1. Or "pretending to be righteous."
2. The phrase translated here from Matthew 22:16 as, "You are not concerned with conforming to other people’s views . . ."comes from the Greek words, "kai ou melei soi peri oudeno, καὶ ου μέλει σοι περὶ οὐδενό"." They literally mean, "and not about to you concerning no one."
However, to translate them as best as possible, it would not work translating these words as "You are not concerned about others," which would seem to be the more literal translation. For we know that Jesus was concerned about others. He was also concerned about what other people thought with regards to them believing truth rather than error. And it is not likely that the man intended to say it with this meaning because we are told that Jesus recognized his hypocrisy. Therefore, the man would have been trying to make it sound as positive as he could.
Jesus also wasn’t concerned about giving credit to any false teachings, no matter who it was coming from. Therefore, it seems that the best way to translate these words is by saying that Jesus was not concerned with giving validity to any other views of Scripture that were not consistent with them. Thus, it is translated in this publication as "You are not concerned with conforming to other people’sviews. . . ."
3. The phrase translated here as, "You have no regard for the opinions of men . . ."comes from the Greek words in Matthew 22:16, "ou gar blepeis eis prosopon anthropon, οὐ γὰρ βλέπεις εἰς πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπων" and Luke 20:21, "kai ou lambaneis prosopon, καὶ οὐ λαμβάνεις πρόσωπον" Matthew’s literally reads, "for not look into the face of man." And Luke’s literally reads, "and not you receive face." The way it is translated in this publication seems to capture the idea being expressed.
Regarding what was talked about in the preface on the Gospel writer’s relationship to each other when writing their individual Gospel, this is another evidence that they did not use the same source, as is suggested by the supporters of the so called "Q" document. Matthew quotes that the person sent from the Pharisees had said, "for you do not look into the face of man," while Luke quotes this same man as saying, "and you do not receive the face." They both use significantly different words to express the same idea.
5. Or "those who are considered worthy to attain that age."
6. The word "one" in this verse is from the Hebrew text in Deuteronomy 6:4. It is a compository one. It is the same word used to describe the one bundle of grapes that the spies had carried after they had went into spy out the land just before the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. Therefore, another way to think of this verse is "Hear O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is God alone."
7. It seems that the man here was trying to teach Jesus that He is wrong in equating Himself with God.
But it needs to be understood that it is not a contradiction for Jesus to be both God and man. It is, however, a contradiction to say that Jesus was God and not God at the same time or that he was, at the same time, man and not man. Those are contradictions!
People accept this logic without a problem in many other cases. One example would be how a woman can be both a mother and a wife at the same time. So why is it so unacceptable when it is used concerning Jesus. It is not that people misunderstand, or that they do not believe God. It is that they do not like who He is – or what they think He is – because they "like darkness more than light" (John 3:20-21). The truth is, if everyone truly knew God, with a pure and humble heart, there is nothing to dislike!
9. Tefillin (also known as Phylacteries) are a black wooden box with four scripture verses enclosed. They are made according to God’s commands in Exodus 13:1-10 and 13:11-16 and Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21. These boxes are tied around onto a person’s forehead, according to how it is prescribed in Deuteronomy 6:8 and Exodus 13:16.
10. In Jesus' day, people in that culture had draped a piece of cloth over their shoulders to be used when needed as a coat or for a blanket at night. Added to that, in obedience to the command in Deuteronomy 22:12, they had made tassels to hang on the four-corners of that garment to remind them to obey God’s commandments. Down through the years, as things changed, and as the Jews were being persecuted for obeying this instruction, they began to down-size this garment so that it could be worn under a coat. They did this so that they could go without being detected as they walked from one building to another.
This was not the case in Jesus' day. In Jesus' day, these tassels were enlarged to become an ostentatious display, erroneously seen as a sign of great righteousness. This piece of cloth is now pretty well known as a "Tallis" or "Tallith." During prayer, this Tallis is pulled up over their heads as a sign for being covered by or having God’s authority over them.
It needs to be remembered, however, that Jesus is never described as pulling anything over His head when He prayed. We do have the description of Jesus looking up into heaven when He prayed (Mark 6:41), or falling on His face (Matthew 26:39); but that’s it. (1 Corinthians 11 even mentions that a man is not to cover his head.)
11. Consider 1 Corinthian 4:15
12. ". . . the one who is as . . ."is implied by the context.
13. The whole verse in this location, as it is given in Matthew 23:14, is not in the Nestle Aland Greek text. It is a verse only found in the Textus Receptus. However, in Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 it does have everything in this verse, except the phrase "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." This phrase, at this instance, is only found in the Textus Receptus.
14. The word "appearance," here in the Greek, also has the idea of having a pretense. In fact, when you look it up in the Strong’s concordance, its definition is "pretense."
16. The phrase, ". . . that sets the gold apart," as it is in the Greek, is read, ". . . that sanctifies the gold." But to "set apart" is what the word "sanctifies" literally means.
17. The Temple building consisted of two rooms and two courtyards.
There was the first room called "the Most Holy Place" which contained the Ark of the Covenant (the place where the Glory of God – also known as "the Shekinah Glory" – dwelt (Exodus 25:10-22)). Then there was the second room that was just outside the Most Holy Place, within the same building. It was called the "Holy Place." In the "Holy place, there was the Menorah (or lamp-stand) and the table of the show-bread.
The two courtyards were, first, the main one (the one where the sacrifices were made). And the second was the one found just east of the "Nicanor gate," a gate that linked the inner courtyard to the outer courtyard, which was called the "courtyard of the women."
(There was also the courtyard of the Gentiles, which was a huge courtyard to the south of the Temple building. As well as a large courtyard to the north of the Temple building, just inside the "sheep’s gate," where the sheep were gathered for inspection to be sacrificed on Passover)
There are also two Greek words that we translate in English to the one word "Temple." They are the words heron (ἱερὸν) and naos (ναὸς). But both of these words have a slightly different meaning. Whenever the word heron is used, it is referring to the Temple mount in general; but when the word naos is used, it is specifically referring to the temple building itself, and not either of the courtyards to the north and south of the complete temple structure (the court of the Gentiles, and the sheep’s courtyard).
From there, we need to rely on the context to tell us which specific area is being referred to at any particular time. That is to say, is it referring to the Holy Place or the Most Holy Place, or either of the two courtyards that were within the temple structure?
But in this case, since in the context itself it says, ". . . Him who dwells within it . . ."we know it is talking about the "Most Holy Place (Exodus 25:10-22).
18. Hypocrisy is when you say or teach one thing but do or believe another. It literally means two-faced.
19. If you follow a certain thread that is laced throughout this section, there is a very conspicuous point being made. Jesus tells His disciples that they are to do what the Pharisees say but not copy what they do (verse 23), and He then adds that it is because "they say that they do it, but then they don’t."
A little later Jesus rebukes the Pharisees because they practice some of the finer points of the law but neglect the weightier ones, such as practicing mercy and justice. Then Jesus adds how they should do the finer parts of the law but without neglecting the weightier (verse 32).
Finally, Jesus compares them to white washed tombs because they, in all reality, did not keep the law.
Therefore, Jesus was not rebuking them because they kept the law, it was because they only kept their own distorted version of it – a version that had them actually NOT obey the law in its totality. To obey the law totally would mean both obeying it internally as well as externally, and also obey the complete gamut of the law. (Also see endnote 6:5.)
The kicker is when Jesus says that unless our righteousness goes above and beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20).
"Then," you might ask, "what does it mean when people say that we cannot obey the law?" Well, Paul does speak about how we can never obey the law for achieving justification/salvation. That is something that can only be obtained by faith in the risen Messiah, Jesus/Yeshua, and the work He completed on the cross. Jesus nailed the condemnation that the law brings to us on the cross so that we can then obey the law in true righteousness through His Spirit living in us (see 1 Corinthians 7:19).
His Spirit would certainly not lead us into disobeying God, or lead us into breaking His law. If He did, He would be promoting sin (Galatians 2:18). For "sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4)." The law informs us of what sin is and then "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins (Hebrew 10:26)."
We need to do as those in the past did not do. We need to heed the Word of God through faith (Hebrews 4:2 and 6) and not through works. "For by the works of the law no one will be justified (Romans 3:10). That was a burden too heavy for even the "Old Testament" saints to bear (Acts 15:10).
But at the same time, we do not "nullify the law through faith. Rather we uphold the law (Romans 3:31, author’s paraphrase)." Jesus did not come to abolish the law (Matthew 5:17-20). And to fulfill the law cannot be the same thing as doing away with or abolishing it (Matthew 5:19).
21. The Greek actually says, "This generation," rather than "you and your family." However, it is translated here as "you and your family" to draw out, more specifically, who it was that this was going to effect. For the words, "this generation" would include the person being spoken to as well as his family.
What Jesus was referring to was what had happened in seventy AD with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus. This is also something Jesus had referred to with the women who were weeping for Him, when he was carrying His cross (Luke 23:28-29). And it was during this siege by Titus that we read in Josephus’ (the Jewish historian of that day) book, that the people were eating their own babies to stay alive.
