Verse For Today

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Mt 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

Mt 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

Mt 22:3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

Mt 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

Mt 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

Mt 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

Mt 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Mt 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

Mt 22:9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

Mt 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

Mt 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

Mt 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Mt 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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The design and scope of this parable of the marriage supper, is to set forth that gracious offer of mercy and salvation, which was made by God in and through the preaching of the gospel to the church of the Jews.
 
The gospel is here compared to a  feast, because in a feast there is plenty, variety, and dainties. Also to a marriage-feast, being full of joy, delight, and pleasure. And to a marriage-feast made by a king, as being full of state, magnificence, and grandeur. To this marriage-feast, or gospel-supper, Almighty God invited the church of the Jews; and the servants sent forth to invite them, were the prophets and apostles in general, and John the Baptist in particular, whom they entreated spitefully, and slew.
 
  The making light of the invitation, signifies the generality of Jews' refusal and careless contempt of the offers of grace in the gospel. By the armies which God sent forth to destroy those murderers, are meant the Roman soldiers, who spoiled and laid waste the city of Jerusalem, and were the severe executioners of God's wrath and judgment upon the wicked Jews. The highways signify the despised Gentiles, who upon the Jews' refusal were invited to this supper, and prevailed with to come in.
 
  The king's coming in to see his guests, denotes that inspection which Christ makes into his church in the times of the gospel.
 
By the man without the wedding garment, understand such as are destitute of true grace and real holiness, both in heart and life. In the examination of him, Christ says, Friend, how comest thou in hither? not, Friends, why came ye along with him?
 
Teaching us, that if unholy persons will press in to the Lord's supper, the sin is theirs; but if we come not, because they will come, the sin is ours. The presence of an unholy person at the Lord's table, ought not to discourage us from our duty, or cause us to turn our back upon that ordinance. The command to bind the unqualified person hand and foot, and to cast him into outer darkness, plainly intimates, that the condition of such persons as live under the light, and enjoy the liberty of the gospel, but walk not answerably to their profession, is deplorably sad and doleful: they do not only incur damnation, but no damnation like it. Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness.
 
From the whole, note, 1. That the gospel, for its freeness and fulness, for its varieties and delicacies, is like a marriage-supper.
 
2. That gospel-invitations are mightily disesteemed.
 
3. That the preference which the world has in man's esteem is a great cause of the gospel's contempt. They went one to his farm, and another to his merchandise.
 
4. That such as are careless in the day of grace, shall undoubtedly be speechless in the day of judgment.
 
5. That Christ takes a more particular notice of every guest that cometh to his royal supper, than any of his ministers do take, or can take. There was but one person without the wedding garment, and he falls under the eye and view of Christ.
 
6. That it is not sufficient that we come, but clothed we must be before we come, if ever we expect a gracious welcome to Christ's supper; clothed with sincerity, clothed with humility; clothed with love and charity; if we be not thus clothed, we shall appear naked to our shame, and hear that dreadful charge, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
 
See Lu 14:17.

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Mt 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

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This is our blessed Saviour's application of the foregoing parable to the Jews; he tells them, that many of them, indeed all of them were called, that is, invited to the gospel-supper; but with few, very few of them, was found that sincere faith, and that sound repentance, which doth accompany salvation.
 
Learn hence, That amongst the multitude of those that are called by the gospel unto holiness and obedience, few, very few comparatively, do obey that call, and shall be eternally saved.

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Mt 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

Mt 22:16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

Mt 22:17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

Mt 22:18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

Mt 22:19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.

Mt 22:20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

Mt 22:21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

Mt 22:22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

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Here we have another new design to entangle our blessed Saviour in his discourse.
 
Where observe, 1. The persons employed to put the ensnaring question to our Saviour, namely,  the Pharisees and the Herodians. The Pharisees were against paying tribute to Cesar; looking upon themselves as a free people, and the emperor as an usurper. But the Herodians were for it. Herod being made by the Roman emperor king of the Jews, was zealous for having the Jews pay tribute to Cesar; and such of the Jews as sided with him, and particularly his courtiers and favourites, were called Herodians.
 
Observe, 2. The policy and wicked craft here used, in employing these two contrary sects to put the question to our Saviour concerning tribute; thereby laying him under a necessity (as they hoped) to offend one side, let him answer how he would. If to please the Pharisees he denied paying tribute to Cesar, then he is accused of sedition; if to gratify the Herodians he voted for paying tribute, then he is looked upon as an enemy to the liberty of his country, and exposed to a popular odium: it has been the old policy of Satan and his instruments, to draw the ministers of God into dislike, either with the magistrates or with the people, that they may either fall under the censure of the one, or the displeasure of the other.
 
Observe, 3. With what wisdom and caution our Lord answers them; he first calls for the tribute-money, which was the Roman penny, answering to seven pence halfpenny of our money, two of which they paid by way of tribute, or poll-money, for every head to the emperor.
 
Christ asks them whose image or superscription their coin bore? They answer, Cesar's: Render then, says Christ, to Cesar the things that are Cesar's. As if he had said, "The admitting of the Roman coin amongst you, is a testimony that you are under the subjection to the Roman emperor, because the coining and imposing of money is an act of sovereign authority. Now you have owned Cesar's authority over you, by accepting of his coin as current amongst you, give unto him his just dues, and render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's."
 
Learn hence, That there was no truer paymaster of the king's dues, than he that was King of kings; he preached it, and he practised it, Mt 17:27 And as Christ is no enemy to the civil rights of princes, and his religion exempts none from paying their civil duties; so princes should be as careful not to rob him of his divine honour, as he is not to wrong them of their civil rights. As Christ requires all his followers to render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, so should princes oblige all their subjects to render unto God the things that are God's.

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Mt 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

Mt 22:24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

Mt 22:25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

Mt 22:26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

Mt 22:27 And last of all the woman died also.

Mt 22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

Mt 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

Mt 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Mt 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

Mt 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Mt 22:33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.


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Our blessed Saviour having put the Pharisees and Herodians to silence, next the Sadducees encounter him.  This sect denied the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body, and as an objection against both, they propound a question to our Saviour, of a woman that had seven brethren successively to her husbands; they demand,  Whose wife of the seven this woman shall be at the resurrection?  As if they had said, "If there be a resurrection of bodies, surely their will be a resurrection of relations too, and the other world will be like this, in which men will marry as they do here.  And if so, whose wife of the seven shall this woman be, they all having and equal claim to her?
 
Now our Saviour for resolving of this question, 1. Shews the different state of men in this world, and in the other world.  The children of this world, says Christ, marry, and are given in marriage, but in the resurrection they do neither.  As if our Lord had said, "After men have lived a time in this world, they die, and therefore marriage is necessary to maintain a succession of mankind; but in the other world, men shall become immortal, and live forever; and then the reason of marriage will wholly cease.  For when men can die no more, there will be no need of any new supplies of mankind."
 
2.  Our Saviour having got clear of the Sadducees objection, by taking away the ground and foundation of it, he produceth an argument for a proof of the soul's immortality, and body's resurrection.  Thus, "Those to whom Almighty God pronounced himself a God are alive; but God pronounced himself a God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, many hundred years after their bodies were dead; therefore their souls are yet alive, federally alive unto God; their covenant relation lives still, otherwise God could not be their God; for he is not God of the dead but of the living.  If one relation fails, the other necessarily fails with it; if God be their God, then certainly they are in being, for God is not the God of the dead; that is, of those that are utterly perished.
 
Therefore it must needs be, that although their bodies be naturally dead, yet do their souls still live, and their bodies shall also live again at the resurrection of the just.
 
From the whole, Note, 1. That there is no opinion so absurd, no error so monstrous, that having had a mother, will die for the lack of a nurse.  The beastly opinion of the mortality of the soul, and the annihilation of the body, finds Sadducees to profess and propagate it.
 
Note, 2. The certainty of another life after this, in which men shall be eternally happy or intolerable miserable, according as they behave themselves here; though some men live like beasts, they shall not die like them, nor shall their last end be like theirs.
 
Note, 3. That glorified saints in the morning of the resurrection, shall be like unto the glorious angels; not like them in essence and nature, but like them in their properties and qualities, in holiness and purity, in immortality and incorruptibility, and in their manner of living; they shall no more stand in need of meat or drink, than the angels do; but shall live the same heavenly, immortal, and incorruptible life, that the angels live.
 
Note, 4. That all those that are in covenant with God, whose God the Lord is, their souls do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, at the resurrection, shall be sharers in the same happiness with their souls.  If God be just, the soul must live, and the body must rise: for good men must be rewarded, and wicked men punished:  God will most certainly, some time or other, plentifully reward the righteous, and punish the evil-doers; but this being not always done in this life, the justice of God requires it to be done in the next.

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Mt 22:34 ¶ But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

Mt 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Mt 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Mt 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mt 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

Mt 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mt 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


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The Sadducees being put by Christ to silence, the Pharisees again encounter him; they send to him a lawyer, that is, one of their interpreters and expounders of the law of Moses, who propounds this question to him,  Which is the great commandment of the law? Our Saviour tells them, It is to love the Lord with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind.  That is, with all the powers, faculties, and abilities of the soul, with the greatest measure and highest degrees of love.  This is the sum and substance of the duties of the first table.
 
  And the second is like unto it, not equal with it, but like unto it.  The duties of the second table are of the same authority, and of the same necessity with the first.  As a man cannot be saved without the love of God, so neither without the love of his neighbour.
 
  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets: that is, the whole duty of man, required by Moses and the prophets, is comprehended in, and may be reduced to, these two heads, namely, the love of God and our neighbour.
 
From the whole, Note, 1. That the fervency of all our affections, and particularly the supremacy of our love, is required by God as his right and due.  Love must pass through and possess all the powers and faculties of the soul; the mind must mediated upon God, the will must choose and embrace him, and the affections must take complacency and delight in him; the measure of loving God, is to love him without measure.  God reckons that we love him not at all, if we love him not above all.
 
1. We must love him above all, appreciative, so as to prize him in our judgment and esteem above all, and before all things.
 
2. We are to love God above all things, comparative, preferring his favours above all things, comparatively hating whatever stands in competition with him.
 
3. We are to love God above all things intensive.  That is, our longing desires must run out after him, we must pant and thirst for the enjoyment of him.
 
4. We must love everything in subordination to God, and nothing co-ordinately, or equal with God.
 
Note, 2. That thus to love God is the first and great commandment. Great, in regard of the object, which is God the first cause and the chief good.  Great, in regard of the obligation of it.  To love God is so indispensible a command, that God himself cannot free us from the obligation of it; for so long as he is God, and we his creatures, we shal lie under a natural and necessary obligation to love and serve him.  Great, in regard of the duration of it, when faith shall be swallowed up in vision, and hope in fruition; love will then be perfected in a full enjoyment.
 
Note, 3. That every man may, yea, ought to love himself, not his sinful self, but his natural self, and especially his spiritual self, the new nature in him.  This it ought to be his particular care to increase and strengthen.  Indeed there is no express command in scripture for a man to love himself, because the light of nature directs, and the law of nature binds and moves every man so to do.  God has put a principle of self-love and of self-preservation into all his creatures, but especially into man.
 
Note, 4. As every man ought to love himself, so it is every man's duty to love his neighbour as himself.
 
1. Not as he does love himself, but as he ought to love himself.
 
2. Not in the same degree and measure that he loves himself, but after the same manner, and with the same kind of love that he loves himself. As we love ourselves freely and readily, sincerely and unfeignedly, tenderly and compassionately, constantly and perseveringly; so should we love our neighbour.  Though we are not commanded to love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves, yet we are to love him like as we love ourselves.
 
Note, lastly, That the duties of the first and second table are inseparable.  The love of God and our neighbour, must no be parted. He that loveth not his neighbour whom he hath seen, never loved God whom he hath not seen.  A conscientious regard to the duties of both tables, will be an argument of our sincerity, and an ornament to our profession.  Let it then be our prayer and daily endeavour, that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves.  For this is the sum of the law and the substance of the gospel.

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Mt 22:41 ¶ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

Mt 22:42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.

Mt 22:43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

Mt 22:44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Mt 22:45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

Mt 22:46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

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The Pharisees had often put forth several questions maliciously unto Christ, and now Christ puts forth one question innocently unto them; namely, What the thought of the Messiah whom they expected?  They reply, that he was to be  The son of David, a secular prince descending from David, that should deliver them from the power of the Romans, and restore them to their civil rights.  This was the notion they had of the Messiah, that he should be a man, the Son of David, and nothing more.
 
Our Saviour replies, Whence is it then that David calls the Messiah Lord?  The Lord said unto my Lord Ps 110:1 how could he be both David's Lord, and David's son?  No son is lord to his father; therefore if Christ were David's sovereign, he must be more than man, more than David's son.  As man, so he was David's son; as god-man, so he was David's Lord.
 
Note hence, That although Christ was truly and really man, yet he was more than a bare man:  he was Lord unto, and was the salvation of his own forefathers.
 
Note, 2. That the only way to reconcile the scriptures which speak concerning Christ, is to believe and acknowledge him to be God and man in one person.  The Messiah, as a man, was to come forth out of David's loins; but as a god-man, he was David's sovereign and Saviour.  As man, he was his father's son; as God, he was Lord to his own father.

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Mt 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

Mt 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

Mt 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.

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The Scribes and Pharisees, so often mentioned in the gospels, were the great doctors and spiritual guides amongst the Jews.  Scribe is the name of an office; Pharisee the name of a sect.  They were both learned in the law, and teachers of the law of Moses.
 
Our blessed Saviour, in the former part of his gospel, held many conferences with these men, and used the most persuasive argument to convince them both of their errors and wickedness. But their obstinancy and malice being such, that neither our Saviour's ministry nor miracles could convince them: hereupon our Lord denounces, in this chapter, eight several woes against them.
 
But first he charitably warns his disciples and the man, saying,  The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; that is, they teach and expound the law of Moses, which they were wont to do sitting, Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.
 
That is, "What they teach you consonant to the word of God, and agreeable to the writings of Moses and the prophets:  if they go not out of Moses' chair into their own unwritten traditions, follow their doctrine, and obey their precepts; but do not after their works, follow not their example, take heed of their pride and hypocrisy, of their ambition and vain-glory.  Obey their doctrine wherein it is sound; but follow not their example wherein it is corrupt."
 
Learn, 1. That the personal miscarriages of ministers, must by no means beget a disesteem of their office and ministry.  Charity must teach us to distinguish betwixt the calling and the crime.
 
2. That the infallible truths of God, recommended to us by a vicious teacher, ought to be entertained and obeyed by us, without either scruple or prejudice.  What the Pharisees themselves, says Christ, bid you observe, that observe and do.
 
3. That no people are obliged to follow their teacher's pattern and example any farther than it is agreeable to scripture-rule, and conformable to Christ's example: Do not after their works, who say, and do not.

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Mt 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

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These heavy burdens which the Pharisees laid upon the people's shoulders, were counsels and directions, rules and canons, austerities and severities, which the Pharisees introduced and imposed upon their hearers, but would not undergo the least part of those severities themselves.  If we do not follow our own counsels, we must not think to oblige others what he is unwilling to perform himself.  It is very sinful to give that counsel to others, which we refuse to take ourselves.

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Mt 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Mt 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

Mt 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

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In these words our blessed Saviour admonishes his disciples and the multitude to take heed of imitating the Pharisees in their ostentation and hypocrisy, in their ambition and vain-glory; and he instances, in three particulars, wherein they expressed it:
 
1.  All their works, says Christ, they do to be seen of men.  To do good works that men may see them, is a duty; but to do all or any of our works to be seen of men, is hypocrisy.
 
2.  They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. These phylacteries were certain scrolls and labels of parchment, in which were written the ten commandments, and some sections of the law; these they tied to their foreheads, and pinned upon their left sleeve, that the law of God might be continually before their eyes, and perpetually in their remembrance. This ceremony they judged God prescribed them, Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes De 6:1 By enlarging the borders of their garments, our Saviour points at the fringes and blue ribbons which the Jews did wear upon their garments, in obedience to the command, wear upon their garments, Nu 15:37-38. As the threads in those fringes and ribbons close woven together, did represent the connection, complication, and inseparable conjunction of God's commandments among themselves; so the wearing of these fringes was to put them in mind of the law of God, that which way soever they turned their eyes, they might meet with some pious admonition to keep the law of God.  Now the vain-glorious Pharisees, that they might be thought more mindful of the law of God than other men, did make their phylacteries broader, and their fringes thicker and longer than other men.
 
3. They fondly affected and ambitiously contended for the first and uppermost seats in all conventions, as at feast, and in the synagogues, and loved to have titles of honour, such as rabbi, master, father, and doctor, put upon them.  Now that which our Saviour condemns, is the Pharisees fond affection of these little things, and unduly seeking their own honour and glory.  It was not their taking, but their loving, the uppermost rooms at feasts, that Christ condemns.
 
From the whole, Note, 1. That hypocrites are fond of affecting ceremonial observations and outward parts of commanded duties, neglecting the substance of religion itself.  These Pharisees were carrying a library of God's law on their clothes, scarce a letter of it in their hearts.  They wore the law of God, as frontlets before their eyes, but not engraven  on the tables of their hearts.
 
Observe, 2. That the nature of hypocrisy is to study more to seem religious in the sight of men, than to be religious indeed before God. The hypocrite is the world's saint, and not God's:  he courts the world's acceptation more than the divine favour and approbation.

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Mt 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

Mt 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Mt 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

Mt 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Mt 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

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The word  rabbi signifies a doctor or teacher, eminent, endowed with variety of knowledge, whose place it was to sit in an exalted chair, or chief seat in the synagogue; their disciples and scholars sat upon lower forms at the feet of their teachers.  Our Saviour doth not simply condemn the giving or receiving of these titles, of rabbi, master, and father; but the things forbidden, are,
 
1. A vain-glorious affectation of such titles as these, the ambitious seeking of them, and glorying in them.
 
2.  He condemns that authority and dominion over the consciences of men, which the pharisaical doctors had usurped; telling the people that they ought to believe all their doctrine, and practice all their injunctions, as the commands of the living God.  They did in effect assume infallibility to themselves.
 
Learn, hence, 1. That there have been in all ages of the church a sort of teachers, who, have usurped authority and dominion over the faith and conscience of men.
 
2. That Christians ought not to sumbit their faith and conscience in matters of religion to any human authority whatsoever, nor give up themselves absolutely to the conduct of any man's judgment or opinion in matters of faith.
 
3. That Christ alone, the great prophet and infallible teacher of his church, is the only person to whose doctrine and precepts we owe absolute faith and obedience:  One is your Master, even Christ.
 
4.  As God will abase, and men will despise the proud, especially ministers who are such; so shall God exalt, and men will honour, them that stoop to the meanest services for the good of souls; Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abused.  This was a sentence often used by our Saviour, and was a frequent saying among the Jews.

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Mt 23:13  But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

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From the thirteenth verse to the thirtieth, the Pharisees have eight several woes denounced against them by our Saviour; the first is, for perverting the scriptures, and keeping the true sense and knowledge of them from the people.  This St. Matthew calls  the shutting up of the kingdom of heaven against men.  St. Luke calls  it, A taking away the key of knowledge from men, which is an allusion to a known custom among the Jews in admission of their doctors; for those that had authority given them to interpret the law and the Prophets, were solemnly admitted into that office, by delivering to them a key and a table-book.  So that by the key of knowledge, is meant the interpretation and understanding of the scriptures; and by taking away the key of knowledge is signified, first, that they arrogated to themselves alone the understanding of the scriptures.
 
Secondly, That they kept the true knowledge of the scriptures from the people, especially the prophecies which concerned the Messias, and so they hindered men from embracing our Saviour's doctrine, who were otherwise well enough disposed for it.
 
Learn, hence, 1. That the knowledge of the holy scriptures is absolutely and indispensibly necessary in order to salvation.  This our Saviour calls the key, which lets men into the kingdom of heaven.
 
Learn, 2. That great is the guilt, and inexcusable the fault, of those who deprive the people of the knowledge of the scriptures.  They shut the kingdom of heaven against men, and do what in them lies to hinder their eternal salvation.  Men may miscarry with their knowledge, but they are sure to perish for want of knowledge.

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Mt 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

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The second woe denounced against the Pharisees, is for their gross hypocrisy, in colouring over their covetousness with a pretence of religion; making long prayers in the temple and synagogues for widows, and thereupon persuading them to give bountifully to the corban, or the common treasure of the temple, some part of which was employed for their maintenance.
 
Learn, 1. It is no new thing for designing hypocrites to cover the foulest transgessions with the cloak of religion.  The Pharisees make long prayers a cover of their covetousness.
 
2. That to make use of religion in policy for worldly advantage sake, is the way to be damned with a vengeance for religion sake:   Woe unto you Scribes

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Mt 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

WBN

 
The next woe denounced is for their false-ended zeal and earnestness in proselyting heathens to the Jewish religion; not with a pious intention to save them, but to serve themselves upon them, to have their consciences and purses under their power:  and when you have poisoned them, says our Saviour, by your corrupt doctrine, and hardened them in a course of sin by your wicked example,  they are more the children of hell than before you practised upon them.
 
Learn, 1. Great is the diligence and indefatigable the industry which false teachers use in gaining proselytes to their opinion and party:  They compass sea and land to make one proselyte.
 
2. That such as are proselyted to error, are oftentimes faster riveted in their false opinions than their teachers themselves:  They are made two-fold more the children of hell than yourselves.

[airIam2worship]

Mt 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

WBN

The fourth woe which our Saviour denounceth against Pharisees is for the false and erroneous doctrine concerning oaths.
 
1. They taught men to swear by the creatures.
 
2. They taught that some oaths made by the creatures were obligatory and binding, others not; particularly they affirmed, that  if a man swear by the temple, or the altar, it was nothing; that is, he was not bound by such an oath: but if a man swear by the gold of the temple and the altar; that is, by the gifts offered to the corban, or treasury of the temple, and by the sacrifices and oblations on the altar; such an oath they affirmed was binding, because it was for their profit that the gifts on the altar, and the gold brought into the treasury, should be accounted most holy, seeing that would encourage the people to be more ready to contribute and offer.
 
This horrid hypocrisy and covetousness our blessed Saviour here sharply reproves, and shews, that oaths made by the creatures, though unlawful, yet being once made, did oblige, as if the parties had sworn by God himself.  For he that swears by the temple, swears by it and him that dwelleth therein.
 
Learn, 1. That swearing by the creatures is no new sin, but as old as the Pharisees.
 
2. That swearing by the creatures is a great profanation of the name of God, and a mighty provocation to him.
 
3. That is notwithstanding, if the matter of such oaths be not sinful, they are obligatory and binding.  He that sweareth by the creatures, sweareth indeed by the God of the creatures:  for, says our Saviour, he that sweareth by the heavens, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

[airIam2worship]

Mt 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

Mt 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

Mt 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

Mt 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

Mt 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

Mt 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.