Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
July 11, 2023
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: That the attitude of the Pharisees is deadly is a major element in Mark's presentation of the Kingdom Of God.
Introduction: In our last study, we considered Mark's use of "divorce" as a clear revelation of the problem of one's attitude in respect to participation in the Kingdom of God. It is not as though "divorce" is the worst of sins, but it does provide a very clear basis for understanding how one is permitted to participate in God's Kingdom of His "Agape".
This evening we are going to consider Mark's further development of the condition of the Pharisees for his illustration. He has already told us very pointedly that "The Pharisees" were profoundly "leavened" by a deadly "leaven". Thus, we are going to look further into what this means.
- I. The Larger Context.
- II. The Details.
- A. "From Thence He Is Going..."
- B. "Beyond The Jordan."
- C. "He Was Teaching Them."
- 1. This is the critical issue, upon which the entire "edifice" of the "religion of the Jews" was resting (as is the case in all such situations).
- 2. There cannot be any genuine "faith" in a vacuum of doctrinal content.
- 3. The "transformation" of people by reason of the doctrinal content of their "religion" is rooted in a genuine "rejection" of former "religious truths" couple with a strong contrasting alternative commitment to distinctly different "religious truths" (Romans 12:2).
- a. The claim of "I do not know", so I go by what I "feel" is unacceptable: nothing can be known, or can be an object of religious devotion, that does not first pass through the mind (language is totally incapable of communicating "truth" if there are no boundaries on "language").
- b. The revelation of truth in the Scriptures assumes the required mental activity involved in understanding how to function.
- c. The basic Biblical hermeneutic is revealed by Paul to Timothy in two instructions: 1 Timothy 4:13 and 2 Timothy 2:7.
- d. What Jesus was "teaching" was admittedly, seriously, not taught by the scribes (1:27).
- 1) This "what" concerns the distinction between "Law" and "Grace" as it is applied to a person's relationship with God.
- 2) That it was not being taught by the scribes indicates the depth of the departure from God that was manifestly apparent in the first century.
- D. The Coming Of The Pharisees.
- 1. Pharisees.
- a. Mark refers to this group in 11 texts of his Gospel.
- 1) The initial reference shows them to be external, nit-pickers whose concept of "godliness" was that of "appearances" in direct opposition to the biblical, "men look on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart", principle (1 Samuel 16:7/Matthew 23:28).
- 2) In 8:15 Jesus declared this group to be "leavened" by a deadly leaven.
- 3) And in 12:13 their method of attack is revealed: "...to trap Him in a statement."
- b. Mark's record is decidedly attempting to put people on their guard against the teachings of the Pharisees.
- 2. Purpose for coming: to attempt to trip Jesus up with a "hot potato" issue: the question of the legitimacy of divorce...is it "lawful"?
- a. As is the case today, so also was the case in the first century: the "problem" of the difficulties involved in the relational realities of two people whose "oneness" begins immediately at the physical level, but takes a long time to arrive in the other areas of life.
- b. "Law" has "permission because of hard-heartedness" and "Grace" has "forgiveness" for those who have failed (but not the "lifting" of the Law of the Harvest).
- 3. Jesus' answer: What did Moses command you?
- 4. Their response: Moses "permitted" a certificate of divorce and the sending of the wife away.
- 5. Jesus' reaction.
- a. That "permission" was a response to man's hardness of heart.
- b. But from the beginning of creation, He made them male and female.
- c. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother.
- d. A bracketed "and shall cleave to his wife" follows.
- e. They two shall be unto one flesh so that they are no longer two but one flesh.
- f. Therefore what The God has "yoked" let not man divide.
- E. The subsequent questions of the disciples.
- F. Jesus tells them that "it is adultery" for either man or wife to put the spouse away and join himself/herself to another.
- G. Mark does not elaborate where other recorders of Jesus' teaching do.
- 1. Mark's "point" is not that "divorce" is an unpardonable sin, or even that it is among the highest levels of "Sin" among men.
- 2. Mark's "point" is that there is an "Attitude" which prevents men from being able to inherit in the Kingdom of God.
- a. This "attitude" is the desire to manipulate God's revealed "Truth" so that a person can pursue his/her own course and not "God's", and feel no guilt from that pursuit.
- b. The particular "sin" is not the point; the attitude of impenitence is the point.
