What Is a Pharisee - Can a Disciple of Christ Be One?

What is a Pharisee, can a follower of Christ be One?

Because some that do not understand scripture accuse those that teach scriptural truths that upset their false beliefs, they resort to name calling and trying to discredit them, as all liberals do when they cannot prove their false beliefs. Because of this I will show here what and who can be a rightfully called a pharisee. And why calling a true disciple of Christ a pharisee shows a complete lack of knowledge of scripture, of the age we live in and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is Lord of this final age of mankind.

There were three sects (denominations) of the Jews, Pharisees, Sadduces and Essenes.

Pharisees

NT:5330 Pharisaios (far-is-ah'-yos); of Hebrew origin [compare OT:6567]; a separatist, i.e. exclusively religious; a Pharisean, i.e. Jewish sectary:

OT:6567 parash (paw-rash'); a primitive root; to separate, literally (to disperse) or figuratively (to specify); also (by implication) to wound:

Phar·i·see ˈferəˌsē/

noun: a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity.

• a self-righteous person; a hypocrite.

The Pharisees taught "that every soul is imperishable, but that only those of the righteous pass into another body, while those of the wicked are, on the contrary, punished with eternal torment" (Josephus Wars 2.8 .14); They also taught the existence of angels and spirits, whereas the Sadducees denied them

The Pharisees looked at political questions not from a political, but from a religious point of view.

As Israelites they avoided as far as possible all contact with pagans, lest he should thereby be defiled

They taught the Redeemer was to teach men that true piety consisted not in forms, but in substance; not in outward observances, but in an inward spirit; not in small details, but in great rules of life.

The Pharisees regarded the degraded classes of society as classes to be shunned, not to be won over to the right (Luke 7:39; 15:2; 18:11) with all their pretense to piety they were in reality avaricious, sensual, and dissolute (Matt 23:25-28; John 8:7)

The Pharisees were a pious group that did not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God that sacrificed his own life to bring to mankind the eternal life that Adam forfeited by His disobedience to God. They were known to be hypocrites because they did not do themselves what they expected of others.

Sadducees

Another group that was prominent at that time was the Sadduces.

NT:4523 Saddoukaios (sad-doo-kah'-yos); probably from NT:4524; a Sadducaean (i.e. Tsadokian), or follower of a certain heretical Israelite:

Sadducees a member of a Jewish sect or party of the time of Jesus Christ that denied the resurrection of the dead, the existence of spirits, emphasizing acceptance of the written Law alone.

The Sadducees were the aristocrats, the wealthy, euporoi , the persons of rank (protoi tois axiomasin ), i.e., from the priesthood the high-priestly families belonged to the Sadducean party. In legal matters the Sadducees were, according to Josephus (Ant. 20.9 .1), "very rigid in judging offenders above all the rest of the Jews," whereas the Pharisees were much milder and more merciful. the Sadducees insisted upon the literal carrying out of the law The Sadducees refused to believe in a resurrection of the body and retribution in a future life or in any personal continuity of the individual

ESSENES

They differed in many respects from traditional Judaism.

In conclusion we may observe that "Essenism is merely Pharisaism in the superlative degree." It was, however, influenced by foreign systems of theology and philosophy which destroyed their claim of being of God. We will not discuss them further.

Conclusion

Anyone calling a follower of Christ a pharisee clearly has NO TRUE KNOWLEDGE of scripture and is being foolish to say such a thing because the first tenent of Discipleship is believing Jesus died to give us life (eternal life) as he said He did. And of course a pharisee must be an Israeliteto be a pharisee in the first place. Pharisees cannot exist outside of the Israelite church system. Which no longer exists to God.

Anyone calling a disciple of Christ a saducee is equally foolish because you would also have to be an Israelite to be a saducee. And the saducees do not believe in eternal life which a follower of Christ relies on.

So now you know when you see someone calling those that teach scripture doctrines that upset those that do not believe or do ALL that Jesus tells them have NO REAL UNDERSTANDING of Who Jesus really is or the scriptures of God. You should reject all that these name callers espouse.

Jesus clearly tell us to be His disciple we must do ALL that He said or shows us to do by His actions, This is not legalism it is TRUTH. It becomes legalism when it is not done from a heart of love or when it is used to condemn others rather than bring them to redemption. Scripture condemns them by their own words. That is not our job our job is to make disciples of CHRIST by helping them to be redeemed.

Matt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have taught you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Charles LaFoe copyright 9/29/2017

some information herein is from New Ungers Bible Dictionary