John 3:1-2

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ¹  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ²  3:2 came to Jesus ³  at night ⁴  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ⁵  that you do unless God is with him.”

John 7:47-49

7:47 Then the Pharisees answered, ⁶  “You haven’t been deceived too, have you? ⁷  7:48 None of the rulers ⁸  or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they? ⁹  7:49 But this rabble ¹⁰  who do not know the law are accursed!”

Matthew 23:13-15

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law ¹¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ¹²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ¹³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

23:14 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁴ 

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹⁵  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, ¹⁶  and when you get one, ¹⁷  you make him twice as much a child of hell ¹⁸  as yourselves!

Matthew 23:26

23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, ¹⁹  so that the outside may become clean too!

Luke 7:30

7:30 However, the Pharisees ²⁰  and the experts in religious law ²¹  rejected God’s purpose ²²  for themselves, because they had not been baptized ²³  by John. ²⁴ ) ²⁵ 

Luke 11:39-44

11:39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean ²⁶  the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ²⁷  11:40 You fools! ²⁸  Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside as well? ²⁹  11:41 But give from your heart to those in need, ³⁰  and ³¹  then everything will be clean for you. ³² 

11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! ³³  You give a tenth ³⁴  of your mint, ³⁵  rue, ³⁶  and every herb, yet you neglect justice ³⁷  and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others. ³⁸  11:43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats ³⁹  in the synagogues ⁴⁰  and elaborate greetings ⁴¹  in the marketplaces! 11:44 Woe to you! ⁴²  You are like unmarked graves, and people ⁴³  walk over them without realizing it!” ⁴⁴ 

Luke 11:53

11:53 When he went out from there, the experts in the law ⁴⁵  and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, ⁴⁶  and to ask him hostile questions ⁴⁷  about many things,

Luke 16:14

More Warnings about the Pharisees

16:14 The Pharisees ⁴⁸  (who loved money) heard all this and ridiculed ⁴⁹  him.

Acts 23:8

23:8 (For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) ⁵⁰ 

Acts 26:5

26:5 They know, ⁵¹  because they have known ⁵²  me from time past, ⁵³  if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party ⁵⁴  of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁵⁵ 

Philippians 3:5-6

3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. ⁵⁶  3:6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

[3:1]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ² tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[3:2]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ⁵ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[7:47]  ⁶ tn Grk “answered them.”

[7:47]  ⁷ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “have you?”).

[7:48]  ⁸ sn The chief priests and Pharisees (John 7:45) is a comprehensive term for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26. Likewise the term ruler here denotes a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in John 3:1, and Nicodemus also speaks up in this episode (John 7:50).

[7:48]  ⁹ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “have they?”).

[7:49]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

[23:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:13]  ¹² tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).

[23:13]  ¹³ tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”

[23:14]  ¹⁴ tc The most important mss (א B D L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892* pc and several versional witnesses) do not have 23:14 “Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.” Part or all of the verse is contained (either after v. 12 or after v. 13) in W 0102 0107 ˹³ Ï and several versions, but it is almost certainly not original. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number as well, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. Note also that Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 are very similar in wording and are not disputed textually.

[23:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “one proselyte.”

[23:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”

[23:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”

[23:26]  ¹⁹ tc A very difficult textual problem is found here. The most important Alexandrian and Byzantine, as well as significant Western, witnesses (א B C L W 0102 0281 ˹³ 33 Ï lat co) have “and the dish” (καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, kai th" paroyido") after “cup,” while few important witnesses (D Θ Ë¹ 700 and some versional and patristic authorities) omit the phrase. On the one hand, scribes sometimes tended to eliminate redundancy; since “and the dish” is already present in v. 25, it may have been deleted in v. 26 by well-meaning scribes. On the other hand, as B. M. Metzger notes, the singular pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou, “its”) with τὸ ἐκτός (to ekto", “the outside”) in some of the same witnesses that have the longer reading (viz., B* ˹³ al) hints that their archetype lacked the words (TCGNT 50). Further, scribes would be motivated both to add the phrase from v. 25 and to change αὐτοῦ to the plural pronoun αὐτῶν (aujtwn, “their”). Although the external evidence for the shorter reading is not compelling in itself, combined with these two prongs of internal evidence, it is to be slightly preferred.

[7:30]  ²⁰ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[7:30]  ²¹ tn That is, the experts in the interpretation of the Mosaic law (see also Luke 5:17, although the Greek term is not identical there, and Luke 10:25, where it is the same).

[7:30]  ²² tn Or “plan.”

[7:30]  ²³ tn The participle βαπτισθέντες (baptisqente") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle; it could also be translated as means (“for themselves, by not having been baptized”). This is similar to the translation found in the NRSV.

[7:30]  ²⁴ tn Grk “by him”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:30]  ²⁵ sn Luke 7:29-30 forms something of an aside by the author. To indicate this, they have been placed in parentheses.

[11:39]  ²⁶ sn The allusion to washing (clean the outside of the cup) shows Jesus knew what they were thinking and deliberately set up a contrast that charged them with hypocrisy and majoring on minors.

[11:39]  ²⁷ tn Or “and evil.”

[11:40]  ²⁸ sn You fools is a rebuke which in the OT refers to someone who is blind to God (Ps 14:1, 53:1; 92:6; Prov 6:12).

[11:40]  ²⁹ tn The question includes a Greek particle, οὐ (ou), that expects a positive reply. God, the maker of both, is concerned for what is both inside and outside.

[11:41]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Give the things inside as alms.” Three different approaches have been taken to the syntax and meaning of this phrase: (1) τὰ ἐνόντα (ta enonta, “the things inside”) is an accusative of respect (“give alms with respect to the things inside”); (2) τὰ ἐνόντα is an adverbial accusative (“give alms inwardly,” i.e., from the heart); (3) the word translated “alms” represents a mistranslation of the original Aramaic term “cleanse,” so the statement urges the hearers to “cleanse the things inside.” According to D. L. Bock (Luke [BECNT], 2:1115) the latter meaning is unlikely because the present verse is independent of Matt 23:26, not parallel to it, and makes good sense as it stands.

[11:41]  ³¹ tn Grk “and behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this clause has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[11:41]  ³² sn The expression everything will be clean for you refers to the agreement that should exist between the overt practice of one’s religious duties, such as almsgiving, and the inner condition of one’s heart, including true love for God and the poor; one is not only to wash the outside of the cup and plate, but the inside as well, since as Jesus said, God created the inside too. Religious duties are not to be performed hypocritically, i.e., for the applause and esteem of people, but rather they are to be done out of a deep love for God and a sensitivity to and concern for the needs of others. Then, everything will be clean, both hearts and lives.

[11:42]  ³³ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so to the end of this chapter).

[11:42]  ³⁴ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[11:42]  ³⁵ sn These small herbs were tithed with great care (Mishnah, m. Demai 2:1).

[11:42]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and rue.” Καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[11:42]  ³⁷ sn Justice was a major theme of OT ethics (Mic 6:8; Zech 7:8-10).

[11:42]  ³⁸ tn Grk “those”; but this has been translated as “the others” to clarify which are meant.

[11:43]  ³⁹ tn Or “seats of honor.” The term here is plural and is not a reference only to the lead “seat of Moses” in the synagogue, but includes the front seats near the ark.

[11:43]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

[11:43]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “and the greetings.”

[11:44]  ⁴² tc Most mss (A [D] W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï it) have “experts in the law and Pharisees, hypocrites” after “you,” but this looks like an assimilation to the parallel in Matt 23:25, 27, 29. The shorter reading has earlier attestation from a variety of reliable mss (Ì^45,75 א B C L ˹ 33 1241 2542 lat sa).

[11:44]  ⁴³ tn Grk “men.” This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both males and females.

[11:44]  ⁴⁴ sn In Judaism to come into contact with the dead or what is associated with them, even without knowing it, makes one unclean (Num 19:11-22; Lev 21:1-3; Mishnah, m. Demai 2:3). To Pharisees, who would have been so sensitive about contracting ceremonial uncleanness, it would have been quite a stinging rebuke to be told they caused it.

[11:53]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[11:53]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “terribly.”

[11:53]  ⁴⁷ tn For this term see L&N 33.183.

[16:14]  ⁴⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[16:14]  ⁴⁹ tn A figurative extension of the literal meaning “to turn one’s nose up at someone”; here “ridicule, sneer at, show contempt for” (L&N 33.409).

[23:8]  ⁵⁰ tn BDAG 55 s.v. ἀμφότεροι 2 has “all, even when more than two are involved…Φαρισαῖοι ὁμολογοῦσιν τὰ ἀ. believe in them all 23:8.” On this belief see Josephus, J. W. 2.8.14 (2.163); Ant. 18.1.3 (18.14).

[26:5]  ⁵¹ tn These words are repeated from v. 4 (“all the Jews know”). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, it was necessary to begin a new sentence at the beginning of v. 5 in the translation, but for this to make sense, the main verb ἵσασι ({isasi) has to be repeated to connect with the ὅτι (Joti) clause (indirect discourse) in v. 5.

[26:5]  ⁵² tn Grk “having known me from time past.” The participle προγινώσκοντες (proginwskonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[26:5]  ⁵³ tn BDAG 866 s.v. προγινώσκω 2 has “Know from time past…προγινώσκοντές με ἄνωθεν Ac 26:5.” L&N 28.6 states, “‘they have already known me beforehand, if they are willing to testify’ Ac 26:5.”

[26:5]  ⁵⁴ tn That is, strictest religious party. “Party” alone is used in the translation because “the strictest religious party of our religion” would be redundant.

[26:5]  ⁵⁵ sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.

[3:5]  ⁵⁶ sn A Pharisee was a member of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.