Weightier Matters of the Law

Jesus blasts the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, and He tells them they had ignored the "weightier matters." This article begins a series that explains why we should focus on certain virtues as we keep God's law.

Jesus lists judgment as the first of the weightier matters in Matthew 23, verse. This article explains this term and shows why judgment is a major part of Christianity.

Many have a love-hate relationship with mercy: They love to receive it, but hate to give it! Here is why we should lean toward mercy in all our judgments.

Faith and fidelity to God and His way of life should be a major part of our character. In this fourth article on the weightier matters, it details what faith and fidelity are, how to recognize a lack of them in our lives and how to develop them so we can g. . .

The Law (including the judgments, ordinances, and statutes), far from being done away, shows us our faults and outlines the way of mercy and love—how to live.

The Gnostics criticized by Paul in Colossians 2:16-17 were guilty of bringing in ritualistic ascetic discipline to propitiate demons.

In Colossians 2:16 and Galatians 4:9-10, Paul was warning against mixing Gnostic asceticism and pagan customs with the keeping of God's Sabbath and Holy Days.

Bill Onisick, characterizing the Pharisees as separatists, meticulously following man-made rituals and traditions, but oblivious of the weightier matters of the law, examines the deadly leavening of a Pharisee. The Pharisees performed their roles like acto. . .

Richard Ritenbaugh introduces his topic of covering sins by reflecting on the illegal trial of Jesus, in which false witnesses and false accusations were trumped up by the presumptuous Jewish religious leaders against the very Son of God. The Pharisees and. . .

It is easy to fall into the traps of judgmentalism, gossip, and unforgiveness. We must overcome our natural reactions and use forbearance in our relationships.

We must emulate the ways of God, demonstrating justice in our lives, thoughts, words, and deeds, preparing to judge in God's Kingdom. Not all sins are equal.

By recounting a personal experience, John Reid reveals a valuable lesson about keeping our eyes focused on our goal, the Kingdom. Overconcern with the around-and-about tends to distracts us, and before we know it we are off course. Our preparation for God'. . .

Even as several grandiose building projects have terminated because of cost overruns, so must we carefully count the cost of our spiritual building project.

We need to develop righteous judgment about what constitutes a genuine Sabbath emergency and what may be a deceptive rationalization of our human nature.

As future kings and priests in God's kingdom, we realize that our most difficult and weighty responsibility will be to exercise righteous judgment- even toward angelic beings. None of us are remotely ready right now for that daunting responsibility. Mercif. . .

The biblical system of tithing has been a point of controversy among Christians for centuries. Does God still command them? Did Jesus approve of them during His ministry? Was the law of tithing changed for His church?

Christ emphasizes that the internal, weightier matters, which change the heart, take precedence over external ceremonial concerns that don't change the heart.

At its base, gluttony is nothing more than a lack of self-control. Martin Collins shows the more spiritual side of this too-prevalent sin.

The Pharisees were missing a sense of proportion, avoiding sin, but not lightening the burdens of their flocks by applying justice, mercy, and faith.