I N D E X
PARABLE, MIRACLE, AND SIGN
50
ADULTERIES (moicheia).- `The Scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery' (John
8:3). These hypocrites were not concerned about the evil of the act (for they were guilty themselves, see verse
9); they simply desired to catch the Lord and involve Him in His words (verse 6). The exceeding looseness with
which many of the Pharisees held the marriage tie, involved them in the sin of adultery before God (see Matt.
5:31,32 and 19:3-9). As with murder, so with adultery, the desire of the heart constituted guilt (see Matthew
5:27,28). On several occasions the Lord denounced these evil men as `a wicked and adulterous generation' (see
Matt. 12:39, and 16:4).
FORNICATIONS (porneia).- It is a remarkable fact that this plague figures more conspicuously in the Epistles
and in the Revelation than in the Gospels. Once the enemies of the Lord use it (John 8:41), an insult which His
holy nature must have felt keenly, but how gracious and calm was His reply! Although specific instances of this
sin are not given in the Gospels we know the Lord sufficiently to imagine that He would not use a word so foul,
unless He knew only too well that the charge was actually true. Its prominence in the Apocalypse, and the
practical absence of adultery, throw a vivid light on the character of the last days.
THEFTS (klope).- This word occurs nowhere else except in the parallel passage of Mark. The cognate word
kleptes (`thief') is used in John 10:1,8,10, and includes the Scribes and Pharisees, as the context shows.
The devouring of widows' houses (Matt. 23:14; Mark 12:40; and Luke 20:47), the traditions (Matt. 15:5,6)
and the turning of the House of Prayer into a den of thieves (Matt. 21:13), involve the Pharisees in this sin.
FALSE WITNESS.- This word in all its hideous nakedness is written against the `chief priests, and elders, and
all the council' (Matt. 26:59, see also Matt. 15:19) in relation to the deep-laid plot against the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the more significant when we consider the fact that these two passages contain all the
occurrences of this word in the New Testament.
BLASPHEMY.- Mark 3:29 shows that the Scribes were guilty of the most unpardonable blasphemy.
We will not go through the list given in Mark, readers should make a study of the words there given. One
thing is prominent in this parable. The Pharisees were guilty of breaking the very law in which they boasted so
much. Listen to our Lord's summary of the Law:
`Jesus said (observe the order here and in Matt. 15), Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother (cf Matt.
15:4-6): and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' (Matt. 19:18,19).
How weak, how beggarly, the petty observances and mere trifling externals of the Pharisees appear, when
seen from the standpoint of love. The apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, seems to have the pharisaical spirit
before him. First in Romans 2 we read:
`For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself ... Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in
the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are more
excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind (cf. Matt.
15:14), a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the
FORM of knowledge and of the truth in the law (cf 2 Tim. 3:5). Thou therefore which TEACHEST another,
teachest thou not thyself? thou that PREACHEST a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that SAYEST a
man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit
sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God ... thee,
who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? (cf. Matt. 15:3). For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly (see Matt. 23:28) ... circumcision is that of the HEART, in the spirit, and not in the letter (cf.
2 Cor. 3:6); whose praise is not of men, but of God' (Rom. 2:1,17-23,27-29).
The sequel is found in Romans 13:8-10 :
`Owe no man any thing, but to love another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou
shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou
shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself'.
Returning to the parable of Matthew 15 with the knowledge we have now gained, do we not see that it
foreshadowed that spirit which manifested itself in all its hollowness and sham, and whose loveless creed
culminated in the basest acts that the world has ever witnessed.