They teach the commandments of men as doctrines

The Pharisees: when rules replace God

1.To understand Jesus’ words in Matthew 15:9, we must first understand who the Pharisees were and what they did. The Pharisees were a Jewish religious sect that had taken upon themselves the task of “protecting” God’s Law by adding hundreds of supplementary rules. This system of rules is known as halakhah— an oral tradition that over time became more important than the Law itself. The paradox was evident: in the attempt to protect God’s Law, they were suffocating it under a weight of human regulations.

2. Jesus identified this problem with devastating clarity. In Matthew 15:6, he said to the Pharisees: “Thus you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.” And shortly thereafter, quoting Isaiah, he uttered the words that give the title to this article: “It is in vain that they keep worshipping me, for they teach commands of men as doctrines” (Matthew 15:8-9). The worship of the Pharisees was vain — not because they were not sincere, but because they had replaced the will of God with their own rules.

3. In Matthew 23:4, Jesus added: “They bind up heavy loads and put them on the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger.” Think about this: the religious leaders imposed rules they themselves were not willing to bear. And in Matthew 23:13, the verdict was even more severe: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the Kingdom of the heavens before men; for you yourselves do not go in, neither do you permit those on their way to go in.”

4.This pattern — adding human rules to the Word of God, presenting them as divine, and using them to control people — is not a problem of the first century. It is a problem of every age. And the question every sincere Christian should ask is: is my religious community doing the same thing?

“It has been accomplished” — what Jesus actually did

5.One of Jesus’ final words on the stake was tetélestai— “it has been accomplished” (John 19:30). This Greek word did not simply mean “I am dying.” In the commercial language of the first century, tetélestai was written on receipts to indicate that a debt had been paid in full. Jesus was declaring that the debt of sin had been completely settled. Not partially. Not “on condition that.” Completely.

6. The apostle Paul deeply understood this principle and argued it systematically. In Ephesians 2:8-9, he wrote: “By this undeserved kindness you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; rather, it is God’s gift. No, it is not a result of works, so that no one should have grounds for boasting.” Salvation is a gift. Not a wage. Not a prize for having followed enough rules.

7. In Romans 3:28, Paul reinforced the concept: “For we consider that a man is declared righteous by faith apart from works of law.” And in Romans 6:23: “For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.” Notice the contrast: sin “pays a wage” (something one earns), but everlasting life is a “gift” (something one receives gratuitously).

8.If the sacrifice of Christ truly paid the debt in full, then any system that adds human requirements to salvation is implicitly saying that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough. Every rule added beyond what the Scriptures require becomes an addition to the price already paid — and this is exactly what the Pharisees did.

The two commandments: everything else is human addition

9. When a Pharisee asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment of the Law, the answer was extraordinarily simple. Matthew 22:37-40 reports: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets.”

10.Jesus did not say “on these two commandments, plus another 300 rules, the Law hangs.” He said that the whole Law and the Prophets hang on these two principles: love God and love your neighbor. This is the core of the divine will. In John 15:12, Jesus summed it up further: “This is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you.”

11. The apostle John confirmed this simplicity in 1 John 5:3: “For this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome.” God’s commandments are not burdensome. If the weight we carry in our spiritual life is crushing, perhaps the problem is not God — but the rules of men.

12.Let’s make a practical comparison. On the one hand, the explicit biblical commandments: love God, love neighbor, have faith in Christ, practice justice, show mercy. On the other, some rules that religious organizations have added over time:

• Forbidding beards to brothers with service appointments (without any scriptural basis)
• Discouraging university education (despite the Bible promoting knowledge and wisdom)
• Imposing a minimum number of preaching hours (a concept absent from the Scriptures)
• Forbidding certain types of clothing or hairstyles (beyond the principles of modesty)
• Forbidding contact with those who leave the organization (contradicting love for neighbor)

Which of these rules is found explicitly in the Bible? None. Yet those who don’t follow them are judged, marginalized, or even disfellowshipped.

The letter to the Galatians: the warning no one applies to themselves

13.Paul’s letter to the Galatians is perhaps the most powerful document in the New Testament on Christian freedom, and yet it is also the most ignored. Paul wrote this letter because the congregations of Galatia were returning to a system of rules — influenced by Judaizing Christians who insisted on circumcision and observance of the Mosaic Law as requirements for salvation.

14. In Galatians 3:1-3, Paul wrote with exasperation: “O senseless Galatians, who has cast a spell over you? [...] After starting in spirit, are you now ending in flesh?” The principle is clear: if you have been saved by grace through faith, you cannot return to seeking justification through a system of rules. Yet this is exactly what happens when a religious organization turns human practices into requirements for being considered “in good standing” before God.

15. Galatians 5:1 is a cry of freedom: “For such freedom Christ set us free. Therefore, stand firm, and do not let yourselves be confined again in a yoke of slavery.” A yoke of slavery. These are the inspired words of Paul. Any system that goes beyond what Christ has taught and imposes human rules as a condition of God’s acceptance is, according to the Scriptures, a yoke of slavery.

The yoke is light — is it really?

16.As we have seen, 1 John 5:3 declares that God’s commandments “are not burdensome.” And in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus made a wonderful promise: “Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for yourselves. For my yoke is kindly, and my load is light.”

17.These words deserve honest reflection. If you follow an organized religion and your spiritual burden is heavy — if you feel constantly judged, if you never do enough, if joy has been replaced by guilt — then perhaps the yoke you carry is not Christ’s. Jesus promised refreshment, not exhaustion. He promised a light load, not a crushing weight. If your religious experience does not correspond to this description, the question is legitimate: whose yoke are you carrying?

“Restoring pure worship” — but where is it written?

18.Many religious organizations claim to have “restored pure worship.” But this claim deserves a critical examination. In John 4:21-23, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [...] The true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed, the Father is looking for ones like these to worship him.” Jesus was abolishing the idea that worship was tied to a place, an organization, or a system. True worship is “with spirit and truth” — not “with rules and structures.”

19. The apostle Paul confirmed it in 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now Jehovah is the Spirit, and where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.” Freedom. Not conformism. Not blind obedience to a committee of men. Freedom in the spirit.

20.The claim of having “restored pure worship” is often based on circular reasoning: “We are the true religion because we have the truth, and we have the truth because we are the true religion.” But pure worship, according to the Scriptures, is not an organization. It is a personal relationship with God based on love, faith, and the truth of the Scriptures — not on conformity to human rules.

Some concrete examples

21.Let’s now examine some specific cases in which human rules were presented as the will of God, only to be modified or abandoned later — showing that they had never been divine.

22. Beards.For decades, brothers with service appointments within the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses could not wear beards. Those who did were considered “not exemplary” and could lose their service privileges. This rule had no scriptural basis — on the contrary, in the Bible the beard was a sign of dignity and masculinity (2 Samuel 10:4-5; Psalm 133:2). In 2023, the Governing Body finally admitted that beards are a personal matter. But for generations, faithful men have been judged, deprived of appointments, and made to feel unworthy for a rule that had never been God’s.

23. Marital sexuality.In the past, the organization went so far as to pronounce on intimate practices between husband and wife, establishing what was “acceptable” and what was not in the bedroom of a married couple. These directives were later withdrawn. But during the period when they were in force, married couples suffered guilt, and some were even subjected to judicial committees over matters concerning exclusively their marital intimacy.

24. Blood transfusions.The position on blood transfusions has changed several times over the decades. First they were completely forbidden. Then blood fractions became a “matter of conscience.” Some components that were previously prohibited are now acceptable. If a rule is truly an immutable divine commandment, how can it change over time? And what about those who died refusing treatments that today would be considered acceptable?

25. Higher education. For years, the organization strongly discouraged young people from undertaking university studies, presenting higher education as a spiritual danger. Yet the Bible says: “The heart of the understanding one acquires knowledge” (Proverbs 15:14). Many young people have given up educational and professional opportunities based on advice that has no scriptural foundation, finding themselves later in financial difficulties they could have avoided.

26. In each of these cases, the pattern is the same: a human rule is presented as divine will, then it is modified or abandoned, demonstrating that it was never from God. But in the meantime, lives have been damaged. And no one has ever apologized.

Questions for reflection

“Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine.”

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

With Christian love and sincere respect,
A Member of the Lovers of Truth
03/30/2026