Pharisees

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

A sect of the Jews

• Acts 15:5 But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”

Doctrines of

• Matthew 15:9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”

Concerning the resurrection

• Acts 23:6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
• Acts 23:8 For the Sadducees say that there is neither a resurrection nor angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

Association with publicans and sinners

• Matthew 9:11–13 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the…

Traditions of, in regard to

Fasting

• Matthew 9:14 Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
• Luke 18:12 I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

The washing of hands

• Matthew 15:1–3 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
• Mark 7:1–15 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled— that is, unwashed. Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their han…

The duties of children to parents

• Matthew 15:4–9 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you null…

The Sabbath

• Matthew 12:2–8 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not l…

Hypocrisy of, reproved

By John

• Matthew 3:7–10 But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I…

By Jesus

• Matthew 6:2–8 So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so…
• Matthew 6:16–18 When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father…
• Matthew 15:1–9 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father a…
• Matthew 16:1–12 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpr…
• Matthew 21:33–46 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey. When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of…
• Matthew 23:2–33 “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move t…
• Luke 11:14–54 One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed, but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.” And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven. Knowing…
• Luke 12:1 In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
• Luke 15:1–9 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the…

Reject

John

• Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.

Christ

• Matthew 12:38–39 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
• Matthew 15:12 Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
• John 7:48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?

Come to Jesus with questions

• Matthew 19:3 Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
• Matthew 22:15–22 Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words. They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attentio…

They minister to Jesus

• Luke 7:36 Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
• Luke 11:37 As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited Him to dine with him; so He went in and reclined at the table.
• Luke 14:1 One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely.

Become disciples of Jesus

• John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
• Acts 15:5 But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
• Acts 22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

Paul, a Pharisee

• Acts 23:6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”
• Acts 26:5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.

See Herodians

See Sadducees