Before we proceed, let's define some terms. "Traditional Christians", aka "conservative Christians", are the Christians who, as the Church has done for 2000 years, believe the scriptures basically mean what they say and try to act accordingly. This group is traditional in comparison to "liberal Christians", theological modernists who re-interpret the supernatural out of the scriptures, and "progressive Christians", theological postmodernists who re-interpret anything they see as "mean" out of the scriptures.
The Pharisees were the Jewish sect at the time of Jesus who were seen as strictly interpreting and strictly following the Law of Moses and other commands in the Hebrew scriptures. Superficially, that does sound like modern traditional Christians. When you read the gospels, it's easy to see the Pharisees as the villains. Sure, Jesus had conflicts with the Sadducees, the Herodians, and ultimately the Romans, but he spent a lot of time arguing with the Pharisees and occasionally calling them harsh names.
The question is why he called them those harsh names. The pop culture idea says, "Jesus opposed the religious people." Yes, he opposed them. Yes, they were religious. So were the Sadducees, in their way. So was Jesus. It was not that they were religious; it was the content of their religion.
In the passage where Jesus denounced them most harshly, he explained why he opposed them:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. ... You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are." (Matt 23:13, 15)
Jesus wasn't harsh with them because they were "religious". He was harsh with them because they were leading people to hell. How were they doing that?
"You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’" (Matt 23:16)
One way they led people astray was by working out elaborate ways to dodge oaths. In other words, they let people lie. This is why Jesus warned people not to take oaths (Matt 5:33-37); we're supposed to be honest at all times.
This isn't the only command they abrogated with their traditions. On another occasion, Jesus chastised them for teaching people to break the 5th Commandment:
“And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition." (Matt 15:3-6)
They claimed to be zealous for the Law of Moses, but they worked out ways to justify breaking it and taught them to other people.
Another way they led people astray was by focusing minutia while ignoring the spirit of the Law:
"You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former." (Matt 23:23)
Notice, they were supposed to tithe meticulously, but they let their obedience to the laws that were easy to follow substitute for obedience to the laws they didn't want to follow. Tithing just costs money. Showing mercy is hard. But if the reverse were true, showing mercy would also not be a substitute for their tithe. As James put it, "he who said, 'You shall not commit adultery,' also said, 'You shall not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker" (James 2:11). Breaking the law is breaking the law. We're not to pick and choose.
The end result was a righteousness that was purely superficial:
"You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." (Matt 23:27-28)
The Pharisees were holy only as long as you didn't look too close. And they taught the same. They led people to sin by reinterpreting the scriptures in a way that made it seem righteous.
Do traditional Christians ever do that? We can't deny that some will err to one side or the other. There are those who focus on "good deeds" but fail to examine their own hearts; there are those who are so inwardly oriented they never do good to anyone else. But these are always deviations from the norm, things that should be and are chastised and hopefully corrected.
But there are theological systems that make it a point of pride to tell people certain sins are not sin. They squint at the scriptures and find ways to re-interpret — or simply dismiss — passages that offend modern sensibilities, whether it's with a four-point sermon on why you don't have to listen to Moses or Paul about sex or a touchy-feely message about how God just wants us to be happy.
It's the liberal and progressive traditions who lead people to hell in the style of the Pharisees. That makes rescuing people from their teaching a gospel mission. We need to be ready to answer the progressive heresies that we may hear our friends and family repeating. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ only seems like good news when we realize how much we need his grace.
Image: The Pharisee and the Publican, Gustave Dore' via Project Gutenberg
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