claimed to be masters. They stood between the consciences of men and Him who alone is the Lord of the conscience... The louder and more commanding the Church's voice, the more the voice of God in His word goes unheard.
Another applies the words straight to religious titles in use today:
Such titles as Rabbi (Teacher) or Father or Master (Leader) are neither to be given to men, nor are men to accept them. The Lord is clearly speaking in a spiritual sense. Of course children may rightly call their natural father by that name. But we must refuse completely any title that puts a person in a place of spiritual prominence. Men may invent variations of these, such as "reverend," which is worse, for the title means "worthy of reverence."
The trap is subtle. It shuts when honest respect for a good person turns into surrender of the conscience:
My Christian friend, allow no one to stand between you and Christ! Christ alone is your Master. You must give account to Him alone... Of course, you don't refuse the help that He gives you through another: that would be pride and self-sufficiency. But one of Satan's most subtle and successful traps catches us here. We fall into it when we let the respect we have for one another, the rightful confidence in someone's genuineness, wisdom or godliness, make that person the director of our consciences in the things of God.
- One Leader. The word behind "instructors" means guide or leader — not just someone who teaches, but the head others follow. Christ keeps that place for Himself.
- One clearing. The three bans of verses 8-10 work together. Rabbi, father and leader all go, so that nothing stands where Christ and the Father belong.
- One claim. The Lord does not condemn gift or usefulness. He condemns religious standing claimed by office, when men who should serve their brothers act as masters.
- One conscience. The real damage comes when someone steps between a soul and the only Lord of the conscience. Commentators differ on whether the titles themselves are banned outright.
- One account. Help from others is His gift, so take it. But let no one direct your conscience: you answer to Him alone.
But the greatest of you shall be your servant.
Jesus has just told His followers not to take titles like "rabbi" for themselves. Here He puts something in their place. He does not cancel greatness. He redefines it.
Jesus says this while exposing religious leaders who loved status. One writer separates two things: the gifts God gives His people, and the status men give themselves:
We have to pray against letting in the world's spirit — the love of being first, both inside and outside. So the word is, "Do not be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers." ... The question here is not about the various gifts the Lord gives by the Holy Spirit to His members in His body, the Church. It is about religious authority in the world, and about a certain status and respect that come from a church office or position. But the great moral principle of the kingdom (which is always true) is enforced here: "The greatest among you shall be your servant."
Service is not the price of greatness. It is where greatness lives:
"The greatest among you shall be your servant." In service — in the ability to serve — true greatness is. And if the spirit of service is love, and love is the spirit of heaven, then this must follow. There is no avoiding so plain a fact: "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
The saying works in two directions. It cuts down ambition. It also shows what real leadership looks like:
The principle, "The greatest among you shall be servant of all," seems to have two sides. The first, perhaps, is this: any thought of self-importance only makes it necessary for a person to be brought low. The other side is this: the best proof of a spirit of rule is to serve the beloved sheep of Christ, in a place where they face all kinds of attacks. So He, the true King, could say in the fullest way, "I am among you as the one who serves."
The rule has a face. One writer sees Christ in the law of the Hebrew servant. That servant could go free after six years, or stay with his master out of love:
Verse 11. "The greatest among you shall be your servant." Here is the opposite principle. ... When I go to Exodus 21, I see the Hebrew servant serving six years, a full term of service. Then he has the chance to go out free. Outside, liberty; inside, service. The question arises: which will love choose? Love delights to serve; there is the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the mount of transfiguration He has the glory there. The Father says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Yet He comes down and goes to Calvary! There He plainly says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free." He will not be in the glory alone.
The same danger did not stay in the past. One writer traces it into the church of today:
In Israel then, those who should have been the servants of their brothers claimed to be masters. They stood between the consciences of men and Him who alone is Lord of the conscience. That is also what has largely come to be in the Christian Church today.
So aiming at the top is itself the failure. The way up runs through other people's needs.
Anyone who seeks to be great, and to take the lead among Christians, has completely falsified the Christian character. He will be the last of all. The true way to have the highest place is to serve. Count yourself the slave of what other disciples need.
- Servant defined. Service is not the reward of greatness. Greatness is service: "in the ability to serve, true greatness is."
- Servant chosen. Christ is the pattern: offered freedom, love chose to stay and serve, and He would not enter glory alone.
- Servant tested. The saying cuts both ways. Self-importance has to come down. Real leadership shows itself by caring for Christ's people.
- Servant, not master. The verse stands against titles that put a man between another conscience and its only Lord.
- Servant last of all. Chasing the top place falsifies the Christian character. The highest place goes to whoever becomes the slave of other people's needs.
And whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Jesus has just warned the crowds and His disciples against chasing religious titles and rank. This verse closes that warning with a rule that settles how every proud life and every humble life ends.
One writer marks out what this warning is about, and what it is not about:
Each half of the verse has already been lived out by a man:
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you" (1 Peter 5:6). It is far more blessed to humble ourselves under His mighty hand and have Him exalt us, than to exalt ourselves and leave Him to put us down!
Commentators return again and again to Philippians 2 as the pattern. Adam grasped at height and fell; Christ went down and was raised:
The mind that was in Christ is the exact opposite of the mind that was in Adam. The Lord's own words in Matthew 23:12 illustrate it. There was found in Adam the self-exalting mind, and as a consequence he fell into the depths. In Christ there was found the self-sacrificing, self-humbling mind, and, as we see in this passage, He is exalted to the supreme place.
This verse follows straight on from the words about the servant. Together they show where greatness really sits:
One writer draws a sharp line between real humility and its imitation:
True humility is not saying bad things about oneself, for this may go together with the most dreadful pride. The blessed thing is to be able to forget oneself, to be so taken up with the Lord that self is shut out. When Moses thought his face shone, the people did not see it. But once he had been long enough in God's presence for his face to shine, everyone else saw it — and he did not.
The verse leaves a choice, and if it is not taken willingly it is taken for us:
The unchanging way of God is this: "Whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Only faith gives true humbling of self. There are two forms of it: the happiest of all is to be humble; the next best thing is to be humbled. It is better to be humble than to be humbled, but there is no comparison between being humbled and being lifted up. Humility is the effect of grace. Humbling comes instead from God's righteous government, when we are not humble.
One writer sees the second half of the verse already illustrated in Daniel:
Our Lord's words were, "whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matt. 23:12). Here we have an illustration of this. Daniel had humbled himself in exceptional measure, and so he is permitted to know that he is greatly loved in Heaven. What an exaltation! Had he not been truly humbled, such an assurance might have puffed him up to his ruin.
- Two men. The first man grasped at being God and fell. The second Man made Himself nothing, and God raised Him to the highest glory. One line, two life stories.
- Two seats. The warning aims at religious rank and titles, not at gift or service. Greatness lives in the ability to serve.
- Two humilities. Real self-humbling is not speaking badly of yourself. That can hide great pride. It is being so taken up with the Lord that self is shut out — like Moses, the one man who could not see his own shining face.
- Two routes down. You can be humble by grace, or be humbled by God's government. Better to be humble than humbled — but either beats a soul that is lifted up.
- Two hands. Better to humble yourself under God's mighty hand and let Him lift you than to lift yourself and leave Him to put you down. Daniel took that path, and heard that Heaven greatly loved him.
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of the heavens before men; for *ye* do not enter, nor do ye suffer those that are entering to go in.
In Matthew, the Lord's public teaching ends with a verdict, not an appeal. He says "woe" seven times over Israel's religious teachers, and the first charge is the heaviest: they were standing in the kingdom's doorway, keeping people out.
One writer sets the Lord's first long sermon beside this last one and notes the change in where He sits:
Our Lord's first discourse in this Gospel is the sermon on the mountain. In several ways it matches His last one, spoken to the crowds and to His disciples… He sat there as the great One greater than Moses, expounding and expanding the Law. Here He is upon the seat of judgment; the King is the Judge. In the sermon on the Mount He utters His Blessings, Beatitudes, but here as judge He pronounces His Woes.
Another writer hears the same contrast, and notes what the Lord still refuses to leave out:
He Who began with "Blessed, blessed," now ends with "Woe, woe." Their evil did not stop at His cross; it went on against His servants, as we know too well. But even here, while He declares the certain punishment, He cannot close without a door of hope in the last verse.
This verse heads a list, and the order matters — opposition to the truth comes first.
Seven solemn woes are now pronounced against the scribes and Pharisees (verse 14 is not found in authentic manuscripts). The Lord does not hesitate to call them "hypocrites," for theirs was a mere pretence of spirituality. First, they were against the truth. They deliberately kept men from entering the kingdom of heaven, refusing it themselves and depriving others of its blessings. To defend their own pride they were willing to make others suffer.
One writer explains how the shutting was done, and who got in ahead of the men who did it:
As it is put in Luke, they had "taken away the key of knowledge." Their legal and traditional teachings barred man's approach to the only place of blessing, which was submission to the glorious King. In Him the Kingdom was presented to them. So the outcasts of Israel, the "tax collectors and prostitutes," went into it more easily than they did.
The verse names two acts: staying outside, and blocking the entrance. One writer says who these men were, and why the blocking follows:
The Lord denounces the scribes and Pharisees, the religious teachers of the day, pointing to the different traits of wickedness that marked them. They shut up the kingdom of heaven before men, and would neither enter nor let others enter. That is because religious teachers always oppose the entry of the truth into other hearts.
Those kept outside were the ordinary people. The Lord's own care ran the other way:
In word and deed, the Lord showed a special loving interest in the welfare of the ordinary people. The Pharisees and scribes oppressed them and shut the kingdom of heaven against them. It was foretold that a mark of the Messiah's ministry would be that the poor have the gospel preached to them.
The Lord's name for them is not a general insult but a precise description:
Hypocrisy is pretending to be what we are not. By their religious acts they claimed great piety before men. By their words they claimed to honour God. But their hearts were far from God.
Commentators do not leave this verse in the first century.
They had heard the Kingdom preached, but they chose to shut their eyes and turn away from the light that had burst upon them. They did not enter in, and they kept others away from it. This same awful "woe" falls on the modern Pharisees too, though in a different sense. How many man-made "priests" and "teachers" follow the traditions of men and wrongly take the place that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are themselves unsaved, and they keep others from knowing the truth.
- Seat changed. The ministry that opened with "Blessed" on the mountain now closes with "Woe." The same King speaks, but from the seat of judgment.
- Door first. Opposition to the truth heads the list of seven woes. They refused the kingdom themselves and blocked others from its blessings.
- Key removed. They had taken away the key of knowledge. Their tradition and legal teaching barred the way to the King, the one place of blessing.
- Crowd outside. The ones shut out were the ordinary people the Messiah was foretold to preach to. Tax collectors and prostitutes went in more easily than their teachers.
- Mirror held. Hypocrisy is pretending to be what we are not. Writers apply the same woe today to any teacher who neither knows the truth nor lets others reach it.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.