The scribes and Pharisees were very zealous to get Jews to subscribe to their doctrinal convictions. Some commentators stress that the Pharisees made disciples to Judaism. This may have been true, but their chief offense was bringing Jews under their corrupt theology.842Jesus did not criticize them for their zeal. He criticized them because of what they taught their converts and the effect that this "conversion"had on their converts.
As noted previously, what marked the teaching of these leaders was their giving the oral traditional interpretations and teachings of the rabbis the same authority as the Old Testament. Practically they twisted the Old Testament when it did not harmonize with the accepted teachings of the rabbis (cf. 5:21-48).
The converts to Pharisaism became more zealous for the traditions of the fathers than their teachers were. This is often the result of conversion. Students sometimes take the views of their teachers farther than their teachers do. The dynamic nature of the Pharisees' view of the authority of the fathers' interpretations increased this problem. When a person believes that Scriptural authority extends beyond the statements of Scripture there is no limit to what else may be authoritative. The Pharisees' interpretation of Messiah locked Jesus out of this role.
The proselytes were the sons of hell (Gehenna) in the sense that that would be their destiny. Rather than leading them to heaven the Pharisees and teachers of the law led them to hell. Gehenna represented the place of eternal damnation, the lake of fire (cf. 25:51). Hades is the temporary abode of the wicked from which God will raise them for judgment at the great white throne and final damnation in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
