The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’^(A)

³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”^(A)

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God^{(A) 18} and know his will and determine what really matters because you are instructed in the law, ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,^{(B) 21} you, then, who teach others, will you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(C) 22} You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by your transgression of the law? ²⁴ For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed^[a] among the gentiles because of you.”^(D)

²⁵ Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law your circumcision has become uncircumcision.^{(E) 26} So, if the uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ Then the physically uncircumcised person who keeps the law will judge you who, though having the written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law. ²⁸ For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something external and physical.^{(F) 29} Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the written code. Such a person receives praise not from humans but from God.^(G)

²⁸ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’^(A)

³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”^(A)

²⁰ the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for then the Lord’s anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.^(A)

¹⁹ It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.

⁵ In the same way, you who are younger must be subject to the elders.^[a] And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for