Monthly Archives: February 2026

Bowing the Knee to Pharisaism: It Never Goes Well

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Recently I came across a passage in the history of the early church.

Acts 21 in the Bible presents Luke’s story of his and his companions—including Paul—arrival in Jerusalem.

All along the way, as they stopped off in various communities, there were those in the churches who prophesied that Paul would be put “in chains” if he went to Jerusalem.

And so it goes.

Zealous for the Law

When Paul, Luke, and their other fellow travelers arrive, there is a joyful reunion with the church. As they all shared together what God had been doing through the various ministries of those present, they “glorified God.”

So far so good.

However, something struck me for the first time the other day after many readings of this passage over the last 45 years. Immediately, on the heals of Paul sharing the incredible, earth-shaking news that many of those outside the Jewish religion were turning to Jesus Christ, there is an immediate damper.

I am sure Paul was very excited to share his news. But there is no sense in Scripture that there is any reveling in God’s amazing grace as they heard the news. Instead, there is a bit of a one-ups-man-ship among the other believers there. Hear their response:

You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, 21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

Acts 21:20-22

First they note that “many thousands” of Jews had come to believe in Christ. Then they note they are “zealous for the law.”

Zealousness for the law is okay if it means we love the holiness of God and how he has expressed that holiness through His law. However, what seems apparent is that the zealotry is more Pharisaic than the Psalm 119 kind of joy in the law.

Notice that these church leaders follow up the “I can do one better with thousands of Jews” comment with YOU ARE THE MAN who is causing trouble here. Paul’s teaching—which was coming from a reformed Pharisee, mind you—was it was unnecessary to be circumcised to be a follower of Jesus. Paul worked exceptionally hard at teaching the church to not add rules to Scripture. His old way was to hold legalistically to the law and the addition of many interpretations of the law that had become law in themselves—Pharisaism.

Forsaking Moses meant these Jews thought Paul cared nothing for Old Testament Judaism—which is certainly not true. Jesus confirmed the Old Testament law, but also explained how the Pharisees—and other Jewish groups—had taught the law as a means to be saved rather than as a guide to recognizing their need for a Savior. That was never the intent of the law.

So, “What then is to be done?”

Giving In

After reading all that has gone before in the various villages they had visited, you get the sense that these brothers are hoping to keep Paul from being chained—even by fellow believers who were angry about his teaching on the law.

So they suggest:

We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

Acts 21:23-24

Paul is to fulfill this Pharisaical practice of the law in order to please these folks who continue to think these things are necessary to make God happy.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.

Paul is a big believer in that idea. Whereas it is not breaking God’s law, he was happy to do as others do in order to reach them with the Gospel.

But, what we find here is that Pharisees—whether as members in the group or simply of heart—are never satisfied.

Paul did what they called him to do but it didn’t matter. Paul is reviled and seized by these Jews: “

‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place’ . . . Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple.”

It Cannot be Mollified

Pharisaism cannot be mollified. Paul, nor Jesus, ever makes excuses for it. Though Paul, in this instance, appears to have tried to calm the anxiety created by the Pharisees, he didn’t succeed.

Pharisaic teaching and practice are destructive. Paul continually fought against it (see Galatians 3:1f; Colossians 2:20-23). He called out, by name, those who were leading the fledgling church astray by its legalistic teaching (see the whole book of Galatians).

I believe I can safely say that some form of modern Phariseeism is behind a huge percentage of the church leadership abuse cases of which I have had contact.

In these cases, leaders held unswervingly to a belief or practice that was either outright unbiblical or based on an interpretation that was not clearly biblical. It is that interpretation that is blown up into an absolute that so often gets the leader in trouble.

A leader may take a view of pro-marriage and create a law unto itself without recognizing the principles behind the biblical authors’ writings that provide the heart and soul of marriage: a loving committed covenant between two people. And just as God “divorced” his people, so too those who have been rejected by their spouse through abuse are allowed to divorce—the abuser’s actions are called desertion in biblical terms.

A leader may consider those who question his wisdom as being unsubmissive to authority. But he is only looking at the parts of the verses that call on those under man’s authority to submit (Romans 13:1). He does not pay any attention to the meaning of “for he is God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4) or the verses calling him to account for his leadership failures (1 Peter 3:7).

So, these leaders run with their incomplete interpretations of Scripture and make a ruin of lives.

One look at the Gospels and you will recognize the abuse heaped upon God’s people by the Pharisees. The church must reject the modern-day Pharisees wherever they find them.

NOTE:

As a closing note, it is helpful to see that Paul’s end goal in walking towards the toxic leaders resulted in accomplishing the goal he had. Paul, writing to the Philippians church from prison:

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Philippians 1:12-14 (ESV)

The Effective Leader: Temperance, Empathy, and Humility

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A friend of mine says, “Leadership is easy when things are easy. But real leadership happens when things are difficult.”1

It is in those challenging times that the real heart of the leader becomes evident. All sorts of airs can be put on when everyone is getting along, the production is going strong, relationships are amicable.

However, when the leadership is challenged or anxiety in the organization is high—then leadership becomes. . . leadership.

Seven Sentences

Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, provides in seven (English) sentences a beautiful summation of how all people are to engage others—and how leaders should understand their own approach to leadership.

Paul says,

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Romans 12:14-18 (ESV)

There are three character traits invaluable to the leader’s ministry to others:

  • Temperance.
  • Empathy.
  • Humility.

Temperance

The first thing Paul says, and similarly two other times, is to be peaceful.

This goes against so much of what is touted of leadership. Leaders are often expected to be brash, bold, uncompromising, and aggressive. Our political leaders have raised the rhetoric of leadership to new heights of anger, arrogance, and falsehood. Many tout such behavior as “leadership”.

It gets attention and many leaders now think this is appropriate, and even good.

However, Paul says in four different ways that we are not to fight back against those who criticize, live in harmony, and be at peace.

There are times when criticism comes that needs an answer. Scripture is also concerned with truth-telling and accuracy of information (not bearing false witness). And this is why we can say that Christians are not to be doormats—seeking peace does not always mean giving in.

But the leader needs to carefully weigh the wisdom in responding to attacks from subordinates or their stakeholders. And particularly, he/she needs to weigh his/her words carefully to be sure they are full of grace. Often what is taken as persecution is really just well-aimed criticism that is hard to take.

Leaders must always remember that those attacking—or simply exhorting—are bearers of the image of God. As such, they should be treated with care, respect, and honor.

The biblical expectation of the leader is to be “sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable . . . not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome” (1 Timothy 3:2-3) as Paul explains to Timothy regarding Elders in the church. These are all words that describe a temperate person—one who is not easily riled.

I remember hearing of a 19th Century preacher who when it was suggested he stand up against the unmerited attacks of others—which he didn’t—said, “If they really knew how bad I am it would be even worse.”

Here was a temperate leader.

Empathy

Empathy has been attacked by Christian and non-Christian alike as an inadequate way to engage others while they are suffering. Being empathic may squelch saying what might need to be said.

However, Christians cannot jump on that bandwagon. Though there are cautions, Scripture is replete with examples of empathic engagement (see 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 especially). Paul says here, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

The point of that little statement is to encourage feeling what the other is feeling. “Rejoice” is an heart attitude. It is an emotion. Weeping comes from the heart as well. These are both emotions based on the emotions of the person with whom we are engaging.

The leader—and all of us—are called to empathize with those under our oversight. If we do this we will refrain from trying to “control” the person in unhelpful ways. It will help the leader consider carefully his responses, policies, and care for his subordinates.

Humility

In the middle of verse 16, Paul takes a shot at arrogance. He says,

“Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

Remember when in elementary school someone who associated with poor and unpopular kids would be derided? The disdain heaped upon the poor kid would be directed at those who would give aid or comfort?

The Christian leader is called to take special care of those who are on the bottom rungs of their social ladder. It takes additional effort for those in high positions to do this.

And it takes a humble view of self.

All a leader needs to do is recognize his equal place before God among all, what he may consider, the riff-raff of life (Galatians 3:28) . In God’s reality, the leader is of no greater importance than the lowest paid, least esteemed subordinate in his organization.

Just a look at one’s heart should help humble the leader. He may outwardly gain all sorts of notoriety, but when considering his own failures—that no one sees—he should be able to humbly engage those down the ladder.

Learn from the World?

Leaders tend to learn from the world. The world might teach arrogance, control, and manipulation. But the Christian leader has a higher calling.

God calls you to temperance, empathy, and humility.

NOTES

  1. Dr. Anders Örtenblad, Professor of Working Life Science, University of Agder, Norway.  ↩︎

Followership: Obedience to Toxic Leadership

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Scripture is full of twists and turns that help us navigate the complexities of our world.

Some would call them inconsistencies. Or in need of complicated justifications. However, I would call it God’s wisdom in speaking to our ever complex circumstances.

One such twist is how Scripture handles “turning the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39). It is not uncommon to hear sermons and Bible studies based on the idea that as Christians we should be doormats. It is part of teaching on submission in the Bible.

Twists and Turns

However, there are also turns in Scripture that throw us off guard. This is because Scripture was written not to give us a specific law for every eventuality in which we find ourselves. As the author of the “Divorce and Domestic Abuse” section in the DASA Report, Shane Waldron, notes,

[I]f we interpret Scripture through the lens of modern law, we will most likely arrive at a very different answer than if we read it as law from the Ancient Near East.

Ad Interim Study Committee on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault for the Presbyterian Church in America, Attachment 11

Our American viewpoint on law is just not the same as Scripture’s. They understood laws in a “principled” way. The big picture is given in the Bible in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and then given hands and feet in principles through case laws that are found throughout. These “case laws” help us understand the complexities of our situations.

For example, the Ten Commandments tell us we cannot murder. But, murder must be defined more carefully. So, the case law notes that killing someone in self-defense is not punishable as murder (Exodus 22:2). There are other defining characteristics as to what “murder” should be considered.

Turning the Other Cheek

So, too we need to be careful in what we expect of people when it comes to submission to evil. What I mean by that is how we determine when we should turn the other cheek to those who do harm.

A curious defining moment for those under toxic leadership comes in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church. He says,

Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! 20 For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

2 Corinthians 11:18-21 (ESV)

Paul’s writing reeks of sarcasm here as it does in other places. The Corinthian church had gone far astray since Paul brought the Gospel to Corinth around 50 AD. He wrote the words above around 4-6 years later. There were some pretty serious problems that had popped up in that time.

There were those who were abusing their authority in the church, teaching contrary to Paul’s apostolic authority. In this passage, Paul’s sarcasm is directed at the followers. He is calling them to action.

Submission That is Not God’s Desire

When it comes to those who are abusing their authority, Paul would suggest that submission is not the desire of God. Here submission is to God who overrules wicked authority.

Paul describes it as bearing “with fools, being wise yourselves!” Putting up with wicked authority is no godly. When doing so, followers are allowing the leader(s) to “make slaves of you, or [devour] you, or [take] advantage of you.”

Paul, in his writing, can be harsh. But that harshness is intended to relieve those oppressed by that which God despises. God despises leaders who take advantage and oppress their subjects (Ezekiel 34). Paul, though sarcastic towards these followers in Corinth, is particularly looking out for the flock there.

This is not a call to be overly critical of leaders in Christian organizations.

Scripture still makes it evident that the default position of those under various authorities to recognize and submit to those authorities as God-given.

However, this perspective must also be balanced with Scripture’s continual call to leaders to lead under the direction of their LORD and for followers to hold leaders accountable to that same standard.

Hypocricy: Boasting of Rightness, Living Wrong

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One of the most damaging things to an organization is a leader who is a hypocrite.

The Oxford Dictionary defines hypocrisy as

the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.

This is particularly true for a Christian organization. This is why:

“You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Romans 2:23-24

There Goes the Neighborhood

A recent article I read from the days of yore when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were battling it out for their party’s nominations for President provides some interesting perspective.1

Leaders play a crucial role in establishing their organizations’ social structures, and successful organizations need to function like a neighborhood. Neighbors look out for each other and rally to work on projects, knowing that when they need help, other members of the community will step up to assist them.

When leaders say one thing and do another, they are destroying the “social structures” that make the organization operate effectively.

The article notes that followers pay attention to the leader’s commitment to their long-term well-being. If the leader’s integrity is questioned, then the “long-term” doesn’t look so good. Who can say what the leader says he will do is what he will indeed do?

If the Christian leader speaks adamantly of God’s Word as the fundamental driving force in his life and yet secretly, or not so secretly, ignores the Word in his everyday life, he is but a clanging gong (1 Corinthians 13). He cannot be trusted.

The “Best Practice Institute” puts it this way:

As the neighborhood dissolves, the organization functions more like a collection of strangers. When strangers interact, they have to settle up their debts in the moment. You can’t go to your local supermarket and borrow a dozen eggs because the supermarket can’t be confident that you’d show up later to pay for them. You can go to your neighbor and borrow eggs, though, because you have a trusted relationship.

The integrity of the leader matters. Hypocrisy, the failure to conform to those beliefs of which the leader espouses, destroys trust, engagement, and even the integrity of followers. Followers follow their leader.

Words and Actions

A consistent part of the Biblical witness and as it turns out, the perspective presented by this article, is that actions really matter; in fact, they show what the leader has purposed in his heart.

We show whether we really believe our beliefs by our actions. And when it is the law of God as Romans says that we are proclaiming as the system of our beliefs, then the breaking of those proclamations destroy our credibility. Leaders are on display nearly everyday of their lives. This becomes incredibly important.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, goes on to say:

[A]nd if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

Romans 2:19-21

What it means to be taught in Scripture is that we take the words down deep and live those words in our actions. Both things. It is not about gaining a boatload of knowledge and ignoring it when putting our hands to the plow.

Education in the Hebrew sense meant to be overcome by the words towards behavior that reflected that knowledge.

What is the Impact?

Paul says to the Romans that the witness of those who ignore their beliefs—behaving hypocritically—destroys the witness they have to the watching world.

Paul uses the “Gentiles” as the intended audience to the hypocrisy because at that time, those who were not Jews were those who were mostly outside the newborn Christian religion. They were only beginning to come in faith in Jesus Christ. Paul was deeply concerned that these people who were an important focus of his ministry would not be turned away from Jesus by His followers acting hypocritically.

How do we apply this to our organizational leaders?

We must hold high standards for our leaders. Mind you, our leaders will always fail. We are sinful people, no matter how high our position is. Each will fail in various ways.

However, along with those failures, humility—a common theme for these pages—will be evident in those same leaders who blow it by espousing one belief and acting in another. These leaders will recognize their failure, confess that failure willingly, turn from those failures (repentance), and finally make restitution happily.

These humble leaders are those who truly have a belief they proclaim, but sometimes fall to the temptation of expediency—or concupiscence—and in turn need to confess and make right.

But, keep in mind, there are failures that disqualify our leaders. Depending on the kind of leadership and authority they have been given, the failure may be such that even their humility cannot prevent long-term distrust.

In these cases, the leader should willingly step down from his position and seek a new “calling” in God’s kingdom.

Leaders need the trust of followers and hypocrisy is one sure way to destroy that.

Note

  1. Staff, B. P. I., and Best Practice Institute (2016), ‘The Unseen Consequences Of Hypocritical Leadership’, Best Practice Institute – Blog (20 June), https://blog.bestpracticeinstitute.org/consequences-of-hypocritical-leadership/, accessed 24 Jan. 2026.
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