Who were the Pharisees?

Understanding Matthew 23:27

The Pharisees are the most frequently mentioned Jewish group in the New Testament, appearing in all four Gospels and Acts. They are usually portrayed as Jesus' primary opponents — but understanding who they really were requires looking beyond the stereotype.

Historical origins:

The Pharisees emerged during the Maccabean period (2nd century BC) as a movement of devout laypeople committed to faithfully observing the Torah in everyday life. Their name likely derives from the Hebrew 'perushim' (פְּרוּשִׁים), meaning 'separated ones' — those who separated themselves from ritual impurity and from the lax religious practices of the Hellenized Jewish elite.

They arose partly in reaction to the Sadducees, the priestly aristocracy who controlled the Temple and cooperated with foreign rulers. While the Sadducees were wealthy, politically connected, and theologically conservative (accepting only the written Torah), the Pharisees were middle-class, populist, and theologically innovative.

What they believed:

The Pharisees held several beliefs that were actually closer to Jesus' teaching than the Sadducees':

1. Resurrection of the dead — The Pharisees believed in bodily resurrection, angels, and an afterlife. The Sadducees denied all of these (Acts 23:8). On this point, Jesus sided with the Pharisees (Mark 12:18-27).

2. Oral Torah — The Pharisees believed that God gave Moses not only the written Torah (the five books) but also an oral Torah — interpretive traditions that explained how to apply the written law to daily life. These traditions were eventually compiled in the Mishnah (c. AD 200) and the Talmud. Jesus did not reject the concept of authoritative interpretation but challenged specific traditions that contradicted Scripture's intent (Mark 7:1-13).

3. Providence and free will — The Pharisees held a middle position between divine sovereignty and human free will, believing God was in control but humans were responsible for their choices.

4. Democratization of holiness — The Pharisees' great innovation was extending priestly purity laws to ordinary life. Temple holiness was meant for all of Israel, not just the priests. Every meal could be a sacred act. Every home could be a miniature temple.

Why Jesus criticized them:

Jesus' conflict with the Pharisees was not about whether the law mattered — it was about how it was applied and what it was for. His criticisms targeted specific failures:

1. Hypocrisy — The Greek 'hypokrites' originally meant 'actor' — one who plays a role. Jesus accused the Pharisees of performing righteousness for public approval rather than living it from the heart (Matthew 6:1-6, 23:5-7).

2. Straining gnats and swallowing camels — They meticulously tithed herbs (mint, dill, cumin) while neglecting 'the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness' (Matthew 23:23). Jesus did not say tithing was wrong; He said it was insufficient without the weightier matters.

3. Burdening people — They created elaborate rules that made obedience impossibly complex, then refused to help people bear those burdens (Matthew 23:4, Luke 11:46).

4. Missing the Messiah — The supreme irony: the group most devoted to Scripture failed to recognize the One to whom all Scripture pointed (John 5:39-40).

Not all Pharisees were hostile:

The Gospels themselves show a more nuanced picture than the stereotype allows:

• Nicodemus was a Pharisee who came to Jesus at night, defended Him before the Sanhedrin, and helped bury Him (John 3, 7:50-51, 19:39)
• Joseph of Arimathea provided his tomb for Jesus' burial
• Gamaliel counseled the Sanhedrin to leave the apostles alone (Acts 5:34-39)
• Paul proudly identified as a Pharisee even after his conversion (Philippians 3:5, Acts 23:6)

Some Pharisees became believers (Acts 15:5). The movement was not monolithically opposed to Jesus.

After AD 70:

When Rome destroyed the Temple in AD 70, the Sadducees — whose power was centered on the Temple — ceased to exist. The Pharisees survived because their faith was portable: it was built on Torah study, prayer, and community life, not on a building. Rabbinic Judaism, which shaped all subsequent Jewish life, is the direct descendant of Pharisaism.

The Pharisees' lasting legacy is both a warning and an inspiration: their devotion to Scripture was genuine, but their failure to recognize its fulfillment in Christ remains the New Testament's most sobering cautionary tale about the danger of religious knowledge without spiritual sight.