23:1–12 Chapter 23 is a warning. False leaders love honors and titles like father and teacher, but they usurp the Lord’s honor, for he is Father and Teacher (vv. 8–9). They claim to be teachers but make salvation seem harder than it is and so slam the door to God’s kingdom in people’s faces (vv. 13–15). They trivialize God’s truth. Some of their teachings are mistaken (vv. 16–22); others are true but insignificant (vv. 23–24). They are corrupt, and they persecute God’s prophets (vv. 25–36).

Jesus begins with the false leaders’ status. They sit “on Moses’ seat” and so claim authority (v. 2). The Greek reads literally, “On Moses’ seat sat the scribes and Pharisees.” The suggestion is that they seat themselves on Moses’ seat: they claim to be Moses’ heirs. But has God appointed them?

Still, Jesus commands his disciples to “do and observe whatever they tell you” but not to follow what they do, since they do not practice what they preach (v. 3). The structure is almost poetic (my translation):

(A) On Moses’ seat they sat.

(B) So whatever they say to you

(C) do and observe,

(C') but do not [do, observe]

(B') what they do,

(D) for they speak but do not do.

“Whatever” renders two Greek words (panta hosa) that may be translated “obey every last thing they say” (v. 3). Since Jesus critiques so much of their teaching, we wonder if Jesus speaks ironically. In verbal irony, a speaker says one thing and means the opposite. In conversation, context and vocal inflection make irony clear. If the clouds release torrents of rain and someone says, “Perfect time for a picnic,” we know it is ironic. Written irony is harder to assess. Generally, a sentence is ironic if the rest of the paragraph contradicts it. Thus in Shakespeare’s celebrated “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech, Marc Antony laments the murder of Julius Caesar. Antony says, “Brutus is an honourable man,” then contradicts his assertion. Brutus is honorable, but he seizes captives and grows rich from the ransoms. Brutus is honorable, yet he slandered, then murdered, Caesar. Antony says Brutus is honorable; he means Brutus is dishonorable.379

Jesus certainly speaks ironically at times (Luke 15:7), so it is within his rhetorical repertoire. And it makes sense to take Jesus’ commendation to “do . . . whatever they tell you” ironically. The rabbis’ teaching is heavy, and their followers are “sons of hell” (Matt. 23:4, 13–15). But Jesus’ teaching is light, and it opens the door to his kingdom (11:28–30; 25:21, 23, 34). Therefore, no one should follow the Pharisees’ teachings.380

Jesus enumerates the problems with scribes and Pharisees, problems that are common to all leaders and especially religious leaders. First, they fail to do what they say. They are hard on others but lenient with themselves. They say what must be done and do none of it, as if the saying were enough (23:3).

Second, they burden others with their regulations but will not move a finger to assist them (v. 4). Without the mercy of Christ, the law is already a heavy burden (Acts 15:10, 28). The rabbis make it heavier in their effort to “make a fence around the law” (Mishnah, Avot 1:1, Danby translation). Their fence is an elaborate set of stipulations and casuistic rulings that attempt to prevent violation of the law.381 If it is a sin to walk 2 miles (3.2 km) on the Sabbath, the principle of fencing says, “Do not even walk a mile.” So disciples should shun the practices of the Pharisees. Instead, every teacher should follow his own laws and help others do so too.

Third, scribes and Pharisees seek recognition and applause. They do good “to be seen by others” (Matt. 23:5). Men loved honor in Jesus’ day. Plutarch even wrote a book titled “On Praising Oneself Inoffensively.” Scribes and Pharisees want a reputation for righteousness, the honor of the best seats at banquets (near the host), and the honor of the best seats in worship (near the scrolls of the law, perhaps; v. 6). Scribes and Pharisees display their piety through clothing: broad phylacteries and long fringes on their robes (v. 5). A phylactery is a small box containing tiny copies of key passages of the law. Observant Jews wear them on the arm and forehead. With painful literalism, this follows the teaching that commanded Israelites to bind God’s laws to their foreheads (Deut. 6:8). The Pharisees wore these phylacteries and fringes prominently (Num. 15:37–38). Matthew uses a Greek word (phylaktērion) referring to an amulet or charm that allegedly wards off evil. This hints that their displays are superstitious, as if correct dress leads to God’s blessing.

Scribes and Pharisees also love public greetings and titles like rabbi, meaning “my teacher” or “my master.” Scribes or rabbis claimed so much authority that the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 11:3) said that the “words of the scribes” had more authority than the “words of the [written] Law.”

Disciples, Jesus says, do the opposite (Matt. 23:8–10). But Jesus does not command them to avoid the ways of Israel’s leaders point by point; he corrects the leaders’ love of titles and honor. If disciples avoid pride, perhaps the other problems will fall away.

Jesus repeats his message to enforce it. He forbids three similar titles: rabbi, father, and instructor. The wording varies. First and last he says, “Do not be called.” In the middle he says, “Call no one.” So teachers should not seek titles, and students should not offer them. The first command is emphatic: you must let no one call you rabbi. So Jesus trains his disciples to teach (13:52; 28:20), then tells them to shun the title! The reason is twofold. All believers have one teacher: the Christ (23:10). Besides, in the new covenant, the accent falls on fundamental equality: “you are all brothers” (23:8). Believers have access to God and his Word without the intervention of experts (Jer. 31:31–34). The point is “not to deny that the Christian community has teachers but rather to put up a barrier against the elevation of some above others and the pride that so naturally accompanies such differentiation.”382

Jesus does not want disciples to deny that they respect their literal fathers. But in God’s spiritual household, there is one Father of all: God himself. And there is one instructor or tutor: Jesus Christ. The church has one Teacher and one Father. Human titles both obscure that fact and also incite pride.

Scripture often notes how the Lord humbles the proud, but here, as in Luke 14:11 and 18:14, Jesus requires believers to humble themselves. To humble oneself includes confession of sin, sinfulness, and weakness. God then exalts the humble (cf. James 4:10). On the greatest becoming a servant, in Matthew 23:11, cf. comment on 20:20–28.