Yawn you’re wrong and boring for this caricature
Here’s 5 ways the Pharisees are a perfect correlation to the Papacy (and in many cases Eastern Orthodoxy).
1. Jesus said of the Pharisees that they “sit in Moses’ seat” meaning that they genuinely carried forward a kind of teaching authority connected to Moses. This is the most important parallel because, it is believed the Pope sits in the chair of Peter or EO’s stand on their apostolic succession. This single parallel means that Jesus’ treatment of them is valid when it comes to others who claim (legit or not) to have such a position in teaching authority.
2. The Pharisees claimed to have unwritten Tradition which came to them from Moses. It was preserved through time and carried binding authority upon Jews. This is identical to RC and EO claims, as they insist they are not innovating but preserving what Jesus and the apostles taught but which was not written down.
3. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for teaching their traditions which conflicted with and subverted the commands of God in Scripture. He pulled no punches here! Their additions to God’s word were rejected. Their Tradition, along with its supposed claims to merely preserve unwritten teachings from Moses, were subjected to the testing of Scripture. Scripture had authority over the Tradition. Jesus modeled for us the practicing of Sola Scriptura.
4. Their authority was acknowledged and diminished. Jesus acknowledged they sat in Moses’ seat and as much as they merely taught what Moses said they were to be obeyed. But when they added their traditions and rules of man their authority was to be ignored. They were going beyond the sphere where their authority could hold power. Why? Because the power was in Scripture and when they departed from it they went away powerless. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox authority should be treated the same way.
5. In the end, Jesus was continuing the work of God and those men could either get with it or get left behind. Some of them got with it. Nicodemus is a wonderful example of a man who was in those ranks who learned that he didn’t know as much as he thought. Jesus exposed the ignorance of Scripture that results from a mind ruled by Tradition when he said to Nicodemus, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?”
— John 3:10
The Pharisees are a solid parallel of ecclesial authorities who came after the apostles’ time.