I surprised myself the other when I called up all the references to the word “Pharisee” in the Bible.
I expected to find at least ten times as many as I did, but it is found only twelve times.
Ah, but then I thought to also check the plural form.
The word “pharisaios” ( far-is-ah’-yos ) is found exactly one hundred times in ninety-five verses.
That was more the sort of number that I was thinking that I would find.
I hope that we all realize that Paul was a Pharisee, rather than a Sadducee or an Essene.
We have had a lesson specifically on the SADDUCEES, and we’ve touched on them on several occasions.
They were far more interested in the secular than the spiritual.
In fact they basically denied existence of things spiritual.
The Essenes had very little to do with what was going on in the New Testament.
Paul was the epitome of what a Pharisee should be.
According to my records we haven’t really had a lesson on these people thus far in our study,
But since this is a basic part of Paul’s overall defense – his “apologia” – we need to understand.
“The Pharisees were a sect that seems to have started after the Jewish exile.
In addition to the Old Testament books the Pharisees recognized in oral tradition a standard of belief and life.
They sought for distinction and praise by outward observance of external rites and by outward forms of piety, and such as ceremonial washings, fastings, prayers, and alms giving;
But being comparatively negligent of genuine piety, they prided themselves on their fancied good works. They held strenuously to a belief in the existence of good and evil angels, and to the expectation of a Messiah;
And they cherished the hope that the dead, after a preliminary experience either of reward or of penalty in Hades, would be recalled to life by the Messiah, and that they would be requited each according to his individual deeds.
In opposition to the usurped dominion of the Herods and the rule of the Romans, they stoutly upheld the theocracy and their country’s cause, and possessed great influence with the common people. According to Josephus they numbered more than 6,000.
They were bitter enemies of Jesus and his cause; and were in turn severely rebuked by him for their avarice, ambition, hollow reliance on outward works, and affection of piety in order to gain popularity.”
From what I have been able to learn, this is a pretty good description and definition of the Pharisee.
But now, let’s build on that just a little bit.
Did you notice that Smith seemed to suggest that there was a large number of Pharisees? 6,000.
It seems to me that 6,000 would have been a relatively small percentage of the population.
But rather than thinking that this was a large number, he may have been implying that he was surprised that the number was actually that large.
I’ll come back to this in just a moment.
Paul said, “My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.”
What do you know about the word “religion?”
Even though it is rare in the New Testament, those Biblical references come from 2 different Greek words.
Paul uses one word twice in Galatians:
And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.”
Colossians 2:18 – “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.”
James 1:26-27 – “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
There was a district between Philippi and Black Sea which was called Thrace.
And over time, people who displayed a great deal of piety, spirituality and religiousness, were called “Thracians.”
Eventually a person whose religion was bordering on superstition was called a Thracian.
“My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest SECT of our religion I lived a Pharisee.”
Once again, Paul used the word “sect” which I have told you before is “hairesis” ( hah’-ee-res-is ).
Five times this word is translated “sect” and four times it is translated “heresy.”
So both “sect” and “religion” are used in positive, negative and neutral sorts of ways.
To be a Pharisee was to be a part of a sect and to believe in a kind of heresy as far as the Sadducees were concerned.
And to be a Pharisee was to practice a religion which bordered on superstition.
Now as I think back on him, I wonder how precise his own grammar was?
I have to grant that our Bibles do not always follow the common rules of grammar, just as they don’t use the same spellings that we are used to.
But these are not good arguments to throw away our Bibles.
Rules of grammar change over time.
And the rules of grammar are often broken for the sake of emphasis.
I do it all the time – sometimes for emphasis and sometimes because I’m basically illiterate.
What do you think about Paul’s grammar in this statement: “after the MOST STRAITEST SECT of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.”
To say “most straitest” is grammatical over-kill.
The “straitest sect” all by itself says that there were no straiter sects than the Pharisees.
But Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees – a part of the “most straitest” sect of the Pharisees.
As I hope that you are aware, the word “strait” doesn’t mean going ahead without curving or bending.
It speaks about restrictions – Pharisaism was a very narrow religion.
And Paul worded his statement this way for emphasis.
When I was studying this and I looked at Robertson’s Word Pictures I was quite surprised.
That Greek expert said that there are only four superlatives in the entire New Testament.
He used a word which is not in my dictionary, but which I think that I understand:
An “elative” must be bigger and better than most, but a “superlative” is the highest of the high, the biggest of the big.
Revelation 18:12 – “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of MOST PRECIOUS wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble.”
And Revelation 21:11 – “Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone MOST PRECIOUS, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
The word “Pharisee” refers to someone who was “separate” from the pack.
Those people were scrupulous to the point of being ridiculous.
Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said about how they tithed?
What if they got it wrong? What if they failed to properly count the grains of salt they were given?
Some actually worried about it.
Those who were true Pharisees of the Pharisees were close to insanity analyzing everything about themselves in their striving for perfection.
Granted, not every Pharisees was a true Pharisee.
Probably the majority were shams and frauds, but then there were people like Paul.
This is why he was so avid in his persecution of the saints.
Not only would personal tolerance to heresy mean that someone wasn’t the Pharisee that he needed to be,
But it was his Pharisaic duty to attack and destroy anything which he felt was blasphemous.
He probably felt that he had no alternative but to destroy those wicked believers in Jesus.
Paul was probably thinking back on his early days when he wrote to the Colossians –
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
(Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;)
after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Their prayers had to be exact.
Their obedience had to be perfect – not just good – but perfect.
They felt that the Word of God demanded absolute precision.
But who is sufficient for these things?
Absolutely no one.
The best that the most exact Pharisee could ever hope to attain would be near perfection.
They believed – they knew – that in theology negligence, human frailty or lukewarmess was condemnation to Hell.
So what should that have taught them?
No matter how high up the ladder of Pharisaism they arose, they were still faced with their failures.
That in itself should have forced them to willingly look for grace from God.
If their good wasn’t good enough, then it was obvious that they needed a redeemer, just as much as the publicans and sinners.
Unfortunately, for most of them, it took the grace of God for them to realize that they needed the grace of God.
Paul, the Pharisee of the Pharisees found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.