Pharisees, attitudes to Jesus Christ

Pharisees opposed Jesus Christ during his ministry and were among those who brought about his crucifixion. Some Pharisees, however, accepted Christ's teaching and believed in him.

Dialogue between Jesus Christ and Pharisees

They demanded a sign to prove his messiahship

Matthew 12:38–42 parallel Luke 11:29–32 See also Matthew 16:1–4 parallel Mark 8:11–12

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. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

They questioned him on matters of the law

Matthew 19:3–9 parallel Mark 10:2–9 See also Matthew 22:15–22 parallels Mark 12:13–17, Luke 20:20–26; Matthew 22:34–40 parallel Mark 12:28–34; John 8:3–11

Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning. Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

They called him Teacher

Mark 12:13–14 parallel Matthew 22:15–16 See also Matthew 12:38, Matthew 22:34–36; Luke 7:39–40, Luke 19:39, Luke 20:21, Luke 20:28; John 3:2, John 8:3–4

Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Jesus in His words. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and seek favor from no one. Indeed, You are impartial and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not?”

Jesus Christ questioned them

Matthew 22:41–46 parallels Mark 12:35–40, Luke 20:41–44 See also Matthew 12:9–14 parallels Mark 3:1–6, Luke 6:6–11; Matthew 21:24–27 parallels Mark 11:29–33, Luke 20:3–8; Luke 14:1–6

While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus questioned them: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” “David’s,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’? For he says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.”’ So if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be David’s son?” No one was able to answer a word, and from that day on no one dared to question Him any further.

Social contact between Jesus Christ and Pharisees

Luke 7:36 See also Mark 7:1–2; Luke 11:37, Luke 13:31, Luke 14:1

Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.

Jesus Christ criticised the Pharisees

Luke 12:1 See also Matthew 5:20, Matthew 16:5–12 parallel Mark 8:14–21; Matthew 21:33–45 parallels Mark 12:1–11, Luke 20:9–19; Matthew 23:1–36 parallels Mark 12:38–40, Luke 20:45–47; Luke 11:37–52, Luke 16:1–15, Luke 18:9–14

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.

The Pharisees opposed Jesus Christ

Luke 11:53–54 Matthew 9:2–7 parallels Mark 2:3–12, Luke 5:17–26; Matthew 9:10–13 parallels Mark 2:15–17, Luke 5:29–32; Matthew 9:32–34, Matthew 12:22–24; Mark 3:22; Matthew 12:1–2 parallels Mark 2:23–24, Luke 6:1–2; Matthew 12:9–14; Mark 3:1–6; Luke 6:7, Luke 14:1–6; John 9:13–16; Luke 7:36–39, Luke 15:1–2, Luke 19:37–40; John 8:13, John 9:39–41

As Jesus went on from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things, waiting to catch Him in something He might say.

The Pharisees were among those who engineered Jesus Christ's death

Mark 3:6 parallels Matthew 12:14, Luke 6:11 See also Matthew 21:45–46 parallels Mark 12:12, Luke 20:19; Mark 12:13 parallel Luke 20:20; Matthew 27:62–64; John 7:32–49

At this, the Pharisees went out and began plotting with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Some Pharisees believed in Jesus Christ

Philippians 3:4–11 See also John 3:1–2, John 12:42, John 19:38–40; Acts 15:5, Acts 23:6–9, Acts 26:5

though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless. But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.