BOOK OF THE MONTH: Evangelical Pharisees

JULY BOOK OF THE MONTH

REVIEWER: Rev John Woods

BOOK: Evangelical Pharisees: The Gospel as Cure for the Church’s Hypocrisy
Author: Michael Reeves
(Crossway, 2023) 128pp, paperback   

Preachers never seem to know what to do with the Pharisees! Either they attract the boos and hisses usually associated with pantomime villains, or they are rehabilitated as those making the best of a bad job in compromised 1st century Palestine. Are they the justifiable butt of 1000 sermons, or are they a dedicated group who were trying their best? This book suggests that neither approach is entirely satisfactory. What is needed when we look at the Pharisees is not a microscope to scrutinise their hypocrisy but a mirror to see our own hypocrisy reflected.   

In four brief chapters, Reeves uses Scripture to examine attitudes toward revelation, redemption, regeneration and God. In each, Reeves reminds the reader that it is possible to be close to authentic spiritual experience and yet be a million miles from it.   

In the first of these sections, Reeves reminds us that the ‘people of the book’ can miss the point of that book. Our loud claims to be scriptural can drown out the voice of Scripture itself. In the second section, he explores redemption by taking a deep dive into the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, to examine which one sees himself and God most clearly. Then in the third section, the author shows that just as the Pharisees made loud claims to be what they were not, it is possible for Christians to make similar claims about their strengths but have nothing tangible to show for it.  

In the last section, the author shows how the underlying problem for the Pharisees was that they missed seeing the glory of God because they were seeking their own. 

Here the author makes the fascinating observation concerning evangelicals:   

‘It has sometimes been said that evangelicalism is too human-centred. In practice, that is tragically true. Sometimes it been true that those who adopt the label “evangelical” have been distracted from the gospel…Yet integrity to the gospel requires God-centredness.’ 

Reviewer: Rev John Woods
Rev John Woods, a pastor for nearly 40 years, is training director for the School of Preachers Trust and a teacher at the Latvian Bible Centre.