Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
On His final day of teaching in the temple courts He exposed the rulers and elders and warned them with a message meant to reach every age and nation, naming the scribes and Pharisees and priests and rulers as hypocrites and murderers under the name serpents and generation of vipers. His question how can ye escape declares that they cannot escape, for divine justice would bring retribution upon those who persisted in evil and no escape remained for Jerusalem under hanging wrath. They stood condemned for grievous hypocrisy that appeared godly while transgressing God's law, for cherishing their fathers' murderous spirit toward God's messengers, and for knowingly rejecting the light and salvation brought by Christ and His prophets from corrupt motives. They stood condemned also for neglecting the weightier matters of judgment, mercy, faith, justice and love for God while scrupulous over lesser matters like tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and for abusing lawful authority to rule conscience and shut others from the kingdom. The righteous blood shed from Abel to Zechariah would be charged to that generation to fill up the measure of iniquity, and that judgment upon Jerusalem typifies the destruction of the world now being repeated by rejection of light in the Christian church. His severe and fearless denunciation was spoken without unholy passion but in perfect harmony with love and mercy, and it was recorded as admonition for future generations that the same woes and doom will surely fall on all in every age who claim to represent Him while living in denial of Him unless they repent and are converted.
Setting and Wording
The saying belongs to the final day of teaching in the temple courts, when the true character of the rulers and elders was laid open and they were plainly warned and condemned. That exposure of hypocrisy was joined with instruction for inquiring listeners, and the message was given to reach people through every age and nation. It was a warning that persistence in evil would bring retribution.
By serpents and brood of vipers are meant the scribes and Pharisees, with the priests, rulers and elders, openly denounced as hypocrites and murderers. They covered their true condition under a garb of pretended godliness while their hearts overflowed with deceit and iniquity. They professed godliness while transgressing God's law.
The question how can ye escape is a declaration that there is no escape from the damnation of hell for those who persist in such evil. Divine justice would bring retribution and judgment upon them. The threatenings of divine wrath hung over Jerusalem with no escape, as the murderer of the prophets and the city that rejected and slew the Son of God.
Those words of denunciation were things His accusers could testify He had spoken, yet they would not count as a criminal charge in Roman eyes nor persuade the Sadducees.
Reasons for Condemnation
They are condemned for hypocrisy and iniquity, for practicing grievous sins abominable to God while appearing godly, professing godliness while transgressing God's law, with hearts overflowing with deceit and iniquity under a garb of hypocrisy, and Christ hates all such vain pretense and lets His heavy denunciations fall upon it. Outwardly appearing righteous unto men while within full of hypocrisy and iniquity, they profess great light and truth far in advance of others while their works do not correspond with their profession and they neglect to improve the light and opportunities granted them, leaving themselves in darkness and under judgment. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, and there is more hope for an open sinner who may repent in penitence and be accepted than for a hypocrite who hides sin under profession of godliness.
They are condemned for continuing their fathers' persecution and killing of God's messengers, cherishing the same murderous spirit while condemning their fathers, claiming to honor the prophets while following murderous ways, and becoming ready to commit the same crimes. By saying if we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, they witness to themselves that they are the children of them which killed the prophets. They are accountable not simply for their fathers' sins but for adopting those sins and continuing hatred and revenge against the prophets, and their pride and rejection of Heaven made them willing subjects of Satan and fastened their own bondage upon themselves.
Sacrificial offerings could not replace true sorrow for sin and obedience to God, for a broken, contrite heart was worth more than many offerings, and animal blood could not wash away guilt without repentance. They are condemned for rejecting the light and salvation Christ and His prophets brought, rejecting present mercies and warnings, and refusing reform and salvation though they knew the truth. Their guilt came not from excusable ignorance but from selfish and corrupt motives, from closing their eyes to received light, and divine justice would bring retribution upon such refusal.
They are condemned for neglecting the weightier matters of the law — judgment, mercy, faith, justice and love for God — while attending to lesser matters, being spiritually blind to relative importance and unable to discern what they should understand. Scrupulous about little matters, they pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin and omit judgment, mercy and faith, deal unjustly while condemning others, make a man an offender for a word, tamper with conscience, make imaginary distinctions between degrees of guilt by subtle reasoning, lightly pass over very serious wrongs while severely condemning lesser ones, and cherish false principles and a wrong course showing lack of principle. Their severe judgment of lesser wrongs does not excuse their own greater sins, and failure to be actuated by right principles and to reveal justice, mercy and the love of God and practical love for brethren brings the same woes and doom unless they repent and are converted.
They abused lawful authority for unlawful ends, attempting to make human authority rule the conscience, exposing deceitful practices and teaching human commandments as religious doctrine. They supposed they had the staff in their own hands, felt no need of gospel reform, repeated tradition after tradition and long-spun theories talking of Abraham, would not enter the kingdom themselves, and threatened those who would enter with denunciation and expulsion from the synagogue. Religious office does not shield such wicked leaders from judgment. They are condemned for selfishness, love of money, desire for worldly honor, pride, and an exacting and intolerant spirit, rejecting the pleadings of divine love and the light and counsel of truth and despising mercy, persisting in evil until they face judgment.
Even while naming them hypocrites, blind guides, serpents and a generation of vipers doomed to hell, Christ kept working in all their cities while it was safe because His life had to be preserved until the appointed time.
Judgment and Fulfillment
The righteous blood shed through the ages, from Abel to Zechariah, would be charged against that generation because in claiming to honor the prophets while following the murderous ways of their ancestors they made themselves accountable for continuing their fathers' violence against God's messengers. Their hypocrisy and iniquity and their part in persecuting and killing those messengers left them facing a damnation of hell they could not escape. The stubborn, impenitent nation was to fill up the measure of its iniquity, its accumulated transgressions were not forgotten, and when judgment was due it came to vindicate God's honor and magnify His law.
The declaration that prophets and wise men and scribes would be sent, some of whom they would kill and crucify and scourge in synagogues and persecute from city to city, was literally fulfilled by the Jews in their treatment of Christ and of the messengers God sent to them. That fulfillment exposed Jerusalem as the murderer of the prophets and the city that rejected and slew the Son of God, over which the threatenings of divine wrath hung with no escape. The condemnation still rested on the city in Paul's day after his conversion, when he found few friends and many enemies there and thousands enraged to madness at his name. The same blind wrath he had once burned with against Christ's followers was now kindling a whole nation against him, leaving little hope of benefiting his deluded countrymen though he felt deepest pity for them.
Jerusalem's destruction typifies the destruction of the world, and the Jewish nation's history in rejecting light and resisting the Spirit of grace is being repeated in the Christian church as it rejects light and resists the Spirit of grace.
Christ's Manner in Rebuke
His rebuke was severe, fearless and authoritative, spoken with holy wrath and righteous indignation against sin in keen and searching words of terrible severity and burning earnestness. He would not allow the people to be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity, and so He exposed deceitful practices and the teaching of human commandments as religious doctrine, condemning hypocrites for grievous sins abominable to God. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, and there is more hope for an open sinner who bears no fruit yet may repent than for a hypocrite who hides sin under profession of godliness.
That denunciation was not retaliation for abuse suffered, for He felt no unholy passion and no irritated temper. His righteous indignation against sin was compatible with perfect harmony with God and with love and mercy, and even His strongest reproof was consistent with meekness and gentleness. True regard for His loving character does not erase His warnings of wrath against sin. Those warnings belong to His condemnation of religious leaders who overlook sin while emphasizing mercy, and sinners who persist in rebellion in hypocrisy and self-deception face God's judgment.
In contrast to His tenderness toward the penitent, His heavy denunciations fall upon all hypocrisy and vain pretense. Even one who has been the chief of sinners and has spent life in sin is met with tenderness when coming to God in penitence with a sense of sinfulness and is accepted by Him. Those who profess great light and truth far in advance of others while their works do not correspond and they neglect to improve granted light and opportunities are left in darkness and in a less favorable position for perfection of Christian character.
Warning to Later Generations
The fearful denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees was recorded as an admonition for future generations, warning against following such blind leaders because the attempt to make human authority rule the conscience would continue beyond the dispersion of the Jews and would continue to curse the church through leaders who use authority to turn people from truth. It condemns in every age those who claim to represent Christ while living in continual denial of Him, who outwardly appear righteous unto men but within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. It applies especially to those who profess to have great light and truth far in advance of others while their works do not correspond with their profession, who neglect to improve the light and opportunities granted them and are left in darkness, who reject the pleadings of divine love and the light and counsel of truth and despise mercy because selfishness, love of money, and desire for worldly honor rule their hearts.
The same denunciation, woes and doom will surely fall on all who do a like work unless they repent and are converted, including those who follow that course and close their eyes to received light, who reject light brought by Christ and His prophets and refuse salvation and reform from selfish and corrupt motives rather than excusable ignorance. It falls on those in responsibility who misrepresent Christ's righteousness, who are spiritually blind, overbearing and imperious, whose course shows lack of principle and neglect of God's great and sacred work, who fail to be actuated by right principles and to reveal justice, mercy and the love of God and practical love for brethren. It exposes those who are scrupulous about little matters and make a man an offender for a word while dealing unjustly, tampering with conscience, making imaginary distinctions between degrees of guilt by subtle reasoning, lightly passing over very serious wrongs while severely condemning lesser ones, and cherishing and working on false principles. Those messages had no effect upon the Pharisees' hearts, and the same judgments will fall upon men connected with the management of God's work if they are not converted and continue in the same exacting and intolerant path, having rejected reproof and set the stumblingblock of iniquity before their eyes; unless converted they will be separated from the work, and the time is near when God by providence will manifest what principles they cherished. Impenitent priests and rulers who oppose truth and righteousness would hear His rebukes and woes if He were on earth today, and those now entrusted with sacred responsibilities must undergo decisive reformation or face that denunciation before the assembled universe. The Pharisees' anger at having their authority challenged is reflected in religious leaders who denounce those proclaiming a warning message.
It warns men in these last days not to follow the condemned example, and those who nourish the same spirit that marked their course before and after the Minneapolis meeting will, if God spares their lives, fill up to the full the deeds of those Christ condemned. Neglecting light can leave God's people in a worse position than the Jews upon whom He pronounced woe, for those who reject God's light face condemnation. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, practicing sin under a show of godliness bringing heavier retribution than open sin. There is more hope for an open sinner than for a hypocrite who hides sin under profession of godliness, for in contrast to His tenderness toward the penitent even when they have been the chief of sinners and have spent life in sin, the hypocrite professes godliness while deeds reveal corruption, neglects to improve great light, leaves himself in darkness and under judgment, yet the repentant sinner who comes to God in penitence with a sense of sinfulness is accepted and stands in a more favorable position for perfection of Christian character. His denunciation with burning earnestness and words of terrible severity against abominations seen in the church and in the world, because He would not allow the people to be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity, is the pattern for Christian missionaries and physicians to stand in God-given manhood with freedom of speech and faith, refusing to harmonize with wrong plans or be cowered into silence by a masterful spirit, refusing to verify statements they know are untrue, and refusing to listen in silence to false statements and wrong sentiments without protest and correction, lest silence do harm.
On His final day of teaching in the temple courts He exposed the rulers and elders and warned them with a message meant to reach every age and nation, naming the scribes and Pharisees and priests and rulers as hypocrites and murderers under the name serpents and generation of vipers. His question how can ye escape declares that they cannot escape, for divine justice would bring retribution upon those who persisted in evil and no escape remained for Jerusalem under hanging wrath. They stood condemned for grievous hypocrisy that appeared godly while transgressing God's law, for cherishing their fathers' murderous spirit toward God's messengers, and for knowingly rejecting the light and salvation brought by Christ and His prophets from corrupt motives. They stood condemned also for neglecting the weightier matters of judgment, mercy, faith, justice and love for God while scrupulous over lesser matters like tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and for abusing lawful authority to rule conscience and shut others from the kingdom. The righteous blood shed from Abel to Zechariah would be charged to that generation to fill up the measure of iniquity, and that judgment upon Jerusalem typifies the destruction of the world now being repeated by rejection of light in the Christian church. His severe and fearless denunciation was spoken without unholy passion but in perfect harmony with love and mercy, and it was recorded as admonition for future generations that the same woes and doom will surely fall on all in every age who claim to represent Him while living in denial of Him unless they repent and are converted.
Setting and Wording
The saying belongs to the final day of teaching in the temple courts, when the true character of the rulers and elders was laid open and they were plainly warned and condemned. That exposure of hypocrisy was joined with instruction for inquiring listeners, and the message was given to reach people through every age and nation. It was a warning that persistence in evil would bring retribution.
By serpents and brood of vipers are meant the scribes and Pharisees, with the priests, rulers and elders, openly denounced as hypocrites and murderers. They covered their true condition under a garb of pretended godliness while their hearts overflowed with deceit and iniquity. They professed godliness while transgressing God's law.
The question how can ye escape is a declaration that there is no escape from the damnation of hell for those who persist in such evil. Divine justice would bring retribution and judgment upon them. The threatenings of divine wrath hung over Jerusalem with no escape, as the murderer of the prophets and the city that rejected and slew the Son of God.
Those words of denunciation were things His accusers could testify He had spoken, yet they would not count as a criminal charge in Roman eyes nor persuade the Sadducees.
Reasons for Condemnation
They are condemned for hypocrisy and iniquity, for practicing grievous sins abominable to God while appearing godly, professing godliness while transgressing God's law, with hearts overflowing with deceit and iniquity under a garb of hypocrisy, and Christ hates all such vain pretense and lets His heavy denunciations fall upon it. Outwardly appearing righteous unto men while within full of hypocrisy and iniquity, they profess great light and truth far in advance of others while their works do not correspond with their profession and they neglect to improve the light and opportunities granted them, leaving themselves in darkness and under judgment. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, and there is more hope for an open sinner who may repent in penitence and be accepted than for a hypocrite who hides sin under profession of godliness.
They are condemned for continuing their fathers' persecution and killing of God's messengers, cherishing the same murderous spirit while condemning their fathers, claiming to honor the prophets while following murderous ways, and becoming ready to commit the same crimes. By saying if we had been in the days of our fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, they witness to themselves that they are the children of them which killed the prophets. They are accountable not simply for their fathers' sins but for adopting those sins and continuing hatred and revenge against the prophets, and their pride and rejection of Heaven made them willing subjects of Satan and fastened their own bondage upon themselves.
Sacrificial offerings could not replace true sorrow for sin and obedience to God, for a broken, contrite heart was worth more than many offerings, and animal blood could not wash away guilt without repentance. They are condemned for rejecting the light and salvation Christ and His prophets brought, rejecting present mercies and warnings, and refusing reform and salvation though they knew the truth. Their guilt came not from excusable ignorance but from selfish and corrupt motives, from closing their eyes to received light, and divine justice would bring retribution upon such refusal.
They are condemned for neglecting the weightier matters of the law — judgment, mercy, faith, justice and love for God — while attending to lesser matters, being spiritually blind to relative importance and unable to discern what they should understand. Scrupulous about little matters, they pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin and omit judgment, mercy and faith, deal unjustly while condemning others, make a man an offender for a word, tamper with conscience, make imaginary distinctions between degrees of guilt by subtle reasoning, lightly pass over very serious wrongs while severely condemning lesser ones, and cherish false principles and a wrong course showing lack of principle. Their severe judgment of lesser wrongs does not excuse their own greater sins, and failure to be actuated by right principles and to reveal justice, mercy and the love of God and practical love for brethren brings the same woes and doom unless they repent and are converted.
They abused lawful authority for unlawful ends, attempting to make human authority rule the conscience, exposing deceitful practices and teaching human commandments as religious doctrine. They supposed they had the staff in their own hands, felt no need of gospel reform, repeated tradition after tradition and long-spun theories talking of Abraham, would not enter the kingdom themselves, and threatened those who would enter with denunciation and expulsion from the synagogue. Religious office does not shield such wicked leaders from judgment. They are condemned for selfishness, love of money, desire for worldly honor, pride, and an exacting and intolerant spirit, rejecting the pleadings of divine love and the light and counsel of truth and despising mercy, persisting in evil until they face judgment.
Even while naming them hypocrites, blind guides, serpents and a generation of vipers doomed to hell, Christ kept working in all their cities while it was safe because His life had to be preserved until the appointed time.
Judgment and Fulfillment
The righteous blood shed through the ages, from Abel to Zechariah, would be charged against that generation because in claiming to honor the prophets while following the murderous ways of their ancestors they made themselves accountable for continuing their fathers' violence against God's messengers. Their hypocrisy and iniquity and their part in persecuting and killing those messengers left them facing a damnation of hell they could not escape. The stubborn, impenitent nation was to fill up the measure of its iniquity, its accumulated transgressions were not forgotten, and when judgment was due it came to vindicate God's honor and magnify His law.
The declaration that prophets and wise men and scribes would be sent, some of whom they would kill and crucify and scourge in synagogues and persecute from city to city, was literally fulfilled by the Jews in their treatment of Christ and of the messengers God sent to them. That fulfillment exposed Jerusalem as the murderer of the prophets and the city that rejected and slew the Son of God, over which the threatenings of divine wrath hung with no escape. The condemnation still rested on the city in Paul's day after his conversion, when he found few friends and many enemies there and thousands enraged to madness at his name. The same blind wrath he had once burned with against Christ's followers was now kindling a whole nation against him, leaving little hope of benefiting his deluded countrymen though he felt deepest pity for them.
Jerusalem's destruction typifies the destruction of the world, and the Jewish nation's history in rejecting light and resisting the Spirit of grace is being repeated in the Christian church as it rejects light and resists the Spirit of grace.
Christ's Manner in Rebuke
His rebuke was severe, fearless and authoritative, spoken with holy wrath and righteous indignation against sin in keen and searching words of terrible severity and burning earnestness. He would not allow the people to be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity, and so He exposed deceitful practices and the teaching of human commandments as religious doctrine, condemning hypocrites for grievous sins abominable to God. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, and there is more hope for an open sinner who bears no fruit yet may repent than for a hypocrite who hides sin under profession of godliness.
That denunciation was not retaliation for abuse suffered, for He felt no unholy passion and no irritated temper. His righteous indignation against sin was compatible with perfect harmony with God and with love and mercy, and even His strongest reproof was consistent with meekness and gentleness. True regard for His loving character does not erase His warnings of wrath against sin. Those warnings belong to His condemnation of religious leaders who overlook sin while emphasizing mercy, and sinners who persist in rebellion in hypocrisy and self-deception face God's judgment.
In contrast to His tenderness toward the penitent, His heavy denunciations fall upon all hypocrisy and vain pretense. Even one who has been the chief of sinners and has spent life in sin is met with tenderness when coming to God in penitence with a sense of sinfulness and is accepted by Him. Those who profess great light and truth far in advance of others while their works do not correspond and they neglect to improve granted light and opportunities are left in darkness and in a less favorable position for perfection of Christian character.
Warning to Later Generations
The fearful denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees was recorded as an admonition for future generations, warning against following such blind leaders because the attempt to make human authority rule the conscience would continue beyond the dispersion of the Jews and would continue to curse the church through leaders who use authority to turn people from truth. It condemns in every age those who claim to represent Christ while living in continual denial of Him, who outwardly appear righteous unto men but within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. It applies especially to those who profess to have great light and truth far in advance of others while their works do not correspond with their profession, who neglect to improve the light and opportunities granted them and are left in darkness, who reject the pleadings of divine love and the light and counsel of truth and despise mercy because selfishness, love of money, and desire for worldly honor rule their hearts.
The same denunciation, woes and doom will surely fall on all who do a like work unless they repent and are converted, including those who follow that course and close their eyes to received light, who reject light brought by Christ and His prophets and refuse salvation and reform from selfish and corrupt motives rather than excusable ignorance. It falls on those in responsibility who misrepresent Christ's righteousness, who are spiritually blind, overbearing and imperious, whose course shows lack of principle and neglect of God's great and sacred work, who fail to be actuated by right principles and to reveal justice, mercy and the love of God and practical love for brethren. It exposes those who are scrupulous about little matters and make a man an offender for a word while dealing unjustly, tampering with conscience, making imaginary distinctions between degrees of guilt by subtle reasoning, lightly passing over very serious wrongs while severely condemning lesser ones, and cherishing and working on false principles. Those messages had no effect upon the Pharisees' hearts, and the same judgments will fall upon men connected with the management of God's work if they are not converted and continue in the same exacting and intolerant path, having rejected reproof and set the stumblingblock of iniquity before their eyes; unless converted they will be separated from the work, and the time is near when God by providence will manifest what principles they cherished. Impenitent priests and rulers who oppose truth and righteousness would hear His rebukes and woes if He were on earth today, and those now entrusted with sacred responsibilities must undergo decisive reformation or face that denunciation before the assembled universe. The Pharisees' anger at having their authority challenged is reflected in religious leaders who denounce those proclaiming a warning message.
It warns men in these last days not to follow the condemned example, and those who nourish the same spirit that marked their course before and after the Minneapolis meeting will, if God spares their lives, fill up to the full the deeds of those Christ condemned. Neglecting light can leave God's people in a worse position than the Jews upon whom He pronounced woe, for those who reject God's light face condemnation. Practicing iniquity while appearing godly brings especially heavy retribution, practicing sin under a show of godliness bringing heavier retribution than open sin. There is more hope for an open sinner than for a hypocrite who hides sin under profession of godliness, for in contrast to His tenderness toward the penitent even when they have been the chief of sinners and have spent life in sin, the hypocrite professes godliness while deeds reveal corruption, neglects to improve great light, leaves himself in darkness and under judgment, yet the repentant sinner who comes to God in penitence with a sense of sinfulness is accepted and stands in a more favorable position for perfection of Christian character. His denunciation with burning earnestness and words of terrible severity against abominations seen in the church and in the world, because He would not allow the people to be deceived by false claims to righteousness and sanctity, is the pattern for Christian missionaries and physicians to stand in God-given manhood with freedom of speech and faith, refusing to harmonize with wrong plans or be cowered into silence by a masterful spirit, refusing to verify statements they know are untrue, and refusing to listen in silence to false statements and wrong sentiments without protest and correction, lest silence do harm.