{"id":2818,"date":"2017-02-03T07:26:54","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T13:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=2818"},"modified":"2025-08-03T07:51:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T12:51:58","slug":"jesus-and-the-money-changers-in-the-temple-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/religion\/religion-is-not-faith\/religion-is-commerce\/jesus-and-the-money-changers-in-the-temple-2","title":{"rendered":"Jesus and the Money-Changers in the Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

A MAN ON A MISSION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe story of Jesus driving the money-changers out of the temple is one of the most vivid pictures of Jesus we have. If we look at the incidents in strictly literal terms, they are difficult to understand and appreciate because Jesus’ behaviors contrast remarkably with an image that is otherwise ordered and peaceful. When we interpret the stories symbolically, however, we see that Jesus was very much in character when he stormed through the temple. He was not just angry with the money changers. What he did in these incidents prophetically forecasts his entire ministry: He was there to destroy the entire religious system of his day.\u00a0But, more than that, he was prophetically acting out the attitudes and behaviors that his followers should emulate as they work to destroy the religious systems of their day. This is the good work for which they are being prepared. <\/a>Jesus did this work and they will do even greater works<\/a><\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: People who say they follow Jesus should take careful note that the purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to destroy religion.<\/a> If they are not also on a mission to destroy religion, they are not true followers.<\/p>\n

Just as Jesus was on a mission to tear down religious altars and high places<\/a>, his followers will also become warriors<\/a> whose mission is to overcome God’s enemy: Religion.<\/a> Most people who claim to follow Jesus do not see themselves this way. Rather, most people who claim to follow Jesus are part of the religious system that Jesus came to destroy. They are much deceived<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are four accounts of the two incidents that must be studied.\u00a0The first account at the beginning of his ministry occurs in John 2:<\/a><\/p>\n

John 2:13-25: <\/a>The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. <\/span> 14<\/span> In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. <\/span> 15<\/span> And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. <\/span> 16<\/span> And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” <\/span> 17<\/span> His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” <\/span> 18<\/span> The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” <\/span> 19<\/span> Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” <\/span> 20<\/span> The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” <\/span> 21<\/span> But he spoke of the temple of his body. <\/span> 22<\/span> When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. <\/span> 23<\/span> Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; <\/span> 24<\/span> but Jesus did not trust himself to them, <\/span> 25<\/span> because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>COMMENTARY: This event occurred immediately after Jesus’ baptism and the wedding in Cana which is generally considered to be the beginning of his ministry. This timing gives some sense about the seriousness of what Jesus did and the commotion he must have raised. First, He transforms water to wine, and then he upsets the commercial business in the temple.<\/p>\n

A cursory reading of these two events indicates no connection between them. They appear to be a simple chronology of Jesus’ life. The way we see it, however, they are very much connected.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See this link for a detailed discussion of the Cana wedding event.<\/p>\n

Occurring immediately after His baptism, this story provides a big-picture view of everything that Jesus does in His earthly ministry. In effect, He provides new, sweet and tasty wine (i.e., God’s words\/laws) that is better than the first wine served at a wedding party.<\/p>\n

This story is one more picture of the transition from Old\/First Covenant<\/a> religion to the New Covenant<\/a>. The old wine is the teaching of religious leaders based on the literal words of the Bible. The new wine is the symbolic interpretation of the literal Bible as reinterpreted by Jesus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>John 2:1-11: <\/a> On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; <\/span> 2<\/span> Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. <\/span> 3<\/span> When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” <\/span> 4<\/span> And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” <\/span> 5<\/span> His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” <\/span> 6<\/span> Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. <\/span> 7<\/span> Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. <\/span> 8<\/span> He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. <\/span> 9<\/span> When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom <\/span> 10<\/span> and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” <\/span> 11<\/span> This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: Wine is mentioned in Psalms as something that “gladdens the heart of man.<\/a>” But in the Bible, not all wine is the same. Read more about wine in Bread, Food and Wine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The wedding party is symbolic of the marriage of the bridegroom (God) to His bride (Israel). Some will argue that the Christian church is the bride. To a degree that is true. It is only true, however, for those believers who are Jews inwardly (i.e. New Covenant disciples) not just outwardly (i.e. Old\/First Covenant religionists)<\/a>. Recall that when Jesus spoke of himself as the Bridegroom, he was talking to Jews<\/a>. The true bride of Christ includes only those whose hearts are circumcised regardless of their ethnic heritage or denominational affiliations. For a complete picture of this marriage, read Exodus 19-20<\/a>\u00a0which is the story of the first Pentecost.<\/p>\n

The wine first served at the wedding in Cana is religious wine that is created by religious leaders. It did have some taste at first, but the taste had gone flat because Israel disobeyed God’s command to listen to his spoken voice<\/a> — not to religious leaders. It is the wine of the Old\/First Covenant.<\/p>\n

The new wine served at Cana was tasty, spiritual wine that New Covenant disciples symbolically drink when God writes his laws (i.e. his words) on their hearts<\/a>. The new wine is the wine of the New Covenant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The water in the earthen vessels<\/a> represents cleansed believers for whom the law has been written on their hearts through repentance. Just as Jesus is living water, these believers are also living water as the life of Jesus is made manifest in them<\/a> through repentance. These believers have joined God in a\u00a0New Covenant\u00a0relationship\u00a0mentioned in Jeremiah 31:31-34<\/a>. This same transformation is found in Ezekiel 36<\/a>, particularly in Ezekiel 36:25-27<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The water-to-wine story has the same message as the parable about old and new wine-skins in Matthew 9:14-17<\/a>. Just like the prophecies about the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ezekiel 36:25-27<\/a>, the water-to-wine story reveals the process of internal, spiritual change (i.e. from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh) in the way that Israel would obey the Law of Moses<\/a>. In other words, while it was impossible for Israel to fully obey the Law of Moses (Joshua 24:19-28<\/a>) under the terms of the Old\/First Covenant, it is possible for New Covenant believers to choose to obey the spiritual intent of the law. This brief story in Joshua is one of several situations in which God inaugurated the New Covenant with Israel.<\/p>\n

The water-to-wine story prophetically sets the stage for the spiritual work Jesus would do to establish the New Covenant. The temple incident is prophetic about events (destruction of the temple and its associated religious rituals and government structures) which were necessary to fulfill the prophecies of Jeremiah 31:31-34<\/a>\u00a0 and\u00a0Ezekiel 36:25-27<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These prophetic acts (Jesus and the moneychangers) and resulting symbolic events (the temple was destroyed twice) fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah 1:4-12<\/a> which lays out the principle that the old sinful beliefs and habits must be destroyed before the new spiritual faith can be built and planted. It is all about the cancellation of the Old\/First Covenant legal religious system in preparation for the New Covenant which functioned through the law written on the hearts of people <\/a>instead of written laws and regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AT THE END OF HIS MINISTRY<\/strong>
\nJesus’ second encounter with the money-changers is reported in the following scriptures:<\/p>\n

Matthew 21:1-16:<\/a>\u00a0 And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Beth’phage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, <\/span> 2<\/span> saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. <\/span> 3<\/span> If any one says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and he will send them immediately.” <\/span> 4<\/span> This took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet, saying, <\/span> 5<\/span> “Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.” <\/span> 6<\/span> The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; <\/span> 7<\/span> they brought the ass and the colt, and put their garments on them, and he sat thereon. <\/span> 8<\/span> Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. <\/span> 9<\/span> And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” <\/span> 10<\/span> And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” <\/span> 11<\/span> And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.” <\/span> 12<\/span> And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. <\/span> 13<\/span> He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.” <\/span> 14<\/span> And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. <\/span> 15<\/span> But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant; <\/span> 16<\/span><\/span> and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise’?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark 11:1-18<\/a>: And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Beth’phage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, <\/span> 2<\/span> and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it. <\/span> 3<\/span> If any one says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.'” <\/span> 4<\/span> And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door out in the open street; and they untied it. <\/span> 5<\/span> And those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” <\/span> 6<\/span> And they told them what Jesus had said; and they let them go. <\/span> 7<\/span> And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it. <\/span> 8<\/span> And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. <\/span> 9<\/span> And those who went before and those who followed cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! <\/span> 10<\/span> Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!” <\/span> 11<\/span> And he entered Jerusalem, and went into the temple; and when he had looked round at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. <\/span> 12<\/span> On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. <\/span> 13<\/span> And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. <\/span> 14<\/span> And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. <\/span> 15<\/span> And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; <\/span> 16<\/span> and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple. <\/span> 17<\/span> And he taught, and said to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” <\/span> 18<\/span> And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luke 19:45-48<\/a>: And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, <\/span> 46<\/span> saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” <\/span> 47<\/span> And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; <\/span> 48<\/span><\/span> but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the first event occurred at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the second one occurred late, just after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and before the Passover and His crucifixion. In effect, they are book ends that define his ministry.<\/p>\n

The kind of merchandise to which Jesus refers in Mark 11:15-16<\/a> \u00a0was not out of place in the temple according to the traditions of the temple. Everyone carried some kind of merchandise (doves, sheep, oxen) because they were expected to bring some kind of sacrifice for Passover. No surprise there because God had commanded Israel to bring sacrifices to Jerusalem at Passover. But, if there should have been sacrifices in the temple, why did Jesus do what he did?<\/p>\n

The problem is that this practice is not what God had commanded in these verses:<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 16:13-17<\/a>: “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; <\/span>14 and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns. <\/span>15 “Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.<\/span> 16 “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. <\/span>17 “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: In Time: Hours, Days, Weeks and Ages<\/a> we see that time, including days, are not to be taken literally in the Bible. We also know that whenever the number seven is used it refers to a time of perfection or completeness where the Old\/First Covenant is brought to perfection in the\u00a0New Covenant.<\/p>\n

Applying this symbolism, we conclude that the Feast of Booths, also called the Feast of Tabernacles is not a literal seven days but is eternity for New Covenant disciples.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE PLACE TO WHICH OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES ARE TO BE BROUGHT IS NOT A PHYSICAL TEMPLE\/BUILDING<\/strong>
\nNeither Jews nor Christians, past or present, realize that God never commanded that a physical temple be built. They are also ignorant of the fact that God was never really interested in material sacrifices or offerings (animals, grain, wine).<\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Read more about what God commanded in Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages<\/a> and in Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings<\/a> and Tithes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The only sacrifice that God has ever wanted is sacrifices of the heart as revealed in Psalm 51:16-19<\/a>. And the truth is that neither an altar or nor a building (i.e. temple, church, synagogue) is necessary to make a sacrifice of the heart.<\/p>\n

Jesus’ actions and message about what goes on in the temple should not have been surprising to the Jews. After years of vain sacrifices, God told Israel clearly in Isaiah 1:7-17<\/a> that He did not want any more blood or burnt offerings. This attitude is repeated in Jeremiah 6:19-20<\/a>\u00a0and reinforced dramatically in\u00a0Jeremiah 7:1-26<\/a>\u00a0where\u00a0God announces\u00a0his intent to destroy the temple (i.e. the house that is called by his name) as a prophetic anticipation\u00a0of Jesus’\u00a0encounter with the money changers.<\/p>\n

Despite these warnings, Israel\u00a0continued with its empty traditions of offering blood sacrifices and offerings while failing to obey God’s commandments<\/a>.\u00a0 Christians do not bring blood sacrifices, but they do continue to bring offerings of money. Neither religion understands that God wants spiritual offerings and sacrifices — not material offerings and sacrifices.<\/p>\n

What God is looking for are spiritual — not physical — offerings that are accompanied by a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart<\/a>. But if the broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart are not present, he will reject the offering. God’s attitudes about the heart are further confirmed in Proverbs 15:8<\/a>, Isaiah 66:1-8<\/a>, Malachi 1:1-11<\/a> and Haggai 2:4-14<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite all these warnings not to bring vain, insincere offerings, the priests and the people continued to do business as usual in the temple. For several hundred years they made their daily, weekly, monthly and annual sacrifices according to their traditions, but they did not make any changes in their heart attitudes. This is the greater context of Jesus’ encounter with the money-changers. For the sake of their traditions, they had set aside God’s spiritual commandment which is to bring sacrifices with the right heart attitude). <\/a>The money means nothing to God. All he cares about is what is in the hearts of his people.<\/p>\n

To put it another way, in practicing their traditions in the temple, they were honoring God with their lips and actions, but their hearts were far from God\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 Their traditions were more important than God’s commandments. Of course this hypocrisy<\/a> was an abomination that deserved a violent response that would bring it to an end sometime. Jesus’ encounter with the money-changers was the prophetic action that anticipated the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD<\/a> that effectively\u00a0dismantled the entire temple system. Jewish religious leaders did not heed the warning of the prophets or Jesus, so God intervened and used Rome to end religious practices associated with the temple.<\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: It needs to be said here that the warnings of the prophets and Jesus about religious practices in synagogues and churches still apply in these modern times. If God destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, he will also be willing to destroy all the other so-called houses of worship in which Jews and Christians practice their religious traditions. They should not be so proud to believe that they are any more righteous than the Jews of Bible days. They still honor God with their lips and actions, but their hearts were far from him<\/a>. We know this to be true because they practice Defiled Religion<\/a> and they bring their various kinds of religious merchandise into their physical temples.<\/p>\n

The way we see it, it can also be said that in slow, small ways God is destroying the temple systems of modern times. it is not happening in one catastrophic event like the siege of Jerusalem, but it is happening one church and one synagogue at at time throughout the world.<\/p>\n

Except for the crucifixion, the picture of Jesus making a whip and thrashing about the temple overturning tables stands in stark contrast with all other images of Jesus\u2019 ministry. While He is otherwise represented as meek and unshakable, here He acts with premeditated violence. The violence suggests extreme anger over what was going on regarding buying and selling in the temple. Lest we assume that He had a momentary lapse of humanness, we need to understand the story behind the story to understand why He did what He did when He did it.<\/p>\n

Passover is one of those appointed feasts for which Israel continued to do business in the temple according to its traditions in defiance of God’s command that Israel not bring any more vain<\/a> offerings. Indeed God had also appointed times for feasts which included blood sacrifices, but He had also made clear that these were valid only if they were done with the right heart attitude (i.e. a broken heart and a contrite spirit). This principle is made abundantly clear in the following scripture:<\/p>\n

Romans 12:1-2<\/a>: I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. <\/span> 2<\/span> Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: These verses clarify that spiritual worship is what God accepts. By inference, they also say that physical sacrifices (e.g. animals, food, drink, rituals etc.) of any kind are not acceptable. We have discussed these kinds of sacrifices which all require some kind of physical activity in detail in this link.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mention of the “mercies of God” is a clue that the New Covenant is a condition for spiritual worship because “mercy<\/a>” is one of the code words that identifies the New Covenant. Thus, we conclude that only New Covenant disciples are spiritually equipped to offer themselves wholly to God. But this is not referring to some kind of mystical sacrifice of the physical body as a substitute for an animal sacrifice.<\/p>\n

While it is true that a kind of death must occur, God has a particular death in mind: Old\/First Covenant religious practices that are present in Defiled Religion. These must cease, or die, before true spiritual worship can be present in Pure Religion.<\/a> This sharp distinction is made clear in the parable of two masters<\/a>. It is impossible to be an Old\/First Covenant religionist and a New Covenant disciple at the same time.<\/p>\n

In other words, the kind of death that God wants is the end of using physical bodies and religious artifacts for any kind of physical worship. That is why he gave the fourth commandment<\/a>. Religious people admire physical worship in others and take pride in doing it themselves. But such worship is an abomination to God<\/a> who wants worship in spirit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What the New Covenant disciple sacrifices is conformance to the religious practices found in the World of Religion. These may not seem like a big sacrifice to anyone except those who have broken ties with their religious families and traditions. Those who have severed such relationships and ended such practices knows that it is very much like death to do so.<\/p>\n

Because the temple event occurs in all four gospels, it must be considered to have an important message. Looking at the language of the scripture surrounding the four different accounts it is possible to determine that the John 2 version happened at the beginning of Jesus ministry right after the wedding in Cana. And the report of events in the other three gospels clearly indicates that it occurred at the end of Jesus ministry before His crucifixion. Thus the two events are like bookends that frame Jesus\u2019 entire ministry. These strong clues that we need to understand the significance of the events.<\/p>\n

More about that significance and the application of it to our lives is found in later in this series of pages. As a general observation, however, we offer here the conclusion that Jesus\u2019 encounters with the money-changers in the temple characterize an important feature of His ministry and help explain why the temple priests schemed as they did to kill him. It is no overstatement to say that every encounter Jesus had with temple leaders was acrimonious. It appears that He criticized them and rebuked them whenever He had an opportunity.<\/p>\n

To establish a proper framework for understanding the temple incidents, it is critical to understand that temple leaders (Pharisees, scribes, Chief Priests, Sanhedrin) did not fear Jesus without cause. But their disputes were not just about scripture interpretation and application. Everything Jesus said to them and everything He did outside the temple posed serious threats to their status, power and income.<\/p>\n

In the next page you will find a sample of scriptures with encounters Jesus had with Pharisees. They create the context for what Jesus did in the temple and the threat Jesus posed to temple leaders:
\n<\/a>EXAMPLES OF JESUS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH TEMPLE LEADERS<\/strong>
\nTo establish a proper framework for understanding the temple incidents, it is critical to understand that temple leaders (Pharisees, scribes, Chief Priests, Sanhedrin) did not fear Jesus without cause.<\/p>\n

But their disputes were not just about scripture interpretation and application. Everything Jesus said to them and everything he did outside the temple posed serious threats to their status, power and income.<\/a><\/p>\n

The following verses are a sample of encounters Jesus and John the Baptist had with Pharisees that create the context for what Jesus did in the temple and the threat he posed to temple leaders:<\/p>\n

Matthew 3:2-12<\/a>: John calls them vipers (cunning, malignant, wicked men), calls them to repentance, and warns them that trust in their religion will not save them from the wrath to come.<\/p>\n

Matthew 12:22-39<\/a>: Jesus calls the Pharisees evil vipers who will be judged by their careless words.<\/p>\n

Matthew 12:38-39<\/a>: Jesus, addressing the Pharisees, says in effect that they are an adulterous generation because they ask for a sign.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See Signs, Wonders and Miracles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthew 15:1-6<\/a>: He accuses them of transgressing the commandments of God for the sake of \u00a0their traditions.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See this link for God’s attitudes about religious traditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthew 16:1-11<\/a>: Jesus calls the Pharisees and the Sadducees \u00a0an “evil and adulterous” generation.<\/p>\n

Matthew 23<\/a>: Jesus delivers his famous \u201cwoe to you\u201d messages to teachers of the law and Pharisees calling them hypocrites, sons of hell, blind guides and fools who will not escape being condemned to hell.<\/p>\n

Mark 7:1-9<\/a>: Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites that honor God with their lips even though their hearts are from him.<\/p>\n

Mark 14:58,\u00a0<\/a>Mark 15:29<\/a> and John 2:19: <\/a>Jesus warns that he will destroy\u00a0 the temple.<\/p>\n

Luke 14:1-8<\/a>: He challenged them on their interpretation of Sabbath rules.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See Fourth Commandment<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke 11:37-53<\/a>: He warned the Pharisees of six woes that they would experience because of their religious practices.<\/p>\n

John 11:41-51<\/a>: Chief priests and Pharisees conclude that because of Jesus\u2019 miracles people will believe in Him and the Romans will remove them from their positions of high spiritual authority.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See this link for along list of scriptures where Jesus rebukes religious leaders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From Jesus’ encounters with religious leaders, we can easily conclude that Jesus had a very low opinion of the religious leaders of the day. And we can easily understand why the religious leaders plotted to kill him:\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n