Chapter 4—Transforming Truth into Tradition
Nephi prophesied that incorrect beliefs would be so prevalent in our day that only “a few, humble followers of Christ” would successfully navigate through the error, traditions, and “precepts of men” (2 Nephi 28:14).
Traditions matter because they form the substance of rites or teachings handed to another. Etymologically, tradition has a basic sense of receiving something handed down, but we must be cautious because tradition is also a doublet of the word treason. As an ordinance, law, or decree, tradition derives from châqaq (H2710), meaning to cut, inscribe, write, or engrave. Covenant imagery! Failure to transmit the engraven or revealed law properly is treason against the kingdom of God. Recognizing that betray, paradidómi (G3860), is a cognate of ‘to endow,’ we see that righteous traditions can endow us with power, but deviant traditions are treasonous acts against God. An ancient Hebrew pictograph root for tradition notes the polarity as a wall of separation or a coming together. And so the greatest charge given to those with positions of authority is to preserve and watch over the doctrines and ordinances as God revealed. Otherwise, future generations inherit error.
How can we determine whether the doctrines or teachings we believe are truly revealed by God or if they are precepts of men who claim to act for God? This tricky but important question is just as applicable today as it was at the time of Jesus’s ministry. Precepts of men include incorrect traditions, reforms, philosophies, statutes, laws, policies, programs, manners of administration, and variant doctrine.
Isaiah calls them “the learned commandments of men,” implying a man-made decision or rule that becomes perceived as law. “Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught” (Isaiah 29:13, NIV). These man-made enactments, or modifications that change scriptural law, must be abandoned. Mitzvot derabanan, “commandments of our rabbis,” describe Jewish traditions that become accepted as law because of a prevailing assumption that God surely must be directing their spiritual leaders. But Jesus chastised Jews for their precepts of men and forbade His disciples from following that which God did not reveal.
One branch of Jews who believed scripture as revealed and rejected men’s precepts are the Karaites, from karaim, a Hebrew word for readers of scripture. Jesus’s call for a return to revealed law while rejecting the man-made laws is similar to the aim of original Karaites. Ironically, those who reformed original revelations and laws are collectively referred to today as Hasidim, meaning righteous. Even if they consider themselves righteous, God does not recognize it if they have not preserved His word. Hasidim calling themselves righteous is not much different from those who are not sanctified calling themselves Saints. “Those who call themselves after my name . . . did not hearken altogether unto the precepts and commandments which I gave unto them” (D&C 103:4). This is similar to the Pharisees, a name that means a separatist, purist, or set apart. Pharisaios (G5330) implies they believed they were holy and kept God’s true gospel but its Hebrew root is telling: parash (H6567) is to scatter or disperse, a cursed condition from failing to know God.
Jews who tolerated innovation and reform “gave absolute authority to a single rabbi.” People turned to him for their counsel and believed he had authority to mediate between man and God. They believed their prophet-leader could not lead them astray and insisted his office came directly from God. The ‘righteous’ Hasidim called those who did not embrace their reforms ‘opponents’ (Misnagdim). Some ‘opponents’ sought to preserve the original religion while the Hasidim embraced doctrine that had become perverse.
To inquire originally meant inquiring of God, but over time the term described going to scholars for understanding when a question arose. Inquiring of God was replaced by studying what leaders said about the law, actions repeated today. Their evolving laws and beliefs were not to be questioned even if they contradicted scripture. The claim that current teachings of leaders supersedes scripture or past revelation is not unique to the Pharisees.
Such division intensified in the years before Christ’s mortal ministry. Sects like those at Qumran vehemently opposed the ways of Jerusalem and its Pharasaic leaders. The Pharisee subculture positioned themselves to gain “the reputation of excelling the rest of their nation in the observances of religion and as exact exponents of the laws,” enjoying ‘divine’ authority while mingling with politics such that, at times, the Pharisees also “had the enjoyment of royal authority.” Being “extremely influential among the townsfolk, all prayers and sacred rites of divine worship are performed according to their exposition . . . [They had] such enthusiastic support from the masses that their exposition of the laws regulates all public religious ceremonies.” Pharisees “tapped deep wellsprings of loyalty and devotion” and possessed great political influence. Their “power derived from their popularity with the masses,” so pleasing the people was critical to their continued reign.
“So great is their influence with the masses that even when they speak against a king or high priest, they immediately gain credence . . . They could injure those whom they hated and help those to whom they were friendly; for they had the complete confidence of the masses.”
In spite of what they proclaimed, the Pharisees demonstrated their belief that time was better spent seeking opportunities to expand their influence by increasing their affluence. These moneychangers justified their works as they accepted tithes but a heavy focus on outward works obscured their spiritual obligation to literally realize covenant blessings.
Because they gained power over the temple and its priests, the Pharisees were influential in getting many to worship according to their interpretation of scripture and law. By encouraging a self-proclaimed reputation as the most accurate interpreters of the law and divine ministers with authority, their followers were loyal while oblivious to the error. Devoted followers paid great tribute “to the excellence of the Pharisees because of their practice of the highest ideals both in their way of living and in their discourse,” or so they believed.
The term Pharisee describes ‘interpreters’ of religious law. They distinguished themselves because of what they believed was God’s word, but in reality they separated themselves from God by turning to their own wisdom and counsel. ‘Pharisee’ links to paroshiym, authoritative teachers who evolved in the organization and placed heavy emphasis on interpreting scripture or law according to their understanding, perhaps like a correlation committee, church education system, or scholarly panel.
‘Iniquities of the Rabbis’
Hebrew scholar Gordon describes “five iniquities of the rabbis,” or five fundamental issues that condemned the Jews. The first is that the rabbis declared oral law supersedes revealed scripture. In other words, what leaders preached about the law held precedent and priority over scripture itself.
Second is the “belief that the Rabbis have absolute authority to interpret scripture and what they say in religious matters is binding. Even if it is known to be factually untrue . . . you must obey them.” The directive to follow leaders without questioning—even if it “superseded a direct decree from God Himself”—grew to become a fundamental tenet of their doctrine. The rabbis encouraged people to always follow or ‘incline after the majority,’ even if it contradicted scripture. Jewish philosopher Maimonides said oral law and traditions came to be of such high regard that if one declares “something contrary to the oral law, even if scripture agrees with” him, he could be put to death.
In the third iniquity, ‘irrational interpretation,’ leaders take words out of context, incorrectly interpret meaning, and remove or ignore that which does not support their agenda. They do not understand what God really meant by His own words. This creative approach uses “random sound bites to create new meaning not naturally emanating from the words of Scripture.” The Lord alludes to such inventions as He declared, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me” (Jeremiah 23:30, NIV) and “claim they are from me” (NLT). Although many believe men who claim to speak for God, He denies their words are His. They “set forth in my Name that which I have not commanded” (Geneva).
Fourth, ‘sanctification of tradition’ arises as their reforms become accepted over time as binding ‘law.’ The Pharisees had intense loyalty to the unwritten law, though these “laws were not to be found in the laws of Moses. They were laws that had been transmitted in unwritten form, laws that hailed back to the ‘fathers.’ The Pharisees had transmitted these laws to the masses who accepted them as authoritative.”
The divisive conflict between Sadducees and Pharisees stemmed from their loyalty to different forms of the law. The Sadducees rejected the unwritten laws or traditions and accepted law in the first five books of the Old Testament, but they erred by rejecting other essential doctrines and scripture. On the other hand, the Pharisees were successful in garnering support and “had so captured the loyalty of the masses that they were willing to lay down their lives” for their laws or traditions. While their reforms were the commandments of men, the masses were led to believe they were divinely sanctioned laws.
Finally, the fifth iniquity is “the outright enactment of new laws” presented as commandments, but developed and created based on decision instead of revelation. “By keeping the nation busy with their man-made laws, the Rabbis were distancing people” from God’s revealed word. Hence Jesus’s rebuke: “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:6), “which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:13).
Jesus warns His disciples against trusting in ma’asim, the acts or works that serve as precedents. The Dead Sea Scrolls describe them as works of the law that cannot justify us before God. The important Hebrew meaning of ‘precedents’ was lost in its translation to Greek.
In another example, once “true believers in Christ and the true worshippers of Christ,” the Nephites began to embrace the ideologies and commandments of men. Although they had “been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord,” they were guilty of “drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites” (Alma 47:36) and lost knowledge. While believing they were approved of God, they became more wicked than the Lamanites by rejecting truth, for “they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ” (4 Nephi 1:38). They were ultimately destroyed for not doing what their covenants required.
The restored church is condemned for saying but not doing His works, making Pharisees and Samaritans types for the LDS. Jesus offended the Pharisees by comparing them to the Samaritans, who were accused in scripture of doing according to their reforms. The Pharisees believed they were passing on acceptable observances of the law, but man-made laws are not the pure word of God. Their heavy emphasis on outward works and ritual was evident when the Pharisees accused Jesus’s disciples of having unclean hands then boasted that before eating, they did “wash their hands oft . . . holding the tradition of the elders” (Mark 7:3). Jesus said they “transgress the commandment of God by your tradition” (Matthew 15:3). “Beware lest [ye] commandeth that which is forbidden of the Lord” (Mormon 8:18).
Although Pharisees and scribes maneuvered to obtain institutional authority, Jesus did not acknowledge their priesthood. Their own counsels and maneuvering permitted them to rule Jerusalem’s church. Joseph explained, “It was not the lawful priests who rejected Jesus, but the self-made priests. Those who were priests lawfully received the Savior in his station which was given him by the Law.”
They chose leaders and authorities according to their own desires and believed God must accept it, but Jesus rejected the notion. “You have set performers” (Ezekiel 44:8, New Heart English) over sacred things “to please yourselves” (JPS Tanakh).
Simple reforms may seem innocent but adding even one single letter completely shifted the Lord’s words, altered their religion, and led their followers to deny the Savior. They changed more than a verse, for in it they changed the law itself.
The Jews acknowledged that “three rabbis that preside as a court over Israel are equivalent to the court of Moses,” a structure not unlike the LDS First Presidency which similarly has three members. They love having “the chief seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:6), imagery that calls to mind the wicked priests at the time of King Noah who caused pulpits “to be built before them that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people” (Mosiah 11:11). Jesus said, “Wo to you, you blind chairs,” condemning those in leadership.
Because they preside as if in Moses’s seat, they believe their innovations are acceptable and their authority permits them to reform or replace what God originally revealed. They are deceived. So great was their blindness that many Pharisees claimed Jesus Himself “enticed Israel to apostasy.” Having a form of authority while being blind to their true condition caused many to reject the very Savior who descended to turn them away from men’s reformations and back to His revealed law.
Proselyting Their Gospel
Putting trust in someone strictly because of their position will lead us astray. Relying on office alone would cause us to sustain and support wicked King Noah as he put Abinadi to death, to reject Lehi and his teachings in Jerusalem, to throw stones or shoot arrows at Samuel the Lamanite, or to justify the Pharisee’s desire to crucify Jesus. Christ’s greatest rebukes were against those in positions of religious authority.
The doctrine of Christ is “this gospel of the kingdom [which] shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” (JST Matthew 24:32). Christ’s doctrine is from the Father. By proselyting their gospel, erring doctrine spreads, leading many astray so they and their followers are not only condemned, but damned. The Hebrew version reads, “You encompass sea and land to bind the heart of one man to your faith and when he is bound he is doubly worse than before.”
He is doubly worse because his heart is still unchanged but is bound to a faith that cannot bring salvation but declares he is now worthy and saved. His still-hardened heart may belong to a church but it does not belong to Christ unless he believes the truth of His gospel. Former misbeliefs remain with the convert but news sins are added as covenants are made in vain, condemning him double while masking his still-urgent need to turn to Christ’s gospel.
The faithful know “that the popular religious theories of the day are incorrect; that they are without parallel in the revelations of God, as sanctioned by him; and that however faithfully they may be adhered to, or however zealously and warmly they may be defended, they will never stand the strict scrutiny of the word of life.”
Those who proselyte a deviant gospel are a “child of hell,” even “the children of the kingdom of the devil” (Alma 5:25) because they believe Satan’s lies over God’s word. They are “of your father the devil.” In the Garden of Eden, God told Satan there would be “enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Unbelief causes animosity between Satan’s seed and true Christianity.
The Dead Sea Scrolls equate halakhoth, teachings of the Pharisees, to halaqoth, smooth things, doctrinal deviation, or ethical corruption. With its root meaning to divide or be false, halaqoth is a term of rebuke against seekers or encouragers of smooth things, delusions, lies, or flattery. Smooth words are easy to swallow and please the natural man so they are rarely resisted. “The Devil is an orator; he is powerful.” The hearts of the people say “to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions” (Isaiah 30:10, ESV) and “deceptive messages” (NetBible).
Seekers of smooth things are “backsliders who turned away from the paths of righteousness . . . [They] searched after smooth things and chose deceits . . . caused others to transgress and persecuted the righteous . . . In late Hebrew, doreshe means not to seek, but to enquire or study . . . hence doreshe halaqoth is properly not ‘seekers after smooth things,’ but rather ‘makers of smooth interpretations’.” These “interpreters of error” exchange revealed law for halaqoth, commandments of men. They include those “who study the scriptures with the intention of finding easy solutions in order to make the commandments of God fulfillable to everyone . . . The halakhoth [teachings of Pharisees] appeared to be halaqoth (‘smooth things’) which prevented the people from really ‘doing’” what God required.
Those who wanted smooth words had a term for those who sought exactness in His word, calling them doreshe hamuroth, or ‘makers of harsh interpretations’ or hard things. When told they needed to repent, Laman and Lemuel responded, “Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.” Nephi replied, “The guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center. And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth and give heed unto it that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say, Thou speakest hard things against us” (1 Nephi 16:1–3).
Yet many believe smooth words of priests who claim to know, but fail to show, the true way to worship. They do not understand the Lord’s gospel, laws, and ordinances in spite of making covenants, having scripture, and frequenting a temple. Though set to be keepers of God’s law, they perpetuate perverse doctrine and remain in darkness. Jesus heavily rebukes lawyers—those in authority who create and interpret religious law. “The foundation of the destruction of this people [is] “laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges” (Alma 10:27).
“So soon as [Israel] began to be puffed up with self-sufficiency,” they could not endure the higher law or revelation that “came fresh from the mouth of the great I am himself [which] showed the corruptions of that generation as others before . . . They chose darkness rather than light.”
Encouraging self-reliance erodes faith, because faith relies on God, not ourself or others. Concepts of self are largely uninspired, emphasizing our works instead of depending on God. “O how great is the nothingness of the children of men” (Helaman 12:7). Our self is “less than the dust of the earth” (Mosiah 4:2), for there is nothing we can do to obtain salvation except yield to enticings of the Spirit and turn to the Lord.
If we rely on ourselves or our works, we will be disappointed. “All men will be damned if they do not come in the way which He hath opened, and this is the way marked out by the word of the Lord.” Having faith in Christ “is my gospel; remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved” (D&C 33:12). Faith reaches toward God to transform our fallen nature but many were “destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers” (3 Nephi 1:11). If commandments of men or false traditions exist today, we must expect the same repercussions that befell the Nephites and Jews. They knew of, but failed to know, Christ while busily engaged in doing works of men.
The Lord cannot bless those who “mix and believe in incorrect traditions.” It will “prove their destruction” (Alma 3:8). Traditions include reforms that change God’s revealed law. “You transgress . . . [and] despise the words of God because of your ordinances.” Your ordinances differ from ordinances that please God, as Cain learned. Acceptable ordinances must comply with His unchangeable law. Only if we fulfill our covenants with exactness will condemnation be lifted.
Jesus was sent to fulfill the law, reveal higher things, and restore doctrines, ordinances, and laws that became corrupted or lost, being supplanted by the traditions and commandments of men. We need not physically alter scripture to corrupt doctrine. Misunderstanding God’s intended meaning corrupts it. Every part of His law must be fulfilled, so any innovation or variation hinders us.
Although they hold office, they shut God’s kingdom to their followers and cast out those who seek Him. By choosing which laws they will observe, they are partial in the law at best and neglect weightier laws. Stubborn and blind to the reality that they lack holiness, wisdom, and understanding, they believe their strategic appointments and anointings must be approved by God because He offered the covenant to their fathers. Teachings of former true prophets are quickly dismissed if they contradict or oppose their desired reforms. So deceived are these authorities that they await the Christ without realizing they are anti-Christ. They not only fail to recognize Him, but they actively persecute His gospel and His sent ones.
Jesus exposed the true nature of Pharisees and scribes (“who sat at the helm of church government”) so that “we may not be imposed upon by great and mighty names, titles, and pretensions to power. People must be told of the wolves, the dogs, the deceitful workers, that they may know to stand upon their guard . . . Even the disciples need these cautions for good men are apt to have their eyes dazzled with worldly pomp.”
As we consider the heavy influence of leader-worship, oppressive political and religious settings, erring traditions of elders and fathers, modified rites and doctrine, and the strong delusion and hypocrisy of church leadership at the time of Jesus’s ministry, the more we recognize how difficult it may have been for many ‘believers’ to recognize Christ and accept His teachings. Although He taught truth grounded in scripture, it flew contrary to the prevailing teachings and beliefs of the time.
Many believed Jesus but feared wrath from the church. For ruling leadership to admit Jesus was correct would require them to admit their church had strayed and their professed spiritual standing and authority was not recognized by heaven. These men would either have to ask God for truth and have courage to repent or continue the charade as their sandy foundation crumbled.
Do we believe God that we are just as susceptible to apostasy as ancient covenant people were? Jews and Nephites had opportunities to receive God’s greatest blessings, a privilege offered to Gentiles in this latter dispensation. The need to return to what God decreed is just as applicable today as it was in every dispensation. It is a timeless warning for all who desire eternal life.
Much understanding and “many covenants of the Lord have they taken away” (1 Nephi 13:26) by encouraging ritual instead of reality, modification not preservation, reformation not transformation, deliberation instead of revelation, and doing without becoming. So Jesus warns, “Do not do according to their works” (Matthew 23:3, Berean).
For footnotes and references, click HERE.
Traditions matter because they form the substance of rites or teachings handed to another. Etymologically, tradition has a basic sense of receiving something handed down, but we must be cautious because tradition is also a doublet of the word treason. As an ordinance, law, or decree, tradition derives from châqaq (H2710), meaning to cut, inscribe, write, or engrave. Covenant imagery! Failure to transmit the engraven or revealed law properly is treason against the kingdom of God. Recognizing that betray, paradidómi (G3860), is a cognate of ‘to endow,’ we see that righteous traditions can endow us with power, but deviant traditions are treasonous acts against God. An ancient Hebrew pictograph root for tradition notes the polarity as a wall of separation or a coming together. And so the greatest charge given to those with positions of authority is to preserve and watch over the doctrines and ordinances as God revealed. Otherwise, future generations inherit error.
How can we determine whether the doctrines or teachings we believe are truly revealed by God or if they are precepts of men who claim to act for God? This tricky but important question is just as applicable today as it was at the time of Jesus’s ministry. Precepts of men include incorrect traditions, reforms, philosophies, statutes, laws, policies, programs, manners of administration, and variant doctrine.
Isaiah calls them “the learned commandments of men,” implying a man-made decision or rule that becomes perceived as law. “Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught” (Isaiah 29:13, NIV). These man-made enactments, or modifications that change scriptural law, must be abandoned. Mitzvot derabanan, “commandments of our rabbis,” describe Jewish traditions that become accepted as law because of a prevailing assumption that God surely must be directing their spiritual leaders. But Jesus chastised Jews for their precepts of men and forbade His disciples from following that which God did not reveal.
Do ye not after their works: for they say, and do not . . . [They love] to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ. (Matthew 23:3, 7–8)The Lord’s rebuke for saying, but not doing, links the works of the Pharisees to Latter-day Saints who were also condemned for this sin. By studying the Jews and Pharisees, we can better understand the challenging circumstances that confront our own dispensation and hopefully avoid the same fate.
One branch of Jews who believed scripture as revealed and rejected men’s precepts are the Karaites, from karaim, a Hebrew word for readers of scripture. Jesus’s call for a return to revealed law while rejecting the man-made laws is similar to the aim of original Karaites. Ironically, those who reformed original revelations and laws are collectively referred to today as Hasidim, meaning righteous. Even if they consider themselves righteous, God does not recognize it if they have not preserved His word. Hasidim calling themselves righteous is not much different from those who are not sanctified calling themselves Saints. “Those who call themselves after my name . . . did not hearken altogether unto the precepts and commandments which I gave unto them” (D&C 103:4). This is similar to the Pharisees, a name that means a separatist, purist, or set apart. Pharisaios (G5330) implies they believed they were holy and kept God’s true gospel but its Hebrew root is telling: parash (H6567) is to scatter or disperse, a cursed condition from failing to know God.
Jews who tolerated innovation and reform “gave absolute authority to a single rabbi.” People turned to him for their counsel and believed he had authority to mediate between man and God. They believed their prophet-leader could not lead them astray and insisted his office came directly from God. The ‘righteous’ Hasidim called those who did not embrace their reforms ‘opponents’ (Misnagdim). Some ‘opponents’ sought to preserve the original religion while the Hasidim embraced doctrine that had become perverse.
To inquire originally meant inquiring of God, but over time the term described going to scholars for understanding when a question arose. Inquiring of God was replaced by studying what leaders said about the law, actions repeated today. Their evolving laws and beliefs were not to be questioned even if they contradicted scripture. The claim that current teachings of leaders supersedes scripture or past revelation is not unique to the Pharisees.
Such division intensified in the years before Christ’s mortal ministry. Sects like those at Qumran vehemently opposed the ways of Jerusalem and its Pharasaic leaders. The Pharisee subculture positioned themselves to gain “the reputation of excelling the rest of their nation in the observances of religion and as exact exponents of the laws,” enjoying ‘divine’ authority while mingling with politics such that, at times, the Pharisees also “had the enjoyment of royal authority.” Being “extremely influential among the townsfolk, all prayers and sacred rites of divine worship are performed according to their exposition . . . [They had] such enthusiastic support from the masses that their exposition of the laws regulates all public religious ceremonies.” Pharisees “tapped deep wellsprings of loyalty and devotion” and possessed great political influence. Their “power derived from their popularity with the masses,” so pleasing the people was critical to their continued reign.
“So great is their influence with the masses that even when they speak against a king or high priest, they immediately gain credence . . . They could injure those whom they hated and help those to whom they were friendly; for they had the complete confidence of the masses.”
In spite of what they proclaimed, the Pharisees demonstrated their belief that time was better spent seeking opportunities to expand their influence by increasing their affluence. These moneychangers justified their works as they accepted tithes but a heavy focus on outward works obscured their spiritual obligation to literally realize covenant blessings.
Because they gained power over the temple and its priests, the Pharisees were influential in getting many to worship according to their interpretation of scripture and law. By encouraging a self-proclaimed reputation as the most accurate interpreters of the law and divine ministers with authority, their followers were loyal while oblivious to the error. Devoted followers paid great tribute “to the excellence of the Pharisees because of their practice of the highest ideals both in their way of living and in their discourse,” or so they believed.
The term Pharisee describes ‘interpreters’ of religious law. They distinguished themselves because of what they believed was God’s word, but in reality they separated themselves from God by turning to their own wisdom and counsel. ‘Pharisee’ links to paroshiym, authoritative teachers who evolved in the organization and placed heavy emphasis on interpreting scripture or law according to their understanding, perhaps like a correlation committee, church education system, or scholarly panel.
[Originally] the authority lay in the hands of prophets and priests. In questions of law, ritual, and religion, the prophet received the answer from God, and the priest decided by strength of his office . . . In the time of the Second Temple the authority of priest and prophet was replaced by the authority of exegete and scholar. God was no more asked directly for guidance . . . and the [doctrine] so expounded as to meet all needs.Beliefs that migrate toward infallibility of leaders exist in other sects also. People rigorously defended such beliefs, even as they were compelled to dutifully accept the rulings or teachings of those who sat in the highest seats—even if their counsel contradicted scripture. That today’s environment resembles that of Jews and Nephites of old is alarming. Christ said we are at great risk of rejecting Him and His gospel today, so studying a fallen people is of great worth, even a burden of scripture.
‘Iniquities of the Rabbis’
Hebrew scholar Gordon describes “five iniquities of the rabbis,” or five fundamental issues that condemned the Jews. The first is that the rabbis declared oral law supersedes revealed scripture. In other words, what leaders preached about the law held precedent and priority over scripture itself.
Second is the “belief that the Rabbis have absolute authority to interpret scripture and what they say in religious matters is binding. Even if it is known to be factually untrue . . . you must obey them.” The directive to follow leaders without questioning—even if it “superseded a direct decree from God Himself”—grew to become a fundamental tenet of their doctrine. The rabbis encouraged people to always follow or ‘incline after the majority,’ even if it contradicted scripture. Jewish philosopher Maimonides said oral law and traditions came to be of such high regard that if one declares “something contrary to the oral law, even if scripture agrees with” him, he could be put to death.
In the third iniquity, ‘irrational interpretation,’ leaders take words out of context, incorrectly interpret meaning, and remove or ignore that which does not support their agenda. They do not understand what God really meant by His own words. This creative approach uses “random sound bites to create new meaning not naturally emanating from the words of Scripture.” The Lord alludes to such inventions as He declared, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me” (Jeremiah 23:30, NIV) and “claim they are from me” (NLT). Although many believe men who claim to speak for God, He denies their words are His. They “set forth in my Name that which I have not commanded” (Geneva).
Fourth, ‘sanctification of tradition’ arises as their reforms become accepted over time as binding ‘law.’ The Pharisees had intense loyalty to the unwritten law, though these “laws were not to be found in the laws of Moses. They were laws that had been transmitted in unwritten form, laws that hailed back to the ‘fathers.’ The Pharisees had transmitted these laws to the masses who accepted them as authoritative.”
The divisive conflict between Sadducees and Pharisees stemmed from their loyalty to different forms of the law. The Sadducees rejected the unwritten laws or traditions and accepted law in the first five books of the Old Testament, but they erred by rejecting other essential doctrines and scripture. On the other hand, the Pharisees were successful in garnering support and “had so captured the loyalty of the masses that they were willing to lay down their lives” for their laws or traditions. While their reforms were the commandments of men, the masses were led to believe they were divinely sanctioned laws.
Finally, the fifth iniquity is “the outright enactment of new laws” presented as commandments, but developed and created based on decision instead of revelation. “By keeping the nation busy with their man-made laws, the Rabbis were distancing people” from God’s revealed word. Hence Jesus’s rebuke: “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:6), “which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:13).
Jesus warns His disciples against trusting in ma’asim, the acts or works that serve as precedents. The Dead Sea Scrolls describe them as works of the law that cannot justify us before God. The important Hebrew meaning of ‘precedents’ was lost in its translation to Greek.
The concept of ma’asim is unique to Pharisaic Judaism. It is not surprising that the Greek translator of Matthew had no idea what it was referring to so he translated it literally as erga, or ‘actions or works.’ But [Jesus] was talking about the ma’asim of the Pharisees, which is something very specific. When a Pharisee does not know the law in a particular situation, he looks for a precedent from one of his teachers. The Pharisees reason that if one of their teachers did a certain act, it must be what the Oral Law requires. This is called a ma’aseh, or in plural ma’asim, ‘precedents.’ This concept is canonized in the Talmudic rule ma’aseh rav, ‘precedent is a teacher’ (Babylonian Talmud, Sabbath 21a).
The Rabbis assumed that . . . the elders could not have sinned. Learning precedents from the actions of the Rabbis is a standard method used by the Rabbis to derive religious law. [They believed] there is no need for biblical proof because Rabbinic precedent is even better. According to Hebrew Matthew, [Jesus] is warning his disciples not to look to the ma’asim, the precedents of the Rabbis, as the standard for proper behavior. Nor are they to follow the takanot, the invented laws of the Rabbis. Instead, they are to listen to what [the divinely revealed law of] Moses says, after all the Rabbinic claim to authority is that they sit in Moses’ seat . . . If it is Moses’ seat, do what Moses says.Again, scripture warns of priests and people who say but do not do what the Lord’s law requires, although they are devout and busy with their own works. Outward acts mean little if our natural man is not changed, so displays of religion without conversion draw rebuke. We cannot expect to bear His name if we dilute or dismiss His gospel or promotion tradition instead of truth. Once men’s precepts, traditions, or interpretations replace God’s commandments, blessings and promises are of no effect.
In another example, once “true believers in Christ and the true worshippers of Christ,” the Nephites began to embrace the ideologies and commandments of men. Although they had “been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord,” they were guilty of “drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites” (Alma 47:36) and lost knowledge. While believing they were approved of God, they became more wicked than the Lamanites by rejecting truth, for “they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ” (4 Nephi 1:38). They were ultimately destroyed for not doing what their covenants required.
The restored church is condemned for saying but not doing His works, making Pharisees and Samaritans types for the LDS. Jesus offended the Pharisees by comparing them to the Samaritans, who were accused in scripture of doing according to their reforms. The Pharisees believed they were passing on acceptable observances of the law, but man-made laws are not the pure word of God. Their heavy emphasis on outward works and ritual was evident when the Pharisees accused Jesus’s disciples of having unclean hands then boasted that before eating, they did “wash their hands oft . . . holding the tradition of the elders” (Mark 7:3). Jesus said they “transgress the commandment of God by your tradition” (Matthew 15:3). “Beware lest [ye] commandeth that which is forbidden of the Lord” (Mormon 8:18).
Although Pharisees and scribes maneuvered to obtain institutional authority, Jesus did not acknowledge their priesthood. Their own counsels and maneuvering permitted them to rule Jerusalem’s church. Joseph explained, “It was not the lawful priests who rejected Jesus, but the self-made priests. Those who were priests lawfully received the Savior in his station which was given him by the Law.”
They chose leaders and authorities according to their own desires and believed God must accept it, but Jesus rejected the notion. “You have set performers” (Ezekiel 44:8, New Heart English) over sacred things “to please yourselves” (JPS Tanakh).
Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary . . . Ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house . . . and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. (Ezekiel 44:5, 7–8)Many traditions were invented or laws implemented without divine revelation by usurpers who justified their actions as improvements. These things augmented their preferred way to worship although Jesus commanded, “Do not lay down any rules beyond what I appointed for you and do not give a law like the lawgiver lest you be constrained by it.” They presumed God would not permit them to err.
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. All therefore they bid you observe, they will make you observe and do; for they are ministers of the law, and they make themselves your judges; but do not ye after their works, for they say, and do not. (JST Matthew 23:1–2)Why would Jesus command true disciples to “do not ye after their works” (Matthew 23:3)? After all, these priesthood leaders managed the temple, participated in ordinances, received tithes or offerings, studied and preached scripture. The Hebrew account clarifies,
The Pharisees and sages sit upon the seat of Moses. Therefore, all that he says to you, diligently do, but according to their reforms and their precedents do not do, because they talk but they do not do.Gordon explains, “In the Hebrew Matthew, Yeshua is telling his disciples not to obey the Pharisees. If their claim to authority is that they sit in Moses’s seat, then [they should] diligently do as Moses says! To understand what happened, we must compare the Hebrew with the Greek. In the Greek, the disciples were commanded to obey ‘all that they [the Pharisees] say,’ but in the Hebrew, Yeshua told his disciples to obey ‘all that he [Moses] says.’ These are two fundamentally different messages, but in Hebrew, this is a difference of only one single letter . . . The difference between the two is . . . the addition of the extra vav which renders ‘he says’ to ‘they say.’ That this is the basis for a completely different message is amazing because vav is one of the smallest letters in the Hebrew alphabet, really just a single stroke! The addition of this tiny letter changes Yeshua’s message from an instruction to obey Moses to a commandment to obey the Pharisees.”
Simple reforms may seem innocent but adding even one single letter completely shifted the Lord’s words, altered their religion, and led their followers to deny the Savior. They changed more than a verse, for in it they changed the law itself.
Rabbinical ordinances and interpretations were added to the Mosaic law by scribes and teachers over the years. These traditions were actually and formally deemed to be more important and have greater binding force than the law itself . . . This same process of transforming truth into traditions—of changing the law of God into ‘the doctrines and commandments of men’ by the interpretations and additions of uninspired teachers—is precisely what took place in the great apostasy of the Christian Era . . . Many other like traditions are counted of more importance by some than the law of God as originally given by the Master. Indeed, the so-called Christian Church today is founded in large part on the traditions of the ‘elders’ rather than on the revelations of heaven.Traditions can deceive us into believing that position or rite assures purity or power from God. The Pharisees and scribes claimed authority and sat in the highest seats, but they did not attain His power or preach a legitimate return to God. Jesus compared them to “whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but are within full of the bones of the dead and of all uncleanness” (JST Matthew 23:24). While these ruling men held high church positions, they had not been spiritual transformed from ratified ordinances. Without it, there is no true worship which opens the door to various interpretations, strange roads, and errant doctrine. Such hypocrites lead with supposed authority but no divine power. They deceive themselves and all who follow them, proclaiming to have truth but leading people from it.
The Jews acknowledged that “three rabbis that preside as a court over Israel are equivalent to the court of Moses,” a structure not unlike the LDS First Presidency which similarly has three members. They love having “the chief seats in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:6), imagery that calls to mind the wicked priests at the time of King Noah who caused pulpits “to be built before them that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people” (Mosiah 11:11). Jesus said, “Wo to you, you blind chairs,” condemning those in leadership.
Because they preside as if in Moses’s seat, they believe their innovations are acceptable and their authority permits them to reform or replace what God originally revealed. They are deceived. So great was their blindness that many Pharisees claimed Jesus Himself “enticed Israel to apostasy.” Having a form of authority while being blind to their true condition caused many to reject the very Savior who descended to turn them away from men’s reformations and back to His revealed law.
Proselyting Their Gospel
Putting trust in someone strictly because of their position will lead us astray. Relying on office alone would cause us to sustain and support wicked King Noah as he put Abinadi to death, to reject Lehi and his teachings in Jerusalem, to throw stones or shoot arrows at Samuel the Lamanite, or to justify the Pharisee’s desire to crucify Jesus. Christ’s greatest rebukes were against those in positions of religious authority.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than he was before, like unto yourselves. (JST Matthew 23:12)They proselyte far and wide to gain converts. In spite of strong or extensive missionary efforts, we cannot take His gospel to the world if we do not believe or preserve what He restored. If true points of His gospel are not preached, the work cannot be accepted.
The doctrine of Christ is “this gospel of the kingdom [which] shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations” (JST Matthew 24:32). Christ’s doctrine is from the Father. By proselyting their gospel, erring doctrine spreads, leading many astray so they and their followers are not only condemned, but damned. The Hebrew version reads, “You encompass sea and land to bind the heart of one man to your faith and when he is bound he is doubly worse than before.”
He is doubly worse because his heart is still unchanged but is bound to a faith that cannot bring salvation but declares he is now worthy and saved. His still-hardened heart may belong to a church but it does not belong to Christ unless he believes the truth of His gospel. Former misbeliefs remain with the convert but news sins are added as covenants are made in vain, condemning him double while masking his still-urgent need to turn to Christ’s gospel.
Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests.We are damned double if we make covenants that we do not understand or fulfill. “The Lord will not suffer that ye shall live and wax strong in your iniquities to destroy his righteous people . . . It has been redoubled by those who have dissented from us, while your iniquity is for the cause of your love of glory and the vain things of the world?” (Alma 60:31–32). The double-minded wavers, is “unstable in all his ways” and will not “receive any thing of the Lord.”
The faithful know “that the popular religious theories of the day are incorrect; that they are without parallel in the revelations of God, as sanctioned by him; and that however faithfully they may be adhered to, or however zealously and warmly they may be defended, they will never stand the strict scrutiny of the word of life.”
Those who proselyte a deviant gospel are a “child of hell,” even “the children of the kingdom of the devil” (Alma 5:25) because they believe Satan’s lies over God’s word. They are “of your father the devil.” In the Garden of Eden, God told Satan there would be “enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). Unbelief causes animosity between Satan’s seed and true Christianity.
[The faithful knew] that the church ‘could not be Christ’s unless the world hated it.’ The disciples, following the example and precept of their Master, made no effort to win public sympathy and support. This hard and uncompromising attitude has puzzled observers in every age, and indeed it makes little sense in an institution seeking either to convert the world or to survive in it . . .
[While] Jesus did indeed envisage a universal call to the nations, His mortal mission clearly did not have world conversion as its objective . . . No less striking is the conspicuous absence of any missionary organization in the apostolic church, and the complete indifference of the Apostolic Fathers to the great business of converting the world. Their prayer for the church is to be gathered out of the world, not spread abroad in it, and to be caught up into the kingdom, not to build it here.Focus on gaining converts at the expense of spiritual transformation only masters an outward show of piousness, but condemnation remains. Both Pharisees and Jesus claimed to have truth and authority. By keeping the letter of their law, Pharisees forfeited the Spirit and power that God could bestow. Although the Pharisees oversaw synagogues, professed priesthood, and believed in temple rites, inside they loved praise and money. They believed strict observance of their rites and laws gave them a privileged spiritual standing. They mistakenly “trusted in themselves that they were righteous” (Luke 18:9). Eight times in Matthew 23 alone Jesus referred to their hypocrisy.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe . . . and have omitted the weightier things of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, who strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel; who make yourselves appear unto men that ye would not commit the least sin, and yet ye yourselves transgress the whole law. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (JST Matthew 23:20–21, 25)Josephus described the Pharisees as “a certain sect of the Jews that appear more religious than others.” While they were quick to criticize the sins of other generations, Jesus declared, “Ye yourselves are partakers of the same wickedness” (JST Matthew 23:34).
They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters. They were partial in the law, would pick and choose their duty, according as they were interested or stood affected. Sincere obedience is universal, and he that from a right principle obeys any of God’s precepts will have respect for them all. But hypocrites, who act in religion for themselves, and not for God, will do no more in religion than they can serve a turn by for themselves . . .
It is not the scrupling of a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained out. In the smaller matters of the law to be superstitious, and to be profane in the greater, is the hypocrisy here condemned. They were all for the outside, and not at all for the inside, of religion. They were more desirous and solicitous to appear pious to men than to approve themselves so toward God. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. We are really what we are inwardly. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy.By indoctrinating people to believe priesthood leaders cannot lead them astray, commandments of men can easily become perceived as law. When this happens, the responsibility and privilege to inquire of God for truth is replaced by complacency and a false sense of security. Jesus attempted to correct this ruinous belief of infallibility. “Beware that no one lead you astray. For the Son of Man is within you. Follow after him! Those who seek him will find him.” Only sincerely asking God for truth and believing Him can prevent us from being deceived.
Ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally . . . that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils. (D&C 46:7)Nephi proclaimed, “I know that if ye shall follow the Son with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent” (2 Nephi 31:13), truth will be manifested. Real intent includes devoted, serious study. Not inquiring of God diminishes light.
The Dead Sea Scrolls equate halakhoth, teachings of the Pharisees, to halaqoth, smooth things, doctrinal deviation, or ethical corruption. With its root meaning to divide or be false, halaqoth is a term of rebuke against seekers or encouragers of smooth things, delusions, lies, or flattery. Smooth words are easy to swallow and please the natural man so they are rarely resisted. “The Devil is an orator; he is powerful.” The hearts of the people say “to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions” (Isaiah 30:10, ESV) and “deceptive messages” (NetBible).
Seekers of smooth things are “backsliders who turned away from the paths of righteousness . . . [They] searched after smooth things and chose deceits . . . caused others to transgress and persecuted the righteous . . . In late Hebrew, doreshe means not to seek, but to enquire or study . . . hence doreshe halaqoth is properly not ‘seekers after smooth things,’ but rather ‘makers of smooth interpretations’.” These “interpreters of error” exchange revealed law for halaqoth, commandments of men. They include those “who study the scriptures with the intention of finding easy solutions in order to make the commandments of God fulfillable to everyone . . . The halakhoth [teachings of Pharisees] appeared to be halaqoth (‘smooth things’) which prevented the people from really ‘doing’” what God required.
Those who wanted smooth words had a term for those who sought exactness in His word, calling them doreshe hamuroth, or ‘makers of harsh interpretations’ or hard things. When told they needed to repent, Laman and Lemuel responded, “Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.” Nephi replied, “The guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center. And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth and give heed unto it that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say, Thou speakest hard things against us” (1 Nephi 16:1–3).
Yet many believe smooth words of priests who claim to know, but fail to show, the true way to worship. They do not understand the Lord’s gospel, laws, and ordinances in spite of making covenants, having scripture, and frequenting a temple. Though set to be keepers of God’s law, they perpetuate perverse doctrine and remain in darkness. Jesus heavily rebukes lawyers—those in authority who create and interpret religious law. “The foundation of the destruction of this people [is] “laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges” (Alma 10:27).
Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, the fulness of the scriptures. Ye enter not in yourselves into the kingdom, and those who were entering in, ye hindered. (JST Luke 11:53)“The Pharisees and the scholars have received the keys of knowledge but have hidden them.” Keys open the kingdom of heaven, but in spite of their high offices, “they have not entered, nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so” (Gospel of Thomas 39:1–2). Joseph clarified the key of knowledge is tied to ‘the fulness of the scriptures.’ Joseph warned, “The Lord would cut short his work in righteousness and except the Church receive the fulness of the scriptures they would yet fail.” We must “search the revelations . . . Ask your Heavenly Father to manifest the truth unto you” so as to “not be dependent on man for the knowledge of God.” Men prefer to rely on themselves or others for knowledge.
“So soon as [Israel] began to be puffed up with self-sufficiency,” they could not endure the higher law or revelation that “came fresh from the mouth of the great I am himself [which] showed the corruptions of that generation as others before . . . They chose darkness rather than light.”
Encouraging self-reliance erodes faith, because faith relies on God, not ourself or others. Concepts of self are largely uninspired, emphasizing our works instead of depending on God. “O how great is the nothingness of the children of men” (Helaman 12:7). Our self is “less than the dust of the earth” (Mosiah 4:2), for there is nothing we can do to obtain salvation except yield to enticings of the Spirit and turn to the Lord.
Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. (2 Nephi 28:31)This is the key. If leaders enact reforms or claim revelation, we are not to hearken to them unless we receive a divine witness “by the power of the Holy Ghost,” which never alters or contradicts God’s revealed word. Condemnation is only lifted as our spirits are transformed by receiving light and truth.
Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation. (D&C 93:31–32)Evil encourages us to transform truth to tradition. To “transgress the laws of God” is to “serve the devil, who is the master of sin, an enemy to all righteousness” (Mosiah 4:14). Ezekiel boldly cried repentance to the wayward who worship false gods and are blinded to the light and knowledge needed to worship God effectively. False gods come from believing false ideas about God, including that He can tolerate sin or change. To give adoration to leaders or perform our own works worships false gods and prohibits righteousness. Rebuke comes for worshipping idols in their heart and turning to a prophet instead of God.
These men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? . . . Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him . . .
Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations . . . and they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 14:3–4, 6, 10–11)Joseph was greatly concerned that covenant makers would rely on a prophet instead of establishing a real relationship with God. After reading Ezekiel 14 he said “the people should each one stand for himself and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church—that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls—applied it to the present state of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Joseph “said if the people departed from the Lord” (confirming they can depart), then “they must fall.” This would occur if “they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds in consequence of neglecting the[ir] duties.”
If we rely on ourselves or our works, we will be disappointed. “All men will be damned if they do not come in the way which He hath opened, and this is the way marked out by the word of the Lord.” Having faith in Christ “is my gospel; remember that they shall have faith in me or they can in nowise be saved” (D&C 33:12). Faith reaches toward God to transform our fallen nature but many were “destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers” (3 Nephi 1:11). If commandments of men or false traditions exist today, we must expect the same repercussions that befell the Nephites and Jews. They knew of, but failed to know, Christ while busily engaged in doing works of men.
The Lord cannot bless those who “mix and believe in incorrect traditions.” It will “prove their destruction” (Alma 3:8). Traditions include reforms that change God’s revealed law. “You transgress . . . [and] despise the words of God because of your ordinances.” Your ordinances differ from ordinances that please God, as Cain learned. Acceptable ordinances must comply with His unchangeable law. Only if we fulfill our covenants with exactness will condemnation be lifted.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching the doctrines and the commandments of men . . . Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. (JST Matthew 15:8, 6)Oral traditions (talks, testimonies, stories, commentaries) are what people say. We cannot draw near to God with our mouth if our heart is elsewhere. Although many say they will uphold their covenants, they did not do it His way. Having a disparity between what we covenant and what we do is sin. Jesus noted that leaders’ teachings are not necessarily His: “Ye have heard it said . . . but I say . . .” (Matthew 5). We must challenge existing beliefs and measure them against what God revealed.
Jesus was sent to fulfill the law, reveal higher things, and restore doctrines, ordinances, and laws that became corrupted or lost, being supplanted by the traditions and commandments of men. We need not physically alter scripture to corrupt doctrine. Misunderstanding God’s intended meaning corrupts it. Every part of His law must be fulfilled, so any innovation or variation hinders us.
Therefore whoever relaxes [‘sets aside,’ NIV] one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19, ESV)The Hebrew Matthew offers valuable insight of those condemned for vanity: “He who shall transgress one word of these commandments and shall teach others shall be called a vain person in the kingdom of heaven.” Enoch also warned against alterations.
Do not err in your hearts or lie, or alter the words of truth, or falsify the words of the Holy One, or give praise to your errors. For it is not to righteousness that all your lies and all your error lead, but to great sin. And now, I know this mystery, that sinners will alter and copy the words of truth, and pervert many and lie and invent great fabrications. (1 Enoch 104:9–10)Jesus rebuked authorities sharply for their desire to obtain praise, honor, and adoration of men. They “love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues.They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’” but “be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ” (Matthew 23:6–10, NLT, KJV). They impose workloads on followers to implement their programs. They justify their greed and aspiration as building God’s kingdom, but Christ knows their hard hearts pursue gain and honor. They lie to themselves and others that it is done in the name of God and for His glory so many trust in “lying vanities” (Psalm 31:6).
Although they hold office, they shut God’s kingdom to their followers and cast out those who seek Him. By choosing which laws they will observe, they are partial in the law at best and neglect weightier laws. Stubborn and blind to the reality that they lack holiness, wisdom, and understanding, they believe their strategic appointments and anointings must be approved by God because He offered the covenant to their fathers. Teachings of former true prophets are quickly dismissed if they contradict or oppose their desired reforms. So deceived are these authorities that they await the Christ without realizing they are anti-Christ. They not only fail to recognize Him, but they actively persecute His gospel and His sent ones.
Jesus exposed the true nature of Pharisees and scribes (“who sat at the helm of church government”) so that “we may not be imposed upon by great and mighty names, titles, and pretensions to power. People must be told of the wolves, the dogs, the deceitful workers, that they may know to stand upon their guard . . . Even the disciples need these cautions for good men are apt to have their eyes dazzled with worldly pomp.”
As we consider the heavy influence of leader-worship, oppressive political and religious settings, erring traditions of elders and fathers, modified rites and doctrine, and the strong delusion and hypocrisy of church leadership at the time of Jesus’s ministry, the more we recognize how difficult it may have been for many ‘believers’ to recognize Christ and accept His teachings. Although He taught truth grounded in scripture, it flew contrary to the prevailing teachings and beliefs of the time.
Many believed Jesus but feared wrath from the church. For ruling leadership to admit Jesus was correct would require them to admit their church had strayed and their professed spiritual standing and authority was not recognized by heaven. These men would either have to ask God for truth and have courage to repent or continue the charade as their sandy foundation crumbled.
Their hearts are corrupt, and full of wickedness and abominations; and they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Therefore they will not ask of me. (D&C 10:21)Because sins in scripture confront people in all dispensations, we should consider how similar the circumstances of Christ’s first coming are to those that now precede His second coming. God promises to reveal truth to all who sincerely ask, so receiving an answer to such pertinent questions determines if we remain in unbelief or move forward with faith in Him.
Do we believe God that we are just as susceptible to apostasy as ancient covenant people were? Jews and Nephites had opportunities to receive God’s greatest blessings, a privilege offered to Gentiles in this latter dispensation. The need to return to what God decreed is just as applicable today as it was in every dispensation. It is a timeless warning for all who desire eternal life.
Much understanding and “many covenants of the Lord have they taken away” (1 Nephi 13:26) by encouraging ritual instead of reality, modification not preservation, reformation not transformation, deliberation instead of revelation, and doing without becoming. So Jesus warns, “Do not do according to their works” (Matthew 23:3, Berean).
For footnotes and references, click HERE.