Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 16:6
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:6; Mat 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 caterpillars 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 Archbishops 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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Beware of the leaven] What the leaven of Pharisees and Sadducees was has been already explained, see Mt 16:1. Bad doctrines act in the soul as leaven does in meal; they assimulate the whole Spirit to their own nature. A man’s particular creed has a greater influence on his tempers and conduct than most are aware of. Pride, hypocrisy, and worldly-mindedness, which constituted the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, ruin the major part of the world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then Jesus said unto them,…. Either taking occasion from the disciples observing that they had forgot to take bread with them, or on account of what passed between him and the Pharisees and Sadducees, he gave the following advice to his disciples;
take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Mark, instead “of the leaven of the Sadducees”, says, “the leaven of Herod”; either because Christ might caution against all three; or because the Sadducees were generally Herodians, taking Herod to be the Messiah; or were on his party, or for his government, which the Pharisees disliked; and the Herodians were generally Sadducees. By “the leaven” of these is meant their doctrine, as appears from Mt 16:12. The doctrines the Pharisees taught were the commandments and inventions of men, the traditions of the elders, free will, and justification by the works of the law: the doctrine of the Sadducees was, that there was no resurrection of the dead, nor angels, nor spirits: now because they sought secretly and artfully to infuse their notions into the minds of men; and which, when imbibed, spread their infection, and made men sour, morose, rigid, and ill natured, and swelled and puffed them up with pride and vanity, Christ compares them to leaven; and advises his disciples to look about them, to watch, and be on their guard, lest they should be infected with them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.The form of the warning was obviously determined by the fact just narrated. The Master saw the perplexed looks and heard the self reproaching or mutually accusing whispers of the disciples, and made them the text of a proverb which was a concentrated parable. As St. Mark gives the words, they stand, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod, and this, if we have to make our choice, we may believe to have been the form in which they were actually spoken; St. Matthew, or the report which he followed, substituting for the less known Herodians the better known Sadducees. The language of the tetrarch, as has been shown (see Note on Mat. 14:2), implies that Sadduceeism had been the prevailing belief of his life, and the current of Jewish political, not to say religious, sympathies, naturally led the Sadducean priests, courting (as Caiaphas did) the favour of the Roman rulers, to fraternise with the scribes who attached themselves to the party of the tetrarch. (Comp. Act. 5:17.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees The disciples doubtless were often exposed to the influence of the conversations of the Pharisees and Sadducees when our Lord was not present. In Mat 15:12-20, they had evidently come to our Lord under the influence of such a conversation. Our Lord’s refusal to grant a sign at their demand, as well as his departure, gave perhaps an air of victory to these cavillers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ’
Seeing their concern over mere bread (compare Mat 4:4) Jesus then intervened with a comment which was designed to make them recognise that there was more to worry about than the lack of bread. Let them rather be concerned about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the threat that it posed. It was that that they should really be concerned about, the insidious teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees which was undermining His ministry and bringing them all under threat, especially their joint teaching about the requirement for ‘signs’ and the implication that He was not the Messiah.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The warning and its understanding:
v. 6. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
v. 7. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. It was on the trip across the lake that Jesus spoke to them, Mar 8:14. They were worried on account of their neglect; the single loaf of bread in the boat was on their mind. The mention of leaven, therefore, was connected in their minds with bread, and it was bread which they lacked. They argued therefore that Jesus was reproaching them for not having a sufficient number of loaves with them in the oat. It was with them as with the Christians of all times: hard for them to get away from the care of the body! They neither marked that Jesus purposely used the word “leaven,” nor did they notice the emphasis upon the “Pharisees and Sadducees. ” Christ’s object had been to warn them, in the form of a parabolic saying, against the doctrine of both sects, against the outward work-righteousness of the Pharisees and against the conventional, worldly bearing of the Sadducees.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 16:6 . The craft and malice of the Pharisees and Sadducees were still fresh in His memory, Mat 16:1-4 .
] , (Euth. Zigabenus); see Mat 16:12 . The allusion is to their peculiar sectarian views, in so far as they deviated from the law. The expression is explained differently in Luk 12:1 . Comp. note on Gal 5:9 ; 1Co 5:6 . For the figurative use of by the Rabbis (as denoting the infecting influence of any one who is bad), see Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 2303. Lightfoot on this passage. Used differently again in Mat 13:33 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1373
AGAINST FORMALITY AND INDIFFERENCE
Mat 16:6. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
EVERY object around us is capable of affording us much important instruction. Our blessed Lord took occasion from all the common affairs of life, and all the things that presented themselves to his view, to lead his Disciples to the contemplation of heavenly things. It happened that his Disciples had neglected to take with them a proper supply of bread; and consequently that they would be necessitated to procure some on the other side of the lake, whither they were going. In reference to this circumstance he bade them beware of a certain kind of leaven. They, not apprehending his meaning, supposed that his words were to be taken in a literal sense: but our Lord, bringing to their remembrance the miraculous supplies of bread which he had recently and repeatedly afforded them, shewed them, that his caution had a spiritual import, and that it referred, not to bread, but to certain pernicious doctrines, of which they were to beware.
We propose,
I.
To shew what the caution refers to
If the characters of the Pharisees and the Sadducees be duly considered, it will appear that our Lord cautioned his Disciples against,
1.
A formal, hypocritical religion
[The Pharisees laid a very great stress on forms; and multiplied them, not only beyond what the law of Moses prescribed, but even to the subversion of moral duties [Note: Mar 7:8-13.]. At the same time they were extremely negligent in matters of more importance [Note: Mat 23:23.]. Amidst their high professions of religion, they sought only the applause of men [Note: Mat 23:5-7.], and their own temporal advantage [Note: Mat 5:14; Mat 5:25.]. With respect to real piety, they were not only destitute of it [Note: Mat 5:20.], but adverse to it in the highest degree [Note: Mat 23:13; Mat 23:31. with Act 13:50.]. Some few among them indeed were more upright [Note: Php 3:5-6.]; but in general they were proud, worldly, hypocritical [Note: Mat 23:25-28.].
And what is the religion of the generality amongst ourselves? Do not the greater part of those who appear to respect religion, rest in some outward observances? They attend the public worship; they go to the table of the Lord; they read the Scriptures occasionally, and say their prayers at stated seasons: but their hearts are glued to the world; and they are more anxious to be thought religious than to be so, and to gain the applause of man than to secure the honour that cometh of God.
Whether such a state can be acceptable to God, judge ye [Note: Luk 16:15.].]
2.
An indifference about all religion
[The Sadducees were the free-thinkers of the day: they denied the resurrection of the body, and the immortality of the soul [Note: Act 23:8.]; and formed their notions of religion without any just regard to the Holy Scriptures. Whatever was contrary to their preconceived opinions, they ridiculed as enthusiasm [Note: Act 17:32.]. Their lives, as might be expected, were in perfect consistency with their sentiments: they lived, almost as much as the heathen themselves, without God in the world.
Behold in them, as in a mirror, the present generation! The rich, the gay, the men of learning and philosophy, are too generally of this description. Though they have never searched the Scriptures for themselves, they are as confident of the truth of their sentiments as they could be, if they had laboured ever so diligently to ascertain the mind of God. They laugh at all serious religion; and represent the hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows of a true Christian, as symptoms of melancholy, and as the offspring of a heated imagination.
Can we wonder that our blessed Lord cautioned his disciples against such a state as this? Or can any of us be too much on our guard against it?]
The propriety of this caution will further appear, while we proceed,
II.
To assign some reasons for it
We shall not insist on any reasons that were peculiar to the Apostles; but touch rather on those that are applicable to every age. The caution is necessary at all times:
1.
Because of our proneness to the evils we are guarded against
[We need only notice the habits of all around us, from youth to manhood, and from maturity to old age; we shall then see to what every man is by nature inclined. Pleasure beguiles the earlier periods of life, and care corrodes our advanced or declining years. Nor is this peculiar to any time or place. In these respects, human nature is every where, and at all times, the same. Some indeed are more inclined to Pharisaic pride, and others to Sadducean indifference: and it is common to see persons, after a life of dissipation, passing from one to the other of these states. But where do we find those who are of themselves inclined to unreserved piety? Who ever was by nature humble and contrite? Who ever by nature hated all kinds of sin, and delighted in the exercises of vital godliness? Instances of early piety, it is true, may be found: but their piety was the fruit of the Spirit, and not the product of unassisted nature.
Is not this then a reason why the caution should be given? Surely, if all our natural propensities lead to one or other of the evils against which we are cautioned, it becomes us to be on our guard against them: nor can any expressions be too strong to warn us of our danger [Note: The words of our text are very emphatical, and in a parallel passage our Lord says, (Luk 12:1.) , i.e. above all things.].]
2.
Because of the fatal tendency of the evils themselves
[The nature of leaven is to ferment till it has pervaded and changed the whole mass into which it is put. And well may these errors be designated by such a name. We have seen already that the heart of man by nature is impregnated with dispositions adverse to true religion. And how do these dispositions operate? Do they not work incessantly, till they vitiate the whole man? Do they not blind our understanding, and pervert our will, and sensualize our affections, and cause every part of our conduct to savour of ungodliness? Behold also in what manner they operate on those who turn away from the truth! For a season they have felt the influence of a better leaven, the grace of God: but, being drawn aside by temptation, they begin again to yield to their former corruptions: how soon do they lose all their spirituality of mind, and become formal in their devotions, and indifferent at least, if not also adverse, to all which they before esteemed and relished! Whoever has observed the rapid and melancholy change which is often wrought in professors of religion through the influence of this leaven, will see cause enough why every disciple of Christ should be cautioned against it.]
3.
Because of their ultimate effect
[What must be the issue of a life spent in Pharisaic pride or Sadducean indifference, it is almost needless to suggest. But surely every mans own reflection should make him careful how he admits such leaven into his soul, or yields to its malignant influence: for eternal happiness and eternal misery are too important to be trifled with: the very word eternity is sufficient to make every man thoughtful and cautious.]
We will now endeavour,
III.
To point out the means whereby it may be rendered effectual for our preservation
Doubtless it is the Spirit of God only that can apply the word to our souls: and therefore we must above all things implore his almighty aid. But it may be useful to suggest some other hints for the carrying into effect the caution in the text.
1.
Get your souls deeply impressed with the principles of the Gospel
[The Gospel is the rod of Gods strength, wherewith he has wrought the most stupendous miracles(and it is that which he delights to make effectual to our salvation. Indeed there is something in its fundamental principles which is admirably calculated to counteract the influence of this leaven. It declares to us our lost estate; and proposes to us a Saviour, who bought us with his blood. Now who that is duly sensible of his guilt and danger, will yield to indifference? Who that discerns the fulness and excellency of Christ, will rest in any mere forms for his acceptance with God? Who, in short, that beholds the wonders of redeeming love, will harbour that accursed leaven that would rob him of all its benefits? Only let us come to God through Christ, and the love of Christ will constrain us to purge out, as far as possible, every atom of the old leaven.]
2.
Be careful whom you choose as your associates
[A man will, for the most part, drink into the spirit of his associates. Are they formal and worldly, or infidel and contemptuous? he can scarcely hope to escape the infection: evil communications will corrupt good manners [Note: 1Co 15:33.]: and a little leaven will leaven the whole lump [Note: Gal 5:9.]: If, on the other hand, his companions be living in the fear of God, he will be instructed by their conversation, and edified by their example. The inference from this is clear. We need not to be often warned against exposing ourselves to the influence of a pestilential disorder. Why then should we not beware of the contagion of sin and sinners? Surely in proportion as the soul is of more value than the body, our circumspection in reference to spiritual things should exceed that which we use respecting the things that pertain to the present life. With the apostle then we say, Come out from among the world, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing [Note: 2Co 6:17.]: and let your associates be, like Davids, the excellent of the earth, in whom was all his delight [Note: Psa 16:3.].]
3.
Endeavour to realize the thoughts of the future judgment
[In the last day every thing will appear in its proper colours. Vital godliness will then no longer be seen through the medium of prejudice: its light will shine out of obscurity; and its excellence will be universally acknowledged. Then too the Sadducean scoffers and the Pharisaic formalists will find how awfully they have been deluded. Evil will no more be put for good, nor good for evil; but the quality of every mans actions will be infallibly determined, and a suitable recompence will be given to him, either in the joys of heaven or the miseries of hell. What can ever influence us, if such an awful consideration as this fail to put us on our guard? Could we but keep alive in our hearts the expectation of that day, we should determine, through grace, to think and act for ourselves: we should not follow a multitude to do evil; but should take a decided part in the cause of Christ: we should not participate the leaven of error or hypocrisy [Note: Luk 12:1.], but eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth [Note: 1Co 5:6-8.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Ver. 6. Take heed and beware of the leaven ] Or take knowledge of, and then take heed of, false doctrine; a which is fitly called leaven, because it soureth, swelleth, spreadeth, corrupteth the whole lump, and all this secretly, cunningly, easily, suddenly; neither can our eyes discern it from dough by the colour, but only our palate by the taste. Now the ear trieth words, as the mouth trieth meat, Job 34:3 . Try all things before you trust anything. Those that sow false doctrine are somewhere in the Acts called , pests, botches, for their danger of infection, Act 24:5 : some can carry their collusion so clearly, that if possible the very elect might be deceived; like serpents, they can sting without hissing; like cur-dogs, b suck your blood without biting. Nota est Arrii , saith one, qua Constantini deride Nicovena elusit examen, by the cogging of a dye, by the adding of one iota, they corrupted the sense of the whole synod, c The Valentinians had a trick to persuade before they taught. d The ancient Anti-trinitarians set forth a base book of their doctrines under Cyprian’s name, and sold it dog-cheap, that men might the sooner buy it, and be led by it, as Ruffinus complains. Take heed and beware of such: ye are not ignorant of their wiles.
Of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees ] , . Never a barrel better herring. (Erasm. Adag.) Howbeit, the Sadducees affected, by their very name, to be held the only just men; haply because they held that all the reward that righteous men are to look for is here in this world. (Josephus.) The occasion of this heresy is said to be this: When Antigonus taught that we must not serve God for wages, his scholars understood him as if he had utterly denied all future rewards or recompence attending a godly life: and thence framed their heresy, denying the resurrection, world to come, angels, devils, and lived as epicures and libertines.
a , cognitionis est, , autem cautelae.
b A dog: now always depreciative or contemptuous; a worthless, low-bred, or snappish dog. D
c ponentes pro .
d Habuerunt artificium quo prius persuaderent quam docerent. Tertull.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] see beginning of note on ch. Mat 13:33 . It is from the penetrating and diffusive power of leaven that the comparison, whether for good or bad, is derived. In Luk 12:1 , where the warning is given on a wholly different occasion, the leaven is explained to mean, hypocrisy; which is of all evil things the most penetrating and diffusive, and is the charge which our Lord most frequently brings against the Jewish sects.
In Mark we read, . The Herodians were more a political than a religious sect, the dependants and supporters of the dynasty of Herod, for the most part Sadducees in religious sentiment. These, though directly opposed to the Pharisees, were yet united with them in their persecution of our Lord, see ch. Mat 22:16 : Mar 3:6 . And their leaven was the same, hypocrisy , however it might be disguised by external difference of sentiment. They were all unbelievers at heart.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 16:6 . : an abrupt, urgent admonition to look out for, in order to take heed of, a phenomenon of very sinister import; in Scottish idiom “see and beware of”. More impressive still in Mk.: , , a duality giving emphasis to the command ( , , Euthy.). , leaven, here conceived as an evil influence, working, however, after the same manner as the leaven in the parable (Mat 13:33 ). It Is a spirit, a zeitgeist , insinuating itself everywhere, and spreading more and more in society, which Jesus instinctively shrank from in horror, and from which He wished to guard His disciples. . : one leaven, of two parties viewed as one, hence no article before . Two leavens separately named in Mk., but even there juxtaposition in the warning implies affinity. The leaven of Pharisaism is made thoroughly known to us in the Gospels by detailed characterisation. Sadducaism very seldom appears on the stage, and few words of Jesus concerning it are recorded; yet enough to indicate its character as secular or “worldly”. The two classes, antagonistic at many points of belief and practice, would be at one in dislike of single-hearted devotion to truth and righteousness, whether in the Baptist (Mat 3:7 ) or in Jesus. This common action in reference to either might not be a matter of arrangement, and each might come with its own characteristic mood: the Pharisee with bitter animosity, the Sadducee with good-natured scepticism and in quest of amusement, as when they propounded the riddle about the woman married to seven brothers. Both moods revealed utter lack of appreciation, no friendship to be looked for in either quarter, both to be dreaded.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Take heed = Look well. Greek. horao. App-133.
beware of the leaven. Figure of speech Hypocatastasis. leaven put by implication for “doctrine” (Mat 16:12), because of its evil effects. Compare notes on Mat 15:26, and Mat 13:33.
beware = pay attention to, so as to be careful of.
of = from. Here, away from: i.e. beware [and keep] away from, or keep clear of, as in Mat 7:15. Greek. apo. App-104.
leaven. See note on Mat 13:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6. ] see beginning of note on ch. Mat 13:33. It is from the penetrating and diffusive power of leaven that the comparison, whether for good or bad, is derived. In Luk 12:1, where the warning is given on a wholly different occasion, the leaven is explained to mean, hypocrisy; which is of all evil things the most penetrating and diffusive, and is the charge which our Lord most frequently brings against the Jewish sects.
In Mark we read, . The Herodians were more a political than a religious sect, the dependants and supporters of the dynasty of Herod, for the most part Sadducees in religious sentiment. These, though directly opposed to the Pharisees, were yet united with them in their persecution of our Lord, see ch. Mat 22:16 : Mar 3:6. And their leaven was the same,-hypocrisy,-however it might be disguised by external difference of sentiment. They were all unbelievers at heart.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 16:6. , take heed) It is necessary to be careful of the purity of doctrine.-, leaven) The language is metaphorical, and therefore enigmatical; and by it our Lord tries the progress of the disciples, who had already been long His hearers. The metaphor, however, alludes to the thoughts with which the mind of the disciples was then overflowing; q. d., Do not care about the want of earthly bread, but about the perilous aliments which the hypocrites offer to your souls. It is probable that the disciples had forgotten the loaves, because the controversy raised by the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mat 16:1) had put them into a state of anxiety and temptation. The Pharisees and Sadducees were elsewhere strongly opposed to each other, but yet on this occasion they conspire together against Jesus (see Mat 16:1); therefore He included both of them under the one title of hypocrites (Mat 16:3), and guards His disciples at once against both in this passage. And their hypocrisy itself was this leaven (Luk 12:1), induced by which, they did not acknowledge the very sufficient signs of the present time, but, on the contrary, demanded the signs of another time; whence the plural , times, is used in Mat 16:3.[718] The believer both believes and speaks; he who separates either of these from the other is an unbeliever, is a hypocrite; see Gnomon on ch. Mat 24:51. Neither therefore is he free from hypocrisy who has little faith; see Mat 16:8. The disciples are most opportunely admonished to beware of this leaven, as they did not yet understand it from the present signs; see Mat 16:11.[719]
[718] Nay more, every error of all sects is the one leaven, which the old man cherishes.-V. g.
[719] There is also in this a suitableness of words [His mode of address], inasmuch as the disciples, who had been present, and themselves taken a part in the proceedings, on the occasion of the divine miracles which had been twice performed in the case of bread a short time before, were feeling the need of bread, now that a sudden want of it had arisen. For that reason, they might have the more deeply been mindful of spiritual bread, and have seen clearly the need of sound doctrine.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Take: Luk 12:15
the leaven: Mat 16:12, Exo 12:15-19, Lev 2:11, Mar 8:15, Luk 12:1, 1Co 5:6-8, Gal 5:9, 2Ti 2:16, 2Ti 2:17
the Pharisees: Mat 16:1
Reciprocal: Exo 13:7 – General Pro 19:27 – General Mat 3:7 – the Pharisees Mat 6:1 – heed Mat 7:15 – Beware Mat 22:23 – the Sadducees Mar 12:13 – Herodians Luk 20:27 – the Sadducees Luk 20:46 – Beware Joh 4:33 – General 1Co 5:8 – neither Col 2:8 – Beware 2Pe 3:17 – beware
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
16:6
Without mentioning bread directly, Jesus warned them against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sad-ducees whom they knew to be two evil groups of Jews.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
[Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, etc.] there were two things, especially, which seem to have driven the disciples into a mistaken interpretation of these words, so that they understood them of leaven properly so called.
I. That they had more seldom heard leaven used for doctrine. The metaphorical use of it, indeed, was frequent among them in an ill sense, namely, for evil affections, and the naughtiness of the heart; but the use of it was more rare, if any at all, for evil doctrine.
Thus one prays: “Lord of ages, it is revealed and known before thy face that we would do thy will; but do thou subdue that which hinders: namely, the leaven which is in the lump, and the tyranny of [heathen] kingdoms.” Where the Gloss is thus; “The ‘leaven which is in the lump,’ are evil affections, which leavens us in our hearts.”
Cyrus was leavened; that is, grew worse. Sometimes it is used in a better sense; “The Rabbins say, Blessed is that judge who leaveneth his judgment.” But this is not to be understood concerning doctrine, but concerning deliberation in judgment.
II. Because very exact care was taken by the Pharisaical canons, what leaven was to be used and what not; disputations occur here and there, whether heathen leaven is to be used, and whether Cuthite leaven, etc. With which caution the disciples thought that Christ armed them, when he spake concerning the leaven of the Pharisees: but withal they suspected some silent reproof for not bringing bread along with them.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 16:6. The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Leaven; figure for a permeating spiritual influence, generally an evil one (comp, however chap. Mat 13:33). Their want of bread made the illustration apt. They were now withdrawing, both bodily and spiritually, from the Jews; hence there is probably a reference to Exo 12:15-17; comp. 1Co 5:7. The two opposing sects are here connected (comp. Mat 16:1); Mark, however (Mar 8:15), substitutes the leaven of Herod. The Sadducees had already joined the Pharisees in opposing Christ, and Herod may have been in some alliance with them. Politicians often coquet with religious parties.