Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Two men go up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican, coming to the same place with the same stated purpose to meet with God. Their shared purpose sets up a contrast of opposite attitudes, for the Pharisee is full of self-praise and considers himself righteous while the publican sees himself as having no claim to mercy and comes aware of sin and need. The Pharisee's prayer has no value and receives no hearing, while the publican's prayer is heard and accepted because it expresses dependence on God's power and reaches for infinite love through faith. The publican's sense of unworthiness places him nearer to God than the Pharisee's claims of piety, so the publican rather than the Pharisee goes home justified. Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, for self-righteousness does not earn grace while humility is the way to be exalted and taught.
Setting and Worshipers
Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican, and this sets the scene for a parable about two kinds of worshipers coming to the same place with the same stated purpose to meet with God. Their shared purpose sets up a contrast of outward worship that alone does not make a person right with God, teaching the need for true humility. The Pharisee worships from self-interest, trusting in his own righteousness and seeking approval, while the publican comes aware of his sin and need for God's mercy. The Pharisee stands for those who pray and speak self-righteously, boast of good deeds, and thank God they are not like others, while dishonest actions show conduct that does not match profession of faith. The call drawn from the account to be abased means to humble oneself, learn from the great Teacher, and value the privilege of learning from Scripture.
Outwardly standing to pray does not prove reverence or humility. The Pharisee's erect posture accompanies haughty self-sufficiency, while the publican approaches humbly in contrast with it. An erect stance in prayer must therefore not be treated as a sign of reverence.
The two men represent two classes and two confidences: self-righteous confidence and a sense of unworthiness. The Pharisee stands for self-righteousness and for those who stand apart in self-esteem and importance and look down upon others, a class Christ would never countenance. The publican stands for the outcast, the sinner, and the despised, whom Christ calls and by loving-kindness compels to come to Him and whom He welcomes.
Humble Prayer Heard
Two men come to the same place with the same stated purpose to meet with God, and their shared approach sets up a contrast of opposite attitudes that teaches the need for true humility. The one worships from self-interest, trusting in his own righteousness, seeking approval, full of self-praise and considering himself righteous, while the other comes aware of his sin and need, seeing himself as having no claim to mercy or approval. Outward worship alone therefore does not make a person right with God.
Only one who knows himself to be a sinner can be saved, for without self-knowledge, without conviction of sin and without contrition the soul is encased in self-righteous armor that pardon and peace cannot reach and that the Holy Spirit cannot penetrate. Knowledge of the real condition creates felt need for help, understanding of danger drives flight to the refuge, and feeling the pain of wounds creates desire for healing. Christ came to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to captives, to give sight to the blind and to set at liberty the bruised, while those who are whole feel no need of a physician.
The self-satisfied prayer has no value and receives no hearing, marked as it is by self-praise, pride, self-sufficiency, little reverence and human superiority, and by looking down with contempt on those regarded as sinners. By contrast the humble prayer is heard and accepted because it expresses dependence on God's power, regards self as nothing and shameful, and reaches for infinite love through faith and prayer. Faith also recognizes the benefit of making peace with God. Accepted prayer requires reverence, humility of mind, searching of heart, putting right wrongs done to others by speech, bringing soul and tongue and words to God to glorify Him, and watching unto prayer by speaking and acting in harmony with prayer.
The sense of unworthiness and plea for mercy place the needy one nearer to God than claims of piety, so he rather than the other goes home justified. Heaven regards the proud boaster of righteousness differently from the person who knows need and longs to be nearer to God, and the needy sinner has greater discernment of heavenly things than the one who considers himself important and righteous. Those who claim to be sinless show the same self-righteous spirit, failing to recognize need for forgiveness, wisdom, light, strength and growth in grace.
Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, for exalting self and pointing to personal righteousness, devotion, prayerfulness, fasting and tithing does not earn grace. The self-exalted one is wise in his own opinion, forward to instruct but unwilling to be taught, despising instruction and condemning others while blind to his own faults, whereas true righteousness never produces pride or disdain. Humility is the way to be exalted, to learn from the great Teacher, and to value the privilege of learning from Scripture. When mortals become just in their own eyes they are left to be deceived about themselves, and their life is not marked with the humility that must characterize followers of Christ.
Humility is necessary to receive Christ's presence and to enter heaven, and God's blessings are not secured by outward display or self-righteousness but by coming humbly and contritely. Such humility shines in the church and the world and will shine in heaven.
Exposure of Self-Righteousness
The parable is given for the benefit of all who believe, to expose self-conceit, trust in one's own righteousness, and despising of others. Such self-reliance is spiritual pride and vanity, leading its possessors to condemn others and parade their own virtues while remaining blind to their own faults, whereas true righteousness never produces pride or disdain. People may thus display virtue while failing to see their sin, but God sees the heart with its disobedience and serious defects of character.
The Pharisee congratulates himself and spreads his virtues before God, enumerating good deeds, devotion, prayerfulness, fasting, and tithing. He thanks God that he is not as other men, boasting of religious deeds, thinking little of his sins and much of his virtues, lifting himself as high as possible in his own eyes and treating himself as better than the publican. He is wise in his own opinion and exalted in his own eyes, forward to instruct but unwilling to be taught, despising instruction and seeing himself not as God sees him. His dishonest actions show conduct that does not match profession, and his prayer is not regarded but rejected.
That self-made righteousness springs from self and not from Christ, trusting one's own good works and meritorious acts to buy heaven and salvation. It expresses itself in rigorous self-imposed fasting and prayer that God has not required and with which He has nothing to do, which leaves its practitioners unsustained and injures health. In contrast every sinner must rely alone upon the merits and blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, for Christ and true godliness give health to the body and strength to the soul, and the true religion of the Bible never harms body or mind.
The Pharisee is the pattern of false profession of sanctification and of claims to be sinless and without need of Jesus, forgiveness, wisdom, light, strength, and growth in grace. Those like him claim holiness and say God leads and teaches them and that they live without sin, yet they are entirely ignorant of the work of grace upon the heart. They lay aside reason and judgment, depend wholly upon feelings and upon emotions once experienced, will bear no contradiction, and stubbornly urge their claims with many words while bearing no precious fruit as proof. They delude their own souls and exert an influence to lead astray many who earnestly desire to conform to the will of God, in a dark, mysterious spirit altogether unlike Christ, the only true pattern.
The scene also exposes false humility in those who trust religious office and many devotional duties to make them accepted by God. They may speak of their own spiritual poverty and of others' faults while inwardly proud of supposed humility and righteousness. Their humility is false, and they refuse reproof when God exposes their defects.
God's judgment is totally different from human judgment, for His eye reads the intents and purposes of the soul behind the profession. The fatal spell of this pride makes the soul deaf and blind to compassion, mercy, and truth, so that flattery of friends and trust that much good work will recommend to God's favor deceives the soul.
The Pharisee is a man anchored firmly to the rock of self-righteousness and entrenched in its fortress behind walls and armor, and while a person stays there neither God nor man can do anything for him. To be freed he must wrench himself away from that mooring, break down the walls by seeking God and wrestling with Him in supplication, surrender himself to God, grasp the promises, and gain the victory. If he does not come to the point and free his soul, he remains anchored there and is enshrouded in dense darkness.
The spirit of Pharisaism is a high estimate of self that refuses to humble the heart before God and to cast oneself wholly on the mercy of Christ. This spirit excludes Christ from the thoughts, leaves the heart not bound up with the heart of Christ, hides the glory of the Redeemer, and places a barrier between the person and the Saviour. It keeps people from candidly confessing sin, receiving pardon, and relying on Christ's righteousness. Professing belief while failing to do God's will, the Pharisee pictures the danger of becoming self-righteous instead of growing spiritually and following Jesus.
Warnings and Right Response
Do not measure righteousness by comparing conduct with those who act worse, but examine whether the light and instruction received have been taken seriously. Yield the heart to God, love to follow Jesus, and be guided by the Holy Spirit rather than flattering self as righteous. The Pharisee's course also warns against comparing one's own work with a brother's and criticizing or depreciating him, for such comparison is pride and not the meekness and lowliness learned from Christ.
Phariseeism is the grievous sin of self-sufficiency, feeling righteous and counting all acts meritorious while far from the right spirit toward God and toward brethren. It is wanting to be first, with cherished self-esteem and criticism of others for not giving first place, producing envy, jealousy, suspicion, fault-finding, and false witness. Under its power unconsecrated hearts turn everything said or done, even what is under God's special direction, into a wrong meaning, viewing things in a perverted light, making a man an offender for a word where often there is no actual sin, the suspicion coming only from the critic's own mind. When one crosses their track there is no more unity or sweet fellowship but only disgust at all he says or does, with feelings spread to those who trust them and a secret spirit of retaliation at work, yet still claiming firm belief in the truth without practicing its spirit, so that evil surmising permeates the company, God is dishonored, truth is degraded, and Christian experience is marred and dwarfed.
This pride casts a fatal spell that makes the soul deaf and blind to compassion, mercy, and truth, deceived by flattery of friends and by trust that much good work will recommend to God's favor. The lesson is to fear self-exaltation, to behold Christ in order to think little of self, to learn meekness and lowliness of heart and wear His yoke. Accept the unpleasant work of soul cleansing and bruising of self rather than turning away from reproof and slumbering on in imperfection until the second death, seeing self as God sees instead of lifting self as high as possible and thinking little of sins and much of virtues. Those exalted in their own opinion strengthen themselves by looking back to a past experience of God's leading and then conclude they need no further teaching and know it all. They despise instruction and cast behind them teaching through God's servants, constantly pointing to their own righteousness, devotion, and prayerful life and depending on their own merits, including boasting of fasting and tithing, while their lives lack the humility that must mark Christ's followers. When mortals become just in their own eyes Jesus leaves them to their own ways to be deceived about themselves, and they develop a hard, self-righteous spirit with no union with Christ's meekness.
The rebuke of the Pharisee applies to those who have lost their first love and use fasting, prayers, ceremonies, outward humility, and imposed sacrifices to claim righteousness and entitlement to heaven. Such works cannot earn entrance into heaven, for the one great offering is sufficient for all who believe. Ministers in particular are warned against a self-satisfied spirit that relies on old theories and rejects a message sent by God while wrongly thinking they are safe, for zeal marked by Pharisaism is not commended and is not of Christ. Those who consider themselves morally superior must seek God as sinners, for Pharisaism must be broken or they will fail to develop Christian character and be lost. Striving for superiority is pride and hardness of heart, while humble prayer and closeness to Jesus banish criticism and judgment of others.
Do not approach God with pomposity, human superiority, and little reverence like the Pharisee who praised and adored himself and in pride and self-sufficiency despised those he regarded as sinners. Distrust personal strength, depend on God, and worship humbly, for whoever prays in pride and self-sufficiency will not be heard. Accepted prayer requires reverence, humility of mind, searching of heart, putting right wrongs done to others by speech, bringing soul, tongue, and words to God to glorify Him, and watching unto prayer by speaking and acting in harmony with prayer. The only safe position is to consider oneself a sinner daily needing divine grace, with mercy through the atoning blood of Christ as the only plea, exalting God and His grace and seeking salvation through Christ alone instead of trusting and presenting one's own good deeds. This self-exalting spirit is urged by Satan when he appears as an angel of light, and his temptations can be met only with the word of God by standing fast on truth and relying on It is written. The call therefore is for humility, confession, and the Holy Spirit's help to see and correct faults rather than being pharisaical, condemning others while failing to discern one's own defects.
Two men go up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican, coming to the same place with the same stated purpose to meet with God. Their shared purpose sets up a contrast of opposite attitudes, for the Pharisee is full of self-praise and considers himself righteous while the publican sees himself as having no claim to mercy and comes aware of sin and need. The Pharisee's prayer has no value and receives no hearing, while the publican's prayer is heard and accepted because it expresses dependence on God's power and reaches for infinite love through faith. The publican's sense of unworthiness places him nearer to God than the Pharisee's claims of piety, so the publican rather than the Pharisee goes home justified. Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, for self-righteousness does not earn grace while humility is the way to be exalted and taught.
Setting and Worshipers
Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican, and this sets the scene for a parable about two kinds of worshipers coming to the same place with the same stated purpose to meet with God. Their shared purpose sets up a contrast of outward worship that alone does not make a person right with God, teaching the need for true humility. The Pharisee worships from self-interest, trusting in his own righteousness and seeking approval, while the publican comes aware of his sin and need for God's mercy. The Pharisee stands for those who pray and speak self-righteously, boast of good deeds, and thank God they are not like others, while dishonest actions show conduct that does not match profession of faith. The call drawn from the account to be abased means to humble oneself, learn from the great Teacher, and value the privilege of learning from Scripture.
Outwardly standing to pray does not prove reverence or humility. The Pharisee's erect posture accompanies haughty self-sufficiency, while the publican approaches humbly in contrast with it. An erect stance in prayer must therefore not be treated as a sign of reverence.
The two men represent two classes and two confidences: self-righteous confidence and a sense of unworthiness. The Pharisee stands for self-righteousness and for those who stand apart in self-esteem and importance and look down upon others, a class Christ would never countenance. The publican stands for the outcast, the sinner, and the despised, whom Christ calls and by loving-kindness compels to come to Him and whom He welcomes.
Humble Prayer Heard
Two men come to the same place with the same stated purpose to meet with God, and their shared approach sets up a contrast of opposite attitudes that teaches the need for true humility. The one worships from self-interest, trusting in his own righteousness, seeking approval, full of self-praise and considering himself righteous, while the other comes aware of his sin and need, seeing himself as having no claim to mercy or approval. Outward worship alone therefore does not make a person right with God.
Only one who knows himself to be a sinner can be saved, for without self-knowledge, without conviction of sin and without contrition the soul is encased in self-righteous armor that pardon and peace cannot reach and that the Holy Spirit cannot penetrate. Knowledge of the real condition creates felt need for help, understanding of danger drives flight to the refuge, and feeling the pain of wounds creates desire for healing. Christ came to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to captives, to give sight to the blind and to set at liberty the bruised, while those who are whole feel no need of a physician.
The self-satisfied prayer has no value and receives no hearing, marked as it is by self-praise, pride, self-sufficiency, little reverence and human superiority, and by looking down with contempt on those regarded as sinners. By contrast the humble prayer is heard and accepted because it expresses dependence on God's power, regards self as nothing and shameful, and reaches for infinite love through faith and prayer. Faith also recognizes the benefit of making peace with God. Accepted prayer requires reverence, humility of mind, searching of heart, putting right wrongs done to others by speech, bringing soul and tongue and words to God to glorify Him, and watching unto prayer by speaking and acting in harmony with prayer.
The sense of unworthiness and plea for mercy place the needy one nearer to God than claims of piety, so he rather than the other goes home justified. Heaven regards the proud boaster of righteousness differently from the person who knows need and longs to be nearer to God, and the needy sinner has greater discernment of heavenly things than the one who considers himself important and righteous. Those who claim to be sinless show the same self-righteous spirit, failing to recognize need for forgiveness, wisdom, light, strength and growth in grace.
Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, for exalting self and pointing to personal righteousness, devotion, prayerfulness, fasting and tithing does not earn grace. The self-exalted one is wise in his own opinion, forward to instruct but unwilling to be taught, despising instruction and condemning others while blind to his own faults, whereas true righteousness never produces pride or disdain. Humility is the way to be exalted, to learn from the great Teacher, and to value the privilege of learning from Scripture. When mortals become just in their own eyes they are left to be deceived about themselves, and their life is not marked with the humility that must characterize followers of Christ.
Humility is necessary to receive Christ's presence and to enter heaven, and God's blessings are not secured by outward display or self-righteousness but by coming humbly and contritely. Such humility shines in the church and the world and will shine in heaven.
Exposure of Self-Righteousness
The parable is given for the benefit of all who believe, to expose self-conceit, trust in one's own righteousness, and despising of others. Such self-reliance is spiritual pride and vanity, leading its possessors to condemn others and parade their own virtues while remaining blind to their own faults, whereas true righteousness never produces pride or disdain. People may thus display virtue while failing to see their sin, but God sees the heart with its disobedience and serious defects of character.
The Pharisee congratulates himself and spreads his virtues before God, enumerating good deeds, devotion, prayerfulness, fasting, and tithing. He thanks God that he is not as other men, boasting of religious deeds, thinking little of his sins and much of his virtues, lifting himself as high as possible in his own eyes and treating himself as better than the publican. He is wise in his own opinion and exalted in his own eyes, forward to instruct but unwilling to be taught, despising instruction and seeing himself not as God sees him. His dishonest actions show conduct that does not match profession, and his prayer is not regarded but rejected.
That self-made righteousness springs from self and not from Christ, trusting one's own good works and meritorious acts to buy heaven and salvation. It expresses itself in rigorous self-imposed fasting and prayer that God has not required and with which He has nothing to do, which leaves its practitioners unsustained and injures health. In contrast every sinner must rely alone upon the merits and blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, for Christ and true godliness give health to the body and strength to the soul, and the true religion of the Bible never harms body or mind.
The Pharisee is the pattern of false profession of sanctification and of claims to be sinless and without need of Jesus, forgiveness, wisdom, light, strength, and growth in grace. Those like him claim holiness and say God leads and teaches them and that they live without sin, yet they are entirely ignorant of the work of grace upon the heart. They lay aside reason and judgment, depend wholly upon feelings and upon emotions once experienced, will bear no contradiction, and stubbornly urge their claims with many words while bearing no precious fruit as proof. They delude their own souls and exert an influence to lead astray many who earnestly desire to conform to the will of God, in a dark, mysterious spirit altogether unlike Christ, the only true pattern.
The scene also exposes false humility in those who trust religious office and many devotional duties to make them accepted by God. They may speak of their own spiritual poverty and of others' faults while inwardly proud of supposed humility and righteousness. Their humility is false, and they refuse reproof when God exposes their defects.
God's judgment is totally different from human judgment, for His eye reads the intents and purposes of the soul behind the profession. The fatal spell of this pride makes the soul deaf and blind to compassion, mercy, and truth, so that flattery of friends and trust that much good work will recommend to God's favor deceives the soul.
The Pharisee is a man anchored firmly to the rock of self-righteousness and entrenched in its fortress behind walls and armor, and while a person stays there neither God nor man can do anything for him. To be freed he must wrench himself away from that mooring, break down the walls by seeking God and wrestling with Him in supplication, surrender himself to God, grasp the promises, and gain the victory. If he does not come to the point and free his soul, he remains anchored there and is enshrouded in dense darkness.
The spirit of Pharisaism is a high estimate of self that refuses to humble the heart before God and to cast oneself wholly on the mercy of Christ. This spirit excludes Christ from the thoughts, leaves the heart not bound up with the heart of Christ, hides the glory of the Redeemer, and places a barrier between the person and the Saviour. It keeps people from candidly confessing sin, receiving pardon, and relying on Christ's righteousness. Professing belief while failing to do God's will, the Pharisee pictures the danger of becoming self-righteous instead of growing spiritually and following Jesus.
Warnings and Right Response
Do not measure righteousness by comparing conduct with those who act worse, but examine whether the light and instruction received have been taken seriously. Yield the heart to God, love to follow Jesus, and be guided by the Holy Spirit rather than flattering self as righteous. The Pharisee's course also warns against comparing one's own work with a brother's and criticizing or depreciating him, for such comparison is pride and not the meekness and lowliness learned from Christ.
Phariseeism is the grievous sin of self-sufficiency, feeling righteous and counting all acts meritorious while far from the right spirit toward God and toward brethren. It is wanting to be first, with cherished self-esteem and criticism of others for not giving first place, producing envy, jealousy, suspicion, fault-finding, and false witness. Under its power unconsecrated hearts turn everything said or done, even what is under God's special direction, into a wrong meaning, viewing things in a perverted light, making a man an offender for a word where often there is no actual sin, the suspicion coming only from the critic's own mind. When one crosses their track there is no more unity or sweet fellowship but only disgust at all he says or does, with feelings spread to those who trust them and a secret spirit of retaliation at work, yet still claiming firm belief in the truth without practicing its spirit, so that evil surmising permeates the company, God is dishonored, truth is degraded, and Christian experience is marred and dwarfed.
This pride casts a fatal spell that makes the soul deaf and blind to compassion, mercy, and truth, deceived by flattery of friends and by trust that much good work will recommend to God's favor. The lesson is to fear self-exaltation, to behold Christ in order to think little of self, to learn meekness and lowliness of heart and wear His yoke. Accept the unpleasant work of soul cleansing and bruising of self rather than turning away from reproof and slumbering on in imperfection until the second death, seeing self as God sees instead of lifting self as high as possible and thinking little of sins and much of virtues. Those exalted in their own opinion strengthen themselves by looking back to a past experience of God's leading and then conclude they need no further teaching and know it all. They despise instruction and cast behind them teaching through God's servants, constantly pointing to their own righteousness, devotion, and prayerful life and depending on their own merits, including boasting of fasting and tithing, while their lives lack the humility that must mark Christ's followers. When mortals become just in their own eyes Jesus leaves them to their own ways to be deceived about themselves, and they develop a hard, self-righteous spirit with no union with Christ's meekness.
The rebuke of the Pharisee applies to those who have lost their first love and use fasting, prayers, ceremonies, outward humility, and imposed sacrifices to claim righteousness and entitlement to heaven. Such works cannot earn entrance into heaven, for the one great offering is sufficient for all who believe. Ministers in particular are warned against a self-satisfied spirit that relies on old theories and rejects a message sent by God while wrongly thinking they are safe, for zeal marked by Pharisaism is not commended and is not of Christ. Those who consider themselves morally superior must seek God as sinners, for Pharisaism must be broken or they will fail to develop Christian character and be lost. Striving for superiority is pride and hardness of heart, while humble prayer and closeness to Jesus banish criticism and judgment of others.
Do not approach God with pomposity, human superiority, and little reverence like the Pharisee who praised and adored himself and in pride and self-sufficiency despised those he regarded as sinners. Distrust personal strength, depend on God, and worship humbly, for whoever prays in pride and self-sufficiency will not be heard. Accepted prayer requires reverence, humility of mind, searching of heart, putting right wrongs done to others by speech, bringing soul, tongue, and words to God to glorify Him, and watching unto prayer by speaking and acting in harmony with prayer. The only safe position is to consider oneself a sinner daily needing divine grace, with mercy through the atoning blood of Christ as the only plea, exalting God and His grace and seeking salvation through Christ alone instead of trusting and presenting one's own good deeds. This self-exalting spirit is urged by Satan when he appears as an angel of light, and his temptations can be met only with the word of God by standing fast on truth and relying on It is written. The call therefore is for humility, confession, and the Holy Spirit's help to see and correct faults rather than being pharisaical, condemning others while failing to discern one's own defects.