Matthew 23:3
All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Christ commanded obedience to what the scribes and Pharisees taught from Moses' seat when it rightly conveyed God's law, but forbade copying their conduct because they spoke without practicing. Sitting in Moses' seat meant claiming Moses' authority as exalted interpreters and judges to expound the law from the written Scriptures. That obedience covered only what accorded with the law and was good, and did not endorse their added human traditions and commandments that burdened the people and hid God's Word. Their works were to be rejected because their words and lives contradicted each other, as they taught duties they neglected, made requirements exacting for others while evading them themselves, and kept outward forms and public piety without spiritual life, humility, mercy, faith and love. The rebuke was recorded to warn every age against letting human authority rule the conscience instead of Scripture and against following blind guides, since teaching the truth is vain unless teachers live it, make actions agree with words, and join profession with repentance, mercy and unselfish service.
Setting and Hearers
Christ spoke these words in the temple for the last time, on His final day of teaching there, when He exposed the character of the rulers and elders. They belong to His woes and scathing denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, spoken against the stern, bearded religious leaders in ornate robes and head coverings for their impenitence and opposition to truth and righteousness.
They were addressed to the scribes and Pharisees and to His disciples, with the multitude listening. In this way they both warned and condemned the rulers while instructing those who heard.
They belong to a chapter describing blind religious guides who are spiritually blinded and cannot discern the relative importance of what they need to understand.
Authority to Be Obeyed
To sit in Moses' seat is to claim the authority of Moses as exalted interpreters, teachers and judges of the law given by God, with authority to expound it. Jewish teachers stood to read the Scriptures and sat to expound them, so to sit in that seat is to teach the law from the Scriptures, from the written Word. What is bidden from that seat is to be observed and done when it accords with the law, when it rightly conveys from Scripture what should be observed, and when it is good.
That command does not endorse added traditions and human commandments, for those burdened people and distracted them from true religion. By the time Christ spoke, priests were teaching human commandments as doctrine, with added traditions and ceremonies, and the people had become ignorant of God's Word. Their authority as interpreters of the law did not make their example worthy of imitation, because they failed to practice the duties they imposed on others and taught duties they themselves neglected.
What they taught from Moses' seat is to be observed and done, but their actions are not to be imitated because they do not practice what they say. Their outward religious observance and strict forms lacked spiritual life, love and devotion, exposing the gap between religious words and actions. Their lawful precepts are not made false by their hypocrisy, though they used lawful authority for unlawful ends and could repeat God's law without understanding it themselves.
Saying Without Doing Exposed
The command not to act after their works forbids copying the example of the scribes and Pharisees, for what they taught from Moses' seat was to be observed and done while their conduct was not to be imitated. They are not to be followed in their wrong conduct nor are hearers to be misled by their ambitious pretensions, but only in what is good and right in their instruction. The reason is that they say and do not, failing to practice what they say and refusing to bring their own works into agreement with the written Word and with the teaching they enjoined on others. The same distinction allows meeting legal requirements for diplomas and examinations without adopting every subject or teaching method in the way of other schools, teaching required subjects from a standpoint consistent with biblical convictions such as warning about drugs and teaching geology in opposition to evolution.
Their words and actions contradicted each other, for they spoke but did not practice and taught duties they themselves neglected. They urged obedience while their own lives contradicted what they taught, claiming piety and seeking honor yet failing to live by what they taught. They taught the law without bringing their own lives into line with the written Word, imposing requirements on others but not practicing what they taught. Their outward displays of devotion did not make them obedient to God's law nor give them humility, mercy, and love, purity of character, and a life pleasing to God, which true faith requires.
They made God's requirements exacting for others while using clever arguments to evade obedience themselves, professing obedience yet refusing the work appointed to them and defying His commands. They burdened others with demands they would not help carry, imposing requirements without practicing them. Their hypocrisy was joined to a rigid, self-important manner that resisted Christ's instruction, whereas Christ met people with generous, helpful care that those entrusted with truth should follow rather than imposing their own ways.
Their outward religious observance, strict forms, ceremonies, and public show of devotion and piety did not make them obedient or doers of the truth they professed to teach. That outward show lacked spiritual life, love, and devotion, and stood against their profession through desire for public honor and admiration and ambitious pretensions. They pursued public admiration rather than purity of character and a life pleasing to God, and their claimed piety joined to seeking honor left them without humility, mercy, and love.
Their profession of holiness, obedience, righteousness, godliness, and sanctification was false and self-righteous, for they taught what was right but did not practice it. They claimed godliness while openly transgressing God's law and failing what God commands, standing apart from their fellow men in self-righteous hypocrisy. Such failure showed lack of true love for God and others and refusal in action of the call to work with God in blessing the world and to accept His call to serve. Outward holiness and religious claims do not make a person faithful when conduct fails to match words, but call for deeds showing genuine love for God and service to others. A profession of sanctification is empty when conduct does not obey God's requirements but acts with pride, selfishness, or unkindness, contradicting the profession, misleading others by example, and showing that Christ has not been put on in humility and gracious character that makes others better and leads them to glorify God.
Warning for Future Generations
The denunciation was not meant only for those then present but was recorded for future generations as an admonition to endure through every age and reach every people. It belonged to the final day of teaching in the temple, when the character of the rulers and elders was exposed, at once warning and condemning the rulers and instructing those who listened. That enduring warning guards in every age against human authorities ruling the conscience and assuming authority over conscience, a practice that has harmed the church. Scripture, rather than the priesthood, must rule the conscience as the infallible guide, even when lawful precepts are taught by those who use lawful authority for unlawful ends. Lawful teaching is not made false by hypocrisy, but such conduct must not be copied.
The same warning forbids following blind religious leaders in their conduct when their actions contradict their teaching. It applies to those who teach what is right yet fail to practice it, and to those who claim authority over others while acting from pride and a desire to rule rather than the spirit of Christ. Such conduct does not express God's authority nor make leadership a wholesome influence. The scathing rebukes and woes spoken against the Pharisees were for their impenitence and their opposition to truth and righteousness, and were Christ upon the earth today priests and rulers guilty of the same would hear the same scathing rebukes and woes pronounced upon them.
Practicing What Is Preached
Knowing and teaching Bible truth is not enough, for truth must be practiced and lived by those who teach the Word. Hearing what is right must be joined with doing it, and teachers must not put their own words in place of God's words as the scribes and Pharisees did. Words that contradict one's actions lose their effect, and speaking without practicing what one teaches is empty and ineffective, while a life consistent with teaching commands respect. When conduct contradicts words, that conduct is not to be followed, for inconsistency weakens influence and makes teaching ineffective.
Parents must teach obedience, frugality, self-denial and economy by daily example as well as by instruction, and Christians must practice what they preach. Workers and teachers must make their actions agree with their words for the same reason.
The same distinction between lawful instruction and unworthy conduct applies to medical education, where legal requirements for a diploma and state certification and examinations may be met without adopting every method or teaching of worldly schools. Required subjects can be taught from a different standpoint consistent with biblical convictions, such as explaining the dangers of drugs and teaching geology while rejecting evolution.
Professing to honor God's law while bearing no fruit is vain pretense hateful to Christ, like a leafy fig tree with no figs. Those who observe forms of worship without repentance and faith live for self and do not minister to others, saying what is right without doing it in merciful, unselfish service. A professed servant of God who bears no fruit to His glory is more guilty than an open sinner.
Saying without doing makes the gospel void in practice when professed believers withhold themselves, enclose themselves within themselves, and speak warm words without clothing the poor, feeding and warming them, teaching them, or giving personal labor. Such religion is indolent, slothful and frozen, only moral expressions without life and vitality, destitute of hope and faith and love, because the Word is not done and unselfish service is contemplated afar off instead of being brought into life from the very beginning of religious service. Failure of this kind also appears in careless speech, in not keeping truth, and in watching for failings in others to build up and exalt self with an envious spirit, while God reads the intents and purposes of the heart. Those guilty must take a humble place, be willing to be instructed and learn, seek with all the soul the inward adorning of a meek and quiet spirit, take heed to their ways, be converted, and make an entire change in life.
Those entrusted with truth should follow Christ's example of generous, helpful care rather than the Pharisees' example of imposing their own ways in a rigid, self-important manner that taught duties they did not practice and resisted His instruction. Though sitting in Moses' seat as authoritative leaders, they left God's flock unfed and merited censure, and the warning against following leaders' actions when conduct conflicts with teaching applies to church guidance today. Teachers are to practice the Word they teach and instruct others with meekness and humility, rather than using influence against Christ.