Defining Pharisaism By Fleshing Out Its Confrontation by the Lord Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount

Terms like Pharisaism and legalism are often blunt instruments used today against churches and individual believers.  They can be much like the word, racism.  People weaponize terms to protect a belief or lifestyle through castigation.  At the worst, they want to eliminate the objects of their scorn.  Maybe they're right about the ones they want to cancel and what they believe and practice.  Is it true though?  Are their targets really Pharisees and legalists?

The Lord Jesus confronted Pharisaism and legalism with His Sermon on the on Mount in Matthew 5-7.  The sermon explains salvation, but in a unique way to cast down the corrupt view of the Pharisees, the religion of the day.  Their teaching was so prevalent everywhere, what Jesus then preached was also dealing with the thinking of everyone in His audience.   Even if He wasn't preaching to Pharisees, He was preaching to Pharisaism and legalism.

Pharisees didn't recognize their spiritual poverty, so they didn't mourn.  Spiritually rich people don't need to mourn because they're already full of righteousness.  As a result, they're not submissive to God.  They don't need God to inherit the earth.  They've got that one covered by themselves and through their own efforts.

Mercy is so weighty, so hard, that it's nearly impossible for an impression of righteousness, not actual righteousness.  Mercy also isn't showy.  It's like what James talks about, visiting widows and the fatherless in their affliction.  That doesn't get the same publicity like Pharisaical religion, which depends on being noticed.  Pharisees have a pure look, except when no one is looking.  They're not pure in heart.

Pharisees don't have real peace, so they can't be peacemakers.  Peacemakers require peace with God themselves.  Ignoring sin won't bring peace.  Peace doesn't come from toleration of sin.  Trying to be good and preaching that to others will leave them still an enemy of God's.

Daniel prophesies the hardship brought on by the Roman government.  It wouldn't and it didn't occur because of righteousness, but because of sin.  Israel wasn't suffering for righteousness.  Individual Jews weren't being persecuted by the Romans.  Followers of God, who would be followers of His Son, Jesus Christ, will be persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Pharisaism doesn't retard corruption like salt.  It hides its light to avoid persecution.  The Pharisees reduced God's law to something they could keep on their own.  Like Jesus, they did not keep the least of God's commandments, neither did they teach men to do so.  Instead, they ranked the commandments and eliminated the ones that are hard to believe and obey.  Because they abolished God's instructions, they added their own as a replacement.

To do everything God wants, someone must trust God.  In other words, his house must be built on the rock, who is Jesus Christ, and not the sand, which is their own efforts.  The actual keeping of everything God says, in order to please Him, is what God wants.  You won't do that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ.

Pharisees came to Jesus to find the greatest of God's laws.  It wasn't so they could keep God's laws, but to reduce them.  Most of evangelicalism fits that description and most of evangelicalism labels Pharisees and legalists those who do not fit that description.  They who do and teach the least of the commandments are called Pharisees.  Those who break them and teach others to do so are the Pharisees.