Matthew 16:12

Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

The leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees

I. The leaven of the Pharisees. The most numerous and popular sect among the Jews. Their corruptions may, for the sake of distinction, be summed up under three heads.

1. They were rigid predestinarians, or believers in what modern language calls philosophical necessity. Take heed.

2. They rejected the written Word of God as the only and sufficient standard of religious truth, and the guide of religious practice; and they observed the tradition of the elders, which often made this written law of node effect. Take heed, and beware of the very same leaven.

3. Their righteousness, though strict in its kind, was merely external; consisting chiefly in a multitude of ceremonious practices. How many are there like them? Beware!

II. The leaven of the Sadducees. Their heresy likewise may be described under three heads.-

1. They denied the fallen and depraved state of mankind; disputed the doctrine of hereditary corruption; and maintained that the will of man is, by nature, and without any special grace of God, as free to good as to evil

2. They not only rejected the traditions of the elders, but explained away much of the Old Testament, and thus rendered its teaching of none effect.

3. They denied the existence of angels and spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and a future state of rewards and punishments. Take heed, and beware! (J. Bunting, D. D.)

Erroneous doctrines are like leaven

in the following respects:-

1. They are, at first, slight and unimportant in appearance.

2. They are insinuated into the soul unawares and silently, and are difficult of detection.

3. They act gradually.

4. They act most certainly.

5. They will pervade all the soul, and bring all the faculties under their control. (A. Barnes.)

The influence of evil doctrine unperceived, yet injurious to our future welfare

Archbishop Whately has made reference to the remarkable fact that the caterpillars of moths and butterflies are often attacked by ichneumon flies, which pierce their skins and deposit their eggs in the caterpillar’s body. No immediate result follows, and no injury seems to have been done until the period when the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis. Instead of a beautiful moth or butterfly emerging from the latter, only the parasitic insects appear. The hidden butterfly has been silently destroyed. The Archbishop’s suggestive comment is-“May not a man have a kind of secret enemy within-destroying his soul without interfering with his well-being during the present stage of his existence, and whose presence may never be detected till the time arrives when the last great change should take place.”

The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

I. In this warning, it will be observed, Pharisaic and Sadducaic tendencies are identified. Jesus speaks not of the leavens, but of one common to both sects, as if they were two species of one genus, two branches from one stem. Superficially, the two parties were diverse-the one strict, the other easy, in morals. But here extremes meet. They were all hostile to the Divine kingdom. Thus to be a Christian it is not enough to differ superficially from either Pharisees or Sadducees, but to differ radically from both. A weighty truth not yet understood. To avoid Pharisaic strictness and superstition men run into Sadducaic scepticism, both equally far horn the truth. The spirit of unbelief which ruled in Jewish society Jesus described as leaven, with special reference to its diffusiveness.

II. Jesus next found new matter for annoyance in the stupidity of friends. The disciples misunderstood the warning word. “It is because we have no bread.” Had they possessed more faith and spirituality they would not have put the earthly meaning into the words. How vain it is to discourse concerning Divine things to men whose minds are preoccupied with earthly cares Leaven makes them think of loaves. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)