Matthew 23:3

Whatsoever they bid you. Here, in ch. 23, Jesus does not challenge the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees — which He did upon other occasions (see on Mark 7:1-13) — but focuses attention on the fact that their lives are inconsistent with their exalted profession of righteousness.

Do not ye. In vs. 13-33 Jesus specifically condemns such things as affected superior sanctity, ostentatious devotions, love of preeminence in religious and other activities, and greed. We do well to examine our own lives for traces of the same evils that made the word “Pharisee” synonymous with “hypocrite” (see on Luke 18:9-14).

They say, and do not. Or, “they preach, but do not practice” (RSV). See on ch. 7:21—23. To say without doing is what makes a man a hypocrite (see on chs. 6:2; 7:5). The scribes and Pharisees professed absolute loyalty to the Scriptures, but failed to practice the principles there set forth. Their good deeds consisted in a meticulous attention to ceremony and ritual requirements rather than to the “weightier matters of the law” (see on chs. 9:13; 22:36; 23:23). Compare the lesson from the cursing of the fig tree (see on Mark 11:12-14, 20-22) and from the example of the son who said, “I go, sir: and went not” (Matt. 21:30).