Was Jesus a Pharisee?

--[ 11 MIN READ]

This question is spurned from an ideology as old as the serpent in the Garden. It serves to only sow the seeds of doubt against the Son of God and His Church. No doubt many of the people who possess this ideology believe they are acting in accord with scripture, and are quite often very religious. Many Keep the Ten Commandments, keep the Sabbath, eat biblically clean, even wear Tzitzit. But that doesn’t excuse their culpability in their mishandling of the Truth.

They frequently identify as Messianics or Judeo-Christians. They have many different beliefs but are united in a kind of ethnocentric theology. Although Zionism is a secular political stance, it is almost always the guiding light of these individuals and their followers.

There are 2 ways to approach this matter. We could address and debunk the claims, or we could just prove Yeshua/Jesus could not possibly have been a Pharisee. I think maybe a little of both.

Judaism is the veneration of Jewish books and rabbis.
The Talmud, Mishnah, and Kabbalah are not derived from the Christian Old Testament Bible.


The claim that Jesus taught Pharisaic doctrine.

This claim truly demonstrates a number of absurdities in Messianic-Judaism/Judaeo-Christianity. The Talmud, Zohar, Mishnah was written between 350 AD and 1500 AD and even after. It would be IMPOSSIBLE for Yeshua to read these books and return to the past to teach them. Jesus and the apostilles would not recognize modern Judaism. Judaism is not a teaching from the Old Testament, its Persian, or more directly Anunnaki. We have the Anunnaki bible today, its no secret. The Jews only USE the Torah to lend credibility to their perverted teachings. They are deeply ANTI Torah, Judaism is the ONLY religion on planet earth that is DIRECTLY antiChrist.

So, they claim the 70 elders at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when Moses received the 10 commandments, were given an extra “Oral Law” aside from the written law. They want us to believe, these original 70 elders then passed this “other law” from generation to generation for the next 1900 years. Then suddenly in 350 AD, it was ok to write it down, and took 200 years to write it down, and another 200 years to rewrite the old “oral law”, because those guys didn’t remember it good enough. Then another 700 years to write some more “oral law” that the other guys before them musta just forgot… yea, right. Even today, the Talmud and Mishnah are being added to… what sane person could believe that? The Jews can’t even be trusted with the written bible, the filthy Masorites changed THEIR copy of the Old Testament some 30,000 times ON PURPOSE to hide the divinity of Jesus Christ. If they can’t be trusted with the written Law they can’t be trusted with a contrived story of an “oral” one.

The aforementioned paragraph is nothing more than the folk lore of some crusty old men that converted to Judaism for power and control over people, because hate and jealousy has filled their wicked hearts. So they invent a story and try to give it legitimacy by riding on the coat tail of Hebrew Old Testament and the Christian Messiah and His authority, that He gave to His Church and His people… Christians.

The Oral Law of the 70 elders is a direct contradiction of Scripture:
Exo 24:4  And Moses WROTE ALL the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar at the base of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 

The story about the 70 elders having an ‘oral law” is nothing less than a God-forsaken lie.


Jesus Prayed BEFORE eating, therefore He is a Pharisee

Luk 9:12  But when the day began to decline, the twelve came to Him and said, “Dismiss the multitude, so that they may go into the villages and the country round about, and may find lodging and provisions; for we are here in a desert place.” 
Luk 9:13  Then He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” But they said, “There is nothing more than five loaves and two fish with us, unless we go and buy food for all the people.” 
Luk 9:14  For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit in companies by fifties.” 
Luk 9:15  And they did so, and made everyone sit down. 
Luk 9:16  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish; and looking up into heaven, He blessed them and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude
Luk 9:17  And they ate, and everyone was satisfied; and that which was left by them was taken up, twelve baskets full. 



The mitzvah to pray BEFORE eating is Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 89:3 invented in the Year of our Lord 1563 and is a commentary on the Zohar Vayakhel 215b. It says to pray in the morning before you eat, you can have water, but first thing in the morning. NOT BEFORE EACH MEAL.

The Talmudist Messianics don’t think Christians will look in such a blasphemous book as the Talmud or Zohar to check that source… they are wrong. They claim that since Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes then He was following Talmudic law! Here again, is the absurdity of Jesus following an law written by an antichrist warlock 1533 years after His death and resurrection.

But what makes it so contentious and such a wicked saying is the fact that the Talmud Doesn’t even say “pray BEFORE meals”, it says to “pray first thing in the morning, before BREAKFAST”. I can understand merely being mistaken, but this is an outright trap to trip Christians into following Pharisees, that the new converts might be two-fold a child of Hell as themselves.


ONLY a Pharisee can teach in a Synagogue, and Jesus taught in a Synagogue, therefore Jesus is a Pharisee

The Pharisees were created in 152 BC and were active until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The “Synagogue” existed long before “the Pharisees” and existed long after “the Pharisees”… that alone destroys this argument.

BUT…. were ONLY the Pharisee allowed to teach in the Synagogue DURING the ministry of Jesus?

A Synagogue was NOT the place of worship, it was a schoolhouse. The Temple was the place of worship. A Synagogue would have a copy of the Bible. A handwritten book compiled by Scribes. Scribes were very well paid. It takes a Scribe 15 months to write the bible on animal skin or papyrus. So the scrolls were worth more in money than the building that housed them. People didn’t have their own personal bibles.

Sadducees had LEGAL control of the Temple and Synagogues. I’ve never met anyone who thinks “Jesus is a Pharisee” knew the Pharisees did not have legal control of the houses of worship. This also destroys the argument, ONLY Pharisee were allow to teach in the Temple.

Do you know how many sects existed in Israel during 30 AD? This only some of the main groups that identify as Israelites: Zealots, Sadducees, Publicans, Essenes, Samaritans, Pharisees, Herodians, Circumcised Edomites (Sephardic), Sons of Zadok, Christians (The Way/ Nazarites), School of Hillel, School of Shammai, Doctors of Law, Elders, Sanhedrin, Yudaites, Benjamites, Levites, Priests, Publicans… and on and on it goes.

There is no source, that Im aware of, to concur with the statement, “only a Pharisee can teach in a synagogue”. The assertion seems irresponsible and reckless, but alas, we know why they say things like this… they are waiting for innocent blood to trap in their pit of Pharisee worship. Some gullible young person with a few shekels for the hireling, and a fresh soul for the destroyer.

https://www.bible.ca/synagogues/Moses-Seat-Metaphor-Pride-reader-leader-judge-Architectural-ancient-Synagogue-pre-70AD-standardized-typology-design-incorporated-adopted-similarities-into-church.htm


Jesus ONLY corrected Pharisees, He has no jurisdiction to correct anyone outside His group, therefore Jesus was a Pharisee.

If I say, “Jesus rebuked Peter”, will you just retort, “oh…then Peter must have been a Pharisee”. Even though there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE claiming that Peter was a Pharisee. This is called an argument from ignorance, since nobody can PROVE Peter was NOT a Pharisee, then therefore he was?

For everyone else, looking for actual truth and able to receive instruction: Jesus rebuked his mother, Jesus rebuked the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus rebukes all of His disciples (Luke was a gentile and doesn’t qualify as a Pharisee), Jesus rebukes an entire GENERATION of mankind in Luke 9:41, Jesus rebukes Sadducee, Jesus rebuked Scribes, Jesus rebukes a tree, Jesus rebukes 5 of the 7 churches in Revelation (ALL Christian communities in Asia Minor), Jesus rebukes demons,

Did you notice, Jesus NEVER rebuked a little child, so by using the same brain-dead logic of Messianicism/Judaeo-Christianity are you saying, little children weren’t allowed to be Christ followers?
I rest my case.


ONLY Pharisees are allowed to be called “Rabbi”, and Jesus was called Rabbi, so therefore Jesus was a Pharisee

“Rabbi” is a Greek word that means “my master” as in not a slave, in the spiritual sense. But it was just a word, not a term. It didn’t become a term until the Talmudic period. Thats why the early writers of the Talmud weren’t called “rabbi”. Rabbin+ical is a term coined in late 1500s and it points to the religion of Judaism. Even today, the word Rabbi doesn’t necessarily mean Pharisaic, there are Rabbis that reject Judaism.

The talmud is a non-Primary source for ANY event during second Temple Period, because NO writer of the talmud lived during that time. To pretend they have some magical way of knowing things scholars don’t know is just more shuck and jive from the Rabbinical charlatans.

Rabbi has its roots in Greek. Greek is the oldest living language on earth, dating back to the Neolithic period. Hebrew is a language that comes from the Greek. https://kingdomtruther.com/hebrew-is-greek


Jesus taught the Golden Rule and Pharisees did too, therefore Jesus was a Pharisee

Again, it would be chronologically impossible for Jesus to quote from a book written hundreds of years after His death.

As for the Jewish Talmud, all three writers, J. Dwight Pentecost, J. W. Shepard and Frederick Farrar, agree that the teachings of “Jesus” differed completely from those of the Talmud. Some have pointed out that the rabbinic teachings on a “golden rule” were similar. But they are mistaken. The Talmudic teaching is like Confucius’ “silver rule”. It is a negative: “Do not unto others…” Jesus taught a positive teaching, the golden rule: “Do unto others…”, which historically is unique.


There were 4 cups at Passover and Pharisees have a 4 cup blessing, therefore Jesus was a Pharisee

This particular trope is particularly popular amongst the Chosenite worshiper types. First and foremost, the scripture doesn’t record Jesus drinking from 4 different cups. He pours ONE cup and passes it to all the disciples, then even DELIBERATELY and EXPRESSLY tells them He will NOT drink again until the New Jerusalem comes from heaven.

Mat 26:27  And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “All of you drink of it; 
Mat 26:28  For this is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins. 
Mat 26:29  But I say to you, from this time forward I will not drink at all of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew with you in the kingdom of My Father.” 


Jesus said the Pharisees sit in Moses Seat so do whatever they tell you to do

Mat 23:2  Saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on Moses’ seat as judges; 
Mat 23:3  Therefore, every judgment that they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say and do not. 

They presumptuously sat their own selves down in the Moses Seat (as Judges)

Explanation of the Moses Seat in detail by Fred Coulter

https://www.cbcg.org/series/scripturalism-judaism/scripturalism-vs-judaism-12.html

Jesus Was NOT a Pharisee

Jesus classed the Pharisees as a group and always in the second person, never in the first person which would have included himself as a member.


Jesus called out the Pharisees specifically to condemn them and their teaching

Here are just a few verses: There are so many verses in scripture where these wicked religionists are castigated that they will deserve a whole post just dedicated to that.

Mat 15:3  But He answered and said to them [Pharisees], “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 

Mat 16:12  Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

Mat 23:14  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for neither do you yourselves enter, nor do you allow those who are entering to enter. 

Mat 23:15  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel the sea and the land to make one proselyte, and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves. 


He characterized them as “children of the devil” and their converts as more so.

Joh 8:44  You [Pharisees] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you desire to practice. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he is speaking from his own self; for he is a liar, and the father of it. 
Joh 8:45  And because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. 
Joh 8:46  Which one of you can convict Me of sin? But if I speak the truth, why don’t you believe Me? 
Joh 8:47  The one who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God.” 


Just because Pharisees claimed to also accept the Torah did not make them Believers or Christians

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life; and they are the ones that testify of Me. But you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life. 
~John 5:39-40

Hypocrites! Isaiah has prophesied well concerning you, saying, ‘These people have drawn near to Me with their mouths, and with their lips they honor Me; but their hearts are far away from Me. For they worship Me in vain, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.’ ” 
~Matthew 15:7-9


He was readily baptized by John who on the other hand had challenged the Pharisees to “repent” before they could be properly baptized. John did not command Jesus to repent.

This is important because many Messianics don’t think Jesus is God. They hold Him as a great man or a prophet, or a human sacrifice.
The fact that Jesus did NOT NEED TO REPENT, means He was Sinless.

So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath, but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 
~John 5:18


The requirement to prove that one had to graduate from their school to be a Pharisee disqualified Jesus as one of them.

And the Jews were amazed, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never been schooled?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His Who sent Me. If anyone desires to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak from My own self. 
~John 7:15-17

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