Matthew 23:14, commentary and pictures

Christ denounced the scribes and Pharisees for robbing vulnerable people by persuading widows to give their whole property for religious purposes and then using it for themselves, and by laying heavy exactions upon the poor under religious pretexts and dishonestly appropriating the offerings for their own ambition and gain. For a cover they made long public prayers in conspicuous places and clung rigorously to outward law, traditions and ceremonies to impress others and obtain money. Their show of zeal and devotion concealed selfishness, greed, fraud and hard, merciless hearts ruled by pride, envy and malice. Such pretended godliness cannot hide the heart from God, who judges each person according to deeds, and practicing iniquity under a cloak of holiness brings certain and especially severe retribution. The same woe falls just as surely on all in sacred trust who do a like work unless they repent, for there is more hope for an open sinner than for one who cloaks wrongdoing in godliness.

Setting and Manner

The words belong to the final day of teaching in the temple courts, when the character of the rulers and elders, scribes and Pharisees, chief priests and lawyers was exposed and the condition of religious leadership at the first advent was laid bare. That exposure was meant to condemn corruption and to reach people across ages and nations.

He spoke with fearless authority against hypocrisy and dishonest practice, exposing artful intrigue among priests, rulers, Pharisees and Sadducees. His denunciation carried burning earnestness and terrible severity against the abominations He saw, refusing to let the people be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity. Yet His rebukes, though keen and searching, were given without an irritated temper, showing that strong correction can be given with meekness and gentleness. His indignation was directed at wrongdoing rather than stirred by personal abuse or desire for retaliation, showing that love and mercy can coexist with righteous indignation against sin.

His public denunciation of the priests and scribes as hypocrites was a plain condemnation of their conduct. Their testimony that He had called them hypocrites would not count as a useful charge against Him before the Romans or Sadducees.

Exploitation and False Piety

To devour widows' houses was to persuade widows to give their whole property for religious purposes and then to use the money for themselves. The long public prayers were a covering for that dishonesty, a show of piety that concealed selfishness.

The same devouring was taking advantage of the poor, especially the widow and fatherless, by laying heavy taxes upon them. Heavy payments were demanded under religious pretexts, and heavy sums of money were exacted on various pretenses for the Lord's treasury. The means thus dishonestly obtained were then used and the people's offerings appropriated for personal advantage, corrupt ambition, riches, and worldly honors. By this course the leaders daily robbed God while appearing devout.

For a pretense they made long prayer by praying in the marketplaces and other conspicuous places and by giving alms to be seen of men. They held rigorously and exactly to outward law, traditions, customs, and needless ceremonies when observed by men. They put on an outward show of piety, zeal, and devotion to give impressions of their importance, to impress others, and to obtain money from the people. Such long prayers in conspicuous places were hypocritical and unacceptable to God.

That outward show of godliness, zeal, devotion, and attention to religious duties concealed exploitation, selfishness, and dishonesty. It hid greed, fraud, and ambition, and hard, merciless, unfeeling hearts without mercy to the poor and unfortunate. It hid hearts ruled by pride, envy, hatred, and malice, with jealousy also ruling where zeal was professed without a humbled, loving heart. Outward religious forms therefore concealed a lack of mercy and love, while public devotion was used to take money for personal benefit.

Judgment on Hypocrisy

Therefore they shall receive the greater damnation, for their evil deeds bring certain retribution and severe divine judgment if they persist in wrongdoing. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, and hypocrisy cloaked in long prayers as a show of piety while exploiting widows brings a greater judgment than ordinary sin. The outward show of godliness concealed exploitation and hypocrisy, for which divine retribution was pronounced as part of the denunciation of leaders who rejected the light and salvation brought to them.

Apparent holiness cannot hide selfishness from God, who sees the purposes of the heart and judges each person according to deeds and works. Long public prayers and show of piety concealed selfishness and dishonesty, and covering dishonesty with a show of piety brings greater condemnation. The same warning applies to people who cover greed with apparent holiness while professing piety and living selfishly and greedily.

Their guilt was not excusable ignorance but arose from selfish and corrupt motives, from rejecting the light and salvation brought to them. Professed service to God does not excuse rejecting truth and mercy while selfishness, love of wealth, and worldly honor rule the heart, and lives that deny the one claimed to be represented stand condemned. The woes were pronounced as a scathing rebuke for impenitence and opposition to truth and righteousness.

Hypocrisy is more dangerous than open sin, and there is more hope for an open sinner than for a pretender who cloaks wrongdoing in godliness. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy, even the heaviest, retribution, and Christ's severe denunciation falls heavily upon all hypocrisy and vain pretense and upon hypocritical professors who profess religion but bear no fruit to His glory. In contrast Christ is tender toward the penitent even when they have been the chief of sinners, accepting those who have spent life in sin and darkness of error yet accept truth in penitence and sense of sinfulness, while those who profess to have light far in advance of others while works do not correspond with profession fail to improve granted light and opportunities and are left in darkness in a less favorable position for perfection of Christian character. Outward profession without a humbled, loving heart does not shield corrupt fruit from judgment, and unlike repentant sinners, religious pretenders who profess godliness while living wickedly face condemnation and God's curse.

Christ's appeals and warnings did not change their hearts, and those who reject reproof and continue in an exacting, intolerant, impenitent spirit face judgment.

Blindness to Weightier Matters

Matthew 23, including this verse, belongs to a description of religious leaders who were spiritually blind and unable to discern the relative importance of what they were bound to understand. Their blindness showed in scrupulous attention to little matters and minor religious details, even to tithing mint and anise and cummin, while they neglected the weightier matters of the law — judgment, mercy, faith, and the love of God. The smaller duties were not to be abandoned, but exactness in them could never excuse injustice.

No outward show of devotion and no zeal in strict attention to minor duties excused their neglect of justice, mercy, and love, their failure to reveal justice, mercy and the love of God, or their failure to give practical evidence of love for the brethren and to do God’s great and sacred work. That neglect shut people out of the kingdom and endangered souls through reckless disregard, joined with seeking to be first in everything and loving prominence. It also appeared in tampering with conscience, making imaginary distinctions between degrees of guilt by subtle reasoning, making a man an offender for a word while dealing unjustly with the Lord’s heritage, treating minor matters with severity and lightly passing over very serious wrongs that far outweighed the faults so severely condemned.

The same self-righteous spirit is found in those who seek honor and priority, who appear devoted to truth and zealous for God while the heart remains unsubdued, unsanctified and unhumbled and ruled by jealousy, hatred and malice, neglecting mercy and shutting people away from God. The leaders had become wicked and turned lawful authority to unlawful ends, yet their corruption did not make God’s authority itself wrong.

Warning for Later Ages

The denunciation belongs to Christ's warning against following blind leaders, for the scribes and Pharisees claimed undue authority to rule over conscience. That assumption of authority did not end with the dispersion of the Jews but foreshadowed the exaltation of human authority over conscience. It was a curse that would continue in the church through later ages.

The denunciations were recorded as an admonition for future generations. They were meant to condemn corruption and to reach people across ages and nations. The same woe falls just as surely on all who do a like work unless they repent. Were Christ upon earth today, the same woe would be pronounced upon priests and rulers for impenitence and opposition to truth and righteousness, and unless men in sacred positions of trust have reformed characters they will be denounced before the world as the Pharisees were.

That application condemns men in responsibility and trust who misrepresent Christ's righteousness through spiritual blindness, an overbearing and imperious spirit, a wrong course of action and lack of principle. It condemns neglecting God's great and sacred work and failing to reveal justice, mercy and the love of God and to give practical evidence of love for brethren. It condemns being scrupulous about little matters and making a man an offender for a word while dealing unjustly with the Lord's heritage, tampering with conscience, making imaginary distinctions between degrees of guilt by subtle reasoning, and lightly passing over very serious wrongs while condemning with great severity wrongs that do not compare with cherishing and working false principles.

Neglecting the light received and rejecting God's warnings places people in a more unfavorable position than the Jews who received those woes. Religious leaders who reject truth can repeat the opposition and influence of the leaders who rejected Jesus. Their arguments and excuses can mislead others, who may follow them and share responsibility for that influence. Later abuse of religious authority illustrates the same pretense, as when friars used threats to obtain alms while the sick and poor went without and the monks grew wealthy.

Present Duty and Correction

The same rebuke falls on all who cover greed with apparent holiness, professing piety while living selfishly and greedily, for apparent devotion cannot hide selfishness and dishonesty from God, who sees the purposes of the heart and judges each person according to deeds. Vain pretense is hated, and denunciation falls heavily on all hypocrisy, in contrast to tenderness shown toward the penitent even when they have been the chief of sinners. The warning reaches those who profess to have light far in advance of others while works do not correspond with profession, who fail to improve granted light and opportunities and are left in darkness, placing them in a less favorable position for perfection of Christian character than those who have spent life in sin and darkness of error yet accept truth in penitence and sense of sinfulness.

Condemning the extortion and misuse of gifts does not lessen the giver's duty or remove God's blessing, for the abuse by those who devour widows' houses is rebuked while the widow who gives to God's treasury is commended. Long prayers made for a pretense are hypocrisy in which outward devotion covers a heart without truth and without the spirit of truth. Prayer should be natural and brief, a few minutes being enough to bring needs before God and include the people, since excessive length tires and wearies listeners and lessens their interest in devotion, while brief prayer refreshes and strengthens them.

Such pretentious praying belongs with being a great talker ever ready to hear and tell some new thing, dwelling on others' wrongs, calling evil surmisings discernment, putting light for darkness and darkness for light, loving to be approved and thought righteous, deceiving others, wanting to teach others while claiming higher teaching from God, and doing work that distracts and confuses minds. The broader rebuke of Pharisaism applies to taking authority over others without God's authority, letting pride and desire to rule displace the Bible's standard and the spirit of Christ. That same Pharisaism persists when rigid, self-important control hinders God's work and restricts the spread of present truth.

The verse shows a refusal to let people be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity, denouncing with burning earnestness and terrible severity the abominations seen in the church and in the world. That example requires workers, including missionaries and physicians, to stand in God-given manhood with freedom of speech and freedom of faith. They are not to harmonize with a fellow laborer's wrong plans, nor to be cowered into silence by a masterful spirit, nor to verify statements they know are not true, nor to stand speechless under any binding influence when wrong sentiments and false statements are expressed, but to protest and correct them because silent listening does great harm to speaker and hearer.