The Woes
J. P. Lange, D. D. Matthew 23:13-15 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves… I. Spiritual ambition; petitioners changed into beggars. The long prayers of the hypocrites, and the long sentence of judgment. II. Those who shut the kingdom of heaven. III. Proselytism. Soul-winners and soul-ruiners. IV. The work of man up, the work of God down; the inward nothing, the outward everything. The true oath always by the living and true God. The blindest ignorance connected with a conceit of keenest insight into the laws of the kingdom of God. V. Legality in little things; lawlessness in great. VI. The outside and the inside of the cup and the platter, or the feast of the religious and moral hypocrite. 1. In the outward form, consecrated or adorned. 2. In the inner character, abominable and reprobate. VII. The whited sepulchres: like pleasant abodes outwardly; caves of bones, diffusing death, within — spiritual death, in the guise of spiritual bloom. VIII. The murderers of the prophets. To persecute Christ in His saints is to persecute Christ himself. (J. P. Lange, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. WEB: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.