'Beware the doctrine of the Pharisees ... '

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Hello,

The word 'Beware' is one which is intended to stop us in our tracks and take notice, and is used by our Lord Himself in His earthly ministry on several occasions. such as the following, which need to be looked at within their contexts:-

'Beware of false prophets' (Matthew 7:15)
'Beware of men' (Matthew 10:17)
'Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees' (Matthew 16:6, 11,-12)

It is this third one that I am concerned with in this thread. Though there are others which are worth looking up and considering.

Luke 12:1 tells us that 'the leaven (ie., doctrine) of the Pharisees' is hypocrisy. The Pharisees 'transgressed the commandments of God by their tradition' (Matthew 15:3), making 'the commandment of God of none effect' by their tradition (Matthew 15:6). They by, 'laying aside the commandments of God' held the tradition of men (Mark 7:8). It is said more strongly again in Mark 7:9, 'Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.'

I believe that Christians throughout the ages have failed to take warning from these words of our Lord. For I believe that in Luke 16:19-31, the Lord gave an illustration of the doctrine of the Pharisees in the words of the story of the rich man and Lazarus, to expose their hypocrisy: but man has taken it and used it as a proof text that man does not die, but lives on in an afterlife, where he can see and hear and communicate not only with other dead ones but also with the living. By so doing prolonging the oldest of all lies, that of Satan in the garden of Eden, when he said to Eve, 'Ye shall not surely die' (Genesis 3:4).

It has also been used to give credence to the doctrine of hell (ie., the grave) as a place of eternal conscious punishment, instead of the place of the dead, which can refer to the grave, or the final destruction of the second death.

Forgive me, for I know that this can be a controversial subject, but would ask you to please consider it.

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
our risen and glorified
Saviour, Lord and Head.
Chris


* The church which is the Body of Christ is warned in Colossians 2:8,
'Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.'

 

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The Testimony of Scripture concerning the state of the dead:-

'Before I go whence I shall not return,
even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
A land of darkness, as darkness itself;
and of the shadow of death,
without any order,
and where the light is as darkness.'
(Job 10:21-22)

'For in death there is no remembrance of Thee:
in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?'
(Psalm 6:5)

'For the grave cannot praise Thee,
death can not celebrate Thee:
they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for Thy truth.'
(Isaiah 38:18)

'But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast?
can I bring him back again?
I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me.'
(2 Samuel 12:23)

'Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction:
LORD, I have called daily upon Thee, I have stretched out my hands unto Thee.
Wilt Thou shew wonders to the dead?
shall the dead arise and praise Thee? Selah.
Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?Tor thy faithfulness in destruction?
Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark?
and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?'
(Psalm 88:9)

'The dead praise not the LORD,
neither any that go down into silence.'
(Psalm 115:17)

'For the enemy hath persecuted my soul;
he hath smitten my life down to the ground;
he hath made me to dwell in darkness,
as those that have been long dead.'
(Psalm 143:3)

'For the living know that they shall die:
but the dead know not any thing,
neither have they any more a reward;
for the memory of them is forgotten.'
(Ecclesiastes 9:5)

'And when they shall say unto you,
Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
should not a people seek unto their God?
for the living to the dead?
To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.'
(Isaiah 8:19-20)

'Thy dead men shall live,
together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:
for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers,
and shut thy doors about thee:
hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of His place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
the earth also shall disclose her blood,
and shall no more cover her slain.'
(Isaiah 26:19-21)

'They shall go down to the bars of the pit,
when our rest together is in the dust.'
(Job 17:16)

'Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock;
be not silent to me:
lest, if Thou be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit.'
(Psalm 28:1)

'O LORD, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave:
Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.'
(Psalm 30:3)

'What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise Thee? shall it declare Thy truth?'
(Psalm 30:9)

'Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth:
hide not Thy face from me,
lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. '
(Psalm 143:7)

* A comparison of these verses with that spoken by the Lord in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, will show that narrative to not be intended for teaching concerning the state of the dead, but as an exposure of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees to whom the story was directed, who believed it possible for the dead to communicate with the living, and whose teaching refers to Abraham's Bosom, as the work of Josephus (himself a Pharisee) reveals.

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris