A Man of the Pharisees

OH 3:1{This expression is singular; it is not "a certain Pharisee," but "a man, of the, Pharisees," throwing the emphasis on man, and defining what kind of man Nicodemus was, by adding "of the Pharisees." This will more clearly appear from the context: "Now when He was in Jerusalem at the passover, on the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man. There was a man, of the Pharisees." The, prominent point is "man," and what is "in man." Man can appreciate miracles, and be forced by them, to acknowledge the power and superiority of 'Him by whom they are wrought, and to render him homage; and ill human estimation this would be accredited as faith. But He who knew what was in man, did not so accredit it. The faith which is an inference of the human mind, is not the faith in God which subjects man to God; but, on the contrary, it subjects God to human caprice; at one time acknowledging Him, at another questioning either His being, presence, or perfection. He who knew what was in man, was the same Jehovah who had been with Israel of old, as their Deliverer, Sustainer and Guide, proving Himself to be the only God by a constant succession of miracles. But this is His-complaint of Israel: " Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any, of them that provoke me see it" (Num. 14:22,23²²Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; ²³Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: (Numbers 14:22‑23)). Miracles so demonstrating to Israel the presence of God, left Israel indeed without excuse for not trusting in Him: But at, the same time, the history of this generation in the wilderness, who were witnesses of miracle upon miracle, serves to demonstrate to us, that however the understanding may be convinced, if the heart be not touched, there never is confidence in God. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." It is "an evil heart of unbelief" which leads "to departure from the living God." God can call heaven and earth to witness that He has left nothing undone to reclaim man; and of this Israel's, history is the convincing proof. "Hear ye O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. For I have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know, the righteousness of the Lord" (Micah 6:2-5²Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. ³O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. ⁴For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. ⁵O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. (Micah 6:2‑5)).

Commended as the Scriptures are by the most substantial and convincing proofs of their divine authority to the understanding, of men, it is very questionable whether an instance can be found of one who has been brought to peace with God by the evidences of Christianity. The mind may be satisfied with conviction arising from such evidences, but it is still culpably ignorant of God, as a Being to be loved and confided in. "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not, as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the, life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:17; 18¹⁷This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, (Ephesians 4:17)).

It needs that the heart be touched and the conscience-enlightened, as well as the understanding informed, ere &person will confide in God. When many, therefore, "believed in His name because they saw the miracles which He did, Jesus did not commit Himself to them." The conviction arising from miracles would be as transient as it had been in the days of old. "The waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. Then believed they His words; they sang His praise. They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel: but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert" (Psa. 106:11-14¹¹And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. ¹²Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. ¹³They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: ¹⁴But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. (Psalm 106:11‑14)).

It was no confidence in Him, but confidence in their present convictions, which might speedily pass away, and therefore " Jesus did not commit Himself to them, for He knew all, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." And knowing this, however promising the appearance, He knew that none would trust in Him, until convinced that He had not only surrendered His glory, but His very life to win their confidence. To such alone can Jesus commit Himself; and let those whose confidence He has won, by having borne their sins in His own body on the tree, see to it that they keep the sacred deposit of the honor of Jesus, entrusted to them by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in them.

But Jesus not only did not commit Himself to those who professed faith in His name, on the present conviction produced by His miracles, but when one of/character and pretensions came to Him on this ground, He confounds him by proposing to him the fundamental doctrine which resulted from His knowledge of what was in man.

"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews."

Nicodemus may be regarded by us as a specimen man. He was not an ordinary person, but a religious leader, for so we understand, "a ruler of the Jews." He was, moreover, of the orthodox sect of the Pharisees, holding many important truths in theory, which were denied by the Sadducees, or Free-thinkers, although the Pharisees practically denied the truths they held by overlaying them by tradition. He comes to Jesus at least with respect, and as an inquirer; although, from fear of his co-religionists, he came by night. "The same came to Jesus by night." He addressed Jesus, not in the contemptuous language used ordinarily by the Pharisees towards Him, but by the conventional title usually given to accredited religious teachers-" Rabbi."

All this was fair and promising; but he goes much beyond this, he acknowledges Jesus to be "a teacher come from God." This acknowledgment set Jesus above the ordinary teachers, and was in itself most emphatically true; for Jesus is the Prophet of whom Moses wrote, whose teaching had this solemn sanction-" And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which He shall speak in my name, I will require it of him" (Deut. 18:19¹⁹And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:19)).

But Nicodemus did not at the moment recognize the spiritual glory of Jesus as the one who had "come forth from the Father, and had come into the world." He accredited the mission of Jesus as divine, because he saw the miracles He did. " No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." But this acknowledgment would place Jesus no higher than Elijah or Elisha, whose mission was attested by extraordinary miracles. The Lord, therefore, tests this acknowledgment of Him as a teacher by propounding to Nicodemus an elementary doctrine, which, although at first received upon His authority as a teacher, would gather abundant proof from those Scriptures of which Nicodemus himself was an accredited teacher. "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus was stumbled at this authoritative announcement.

This is one feature of a man of the Pharisees, orthodox in theory, they practically deny the authority of God, and in this respect differ but little from those to whom they are most seemingly opposed the Sadducee, or Free-thinker. The "How" of Nicodemus differs very little from the wisdom of the Sadducee, in rejecting the doctrine of the resurrection of the body- "How are the dead raised up?" Both objections arise from want of acknowledging "the power of God." The modern orthodox Pharisee, as really renders the word of God of no effect, by overlaying it with 'traditional doctrines, as the modern Sadducee or Neologian undermines it by subjecting Scripture to the authority of his own inspiration. To both alike may it be said-"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the power of God." The Lord Jesus demands to be heard on His own authority-" Verily, verily, I say unto you." Such an authority a man of the Pharisees is not prepared to recognize, unless the doctrine propounded corroborates the doctrines which he has already received on the authority of tradition. But this is not to own the authority of the teacher come from God. Men readily recognize traditional doctrines, and support them, too, on the authority of Jesus, when they are capable of such support; but they equally insist on them to resist the authority of Jesus, when His word is brought against them, making the word of God of none: effect through their tradition. At this day many are the doctrines received on the authority of the so-called Church, which nullify the plainest teaching of the Lord and His apostles. So that the complaint of Jesus of the men of the Pharisees of His day is equally applicable to men of a like stamp of our own day- "And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not" (John 8:45⁴⁵And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. (John 8:45)).

The first step of emancipation from Pharisaism is the acknowledging the authority of Jesus as it teacher, however unsupported His teaching may be by traditional authority. Such authority was demanded of Jesus by the Pharisees-" By what authority doest thou these things?" And Jesus, by referring them for an answer to the authority of 'the baptism of John, plainly showed that He refused all human credentials, and demanded to be received on the authority of God alone. Nothing is more difficult than to act on the authority of God, unsupported by human credentials; such acting is the acting of faith. "Have faith in God." It appeals to the conscience of men; and wherever it is recognized, it carries with it far greater weight than the authority which is backed by every attestation which man can give to it. When the authority of Paul as an apostle was questioned by false teachers at Corinth, he lays more "stress on that which directly appealed to their consciences than the most unquestionable proofs which he gave of his divine commission as an apostle-"If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord" (1 Cor. 9:2²If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 9:2)). "A man of the Pharisees" not only teaches or receives for "doctrines the commandments of men," but divine truth itself, if it be acknowledged by him, is acknowledged, because it, is accredited by men, and not because it is the word of God. Jesus taught as one "having authority, and not as the Scribes" (Matt. 7:29²⁹For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7:29)); and it is a turning point when one acknowledges Jesus as the authoritative teacher, and receives His word on His own authority.

This prepares the way for the second great act of emancipation from Pharisaism. A man of the Pharisees sees not, with all his pretensions, a present power of deliverance and a present blessing. His religion has attainment in view, always sought but never possessed. This draws an essential distinction between a man of the Pharisees and a Christian. A Christian is and has what the other is seeking to be and to have. A Christian receives every blessing in the way of gift; a Pharisee is seeking it under some form or other in the way of doing. A Christian by faith, enters into present salvation; a Pharisee can only eye salvation as a contingent future. It is thus the authoritative teacher announces His primary doctrine to " a man of the Pharisees"- "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man he born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;" and if he cannot see it, he cannot enter into it.

This primary truth was announced by the Lord to a candid and well-instructed teacher of Israel, whose study and occupation was, in, popular language, religion. But all his religion fell far short of bringing him to the very "threshold of that which Jesus taught and presented a present "kingdom"-a present power of blessing, even in Him whom Nicodemus acknowledged as a Teacher come from God. If a man of the Pharisees fail in acknowledging Jesus as the one authoritative Teacher, he necessarily stumbles at acknowledging Jesus as the one comprehensive doctrine of God. This is the great stumbling-block of ancient and modern Pharisees; for modern Pharisee will acknowledge probably, that Jesus is the authoritative Teacher, but he holds back from acknowledging Him as the essential doctrine of God. "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23,24²³But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; ²⁴But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23‑24)). There is a point to which a man of the Pharisees may attain, and that point Nicodemus had reached, but he could not go beyond it. It is to the instructed candid Pharisee, and not to a depraved libertine, that our Lord propounds the doctrine of the new birth-the necessity of being put forth by God of a living power on the soul, as real as that which would raise a corpse from the grave. Where such a power is not put forth, whatever may be the religious attainments or pretensions of a man, " he sees not the kingdom of God." It is a present kingdom, not in word, but in power. It is " the kingdom of God in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." It is a kingdom so really entered into, that the apostle uses the strongest language to express the transition. "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:12,13¹²Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: ¹³Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:12‑13)).

In pursuing His teaching to Nicodemus, the Lord, instead of satisfying " the how" of his inquirer, goes on to present Himself to Nicodemus as the only Teacher of heavenly realities, " the Son of Man which is in heaven"; and then confounds Nicodemus with the startling truth of the Son of Man lifted up as the grand object of faith, the present life-giving power of the kingdom, and that the Son of Man is no other than the only-begotten Son of God. All these announcements concerning Himself were so many stumbling-blocks in the way of Nicodemus; but they are all plain to him that understandeth. " It is, written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of God; whosoever therefore hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh to me," says Jesus. Believers are apt to regard as a test of their being born again, the manifest change they experience in themselves; but this is by no means either so healthy or so satisfactory a test, as for the soul to have before it a new object, in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ; in other words, seeing the kingdom of God. Whilst Jesus as the brazen serpent is the object of salvation, He is no less a new and absorbing object of interest, a new object to live for, because by His death He has made death itself to be ours (1 Cor. 3.22). We thus judge that if one died for all, then have all died; and He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again (2 Cor. 5:14,15¹⁴For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: ¹⁵And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15)).

The line between a man of the Pharisees and a. believer in Christ is one of essential separation. No progress in Pharisaism of the most promising kind ever traverses this line. No religion whatever which proceeds from man, or consists in ordinances, ever leads even to the threshold of the, entrance into the kingdom of God. The best specimen of Pharisaism is presented to us in proof that unless God, positively works by His own power, so as to communicate to man that which he never could attain, he must infallibly remain a stranger to the kingdom of God. A man must be born from above in order to see the kingdom of God. This is the elementary doctrine propounded by Jesus as an authoritative Teacher, easily corroborated by the ancient oracles of God, as Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, ought to have known. But it is a doctrine of far more difficult reception by modern than by ancient Pharisees, because it has been the effort of the false church to set aside, supersede, or obliterate this doctrine by a system of ordinances, so that it has perhaps never been a question affecting the conscience of the vast majority of nominal Christians around us, whether they have or have not seen and entered into the kingdom of God; in a word, whether the kingdom of God is a reality. " To as many as received Jesus, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." No purity of descent, even from the father of the faithful himself, no personal effort of religion, no ordinance performed by another, can give the power and privilege of sonship. To be a child of God, a man "must be born again," "must be born of God." Great, indeed, are the privileges of the sons of God; if sons, then are they heirs of God, then are they priests and kings to God. Yet how often are these but meaningless titles! Few have ever asked themselves what is meant by being a son of God; and those who habitually use the language,—too plainly prove that the most trifling worldly advantage weighs more with them than any supposed privilege of sonship. On the other hand, to one born of God, these privileges appear so precious, that no honor is comparable with the honor of being a son of God, no advantages comparable with those which are eternally secured for him in Christ Jesus. One born of God is able to esteem even his present knowledge of Christ as of that surpassing excellency, that to gain any advantage the world could offer in the place of that knowledge would be poverty and loss.

God grant that the essential difference between flesh and spirit, divine and human righteousness, Pharisaism and faith in Christ, may be made known, not by words of human wisdom, but by the powerful demonstration of the Spirit. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."