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{Sermons on Ephesians 5:15
The Doctrine Explained
Precisians are Described
Negatively
Not a Pharisee}
A Precisian is not a Pharisee, a painted tomb (Matthew 23:27), one whose Christianity is a mere show, or one who has the form of godliness without its power (2 Timothy 3:5). He is not one who is pure in his own eyes yet not cleansed from his filthiness (Proverbs 30:12). He is not one who, while neglecting the weightier things of the law,29 is exact about the fine details of Christianity and has a great zeal about the minor things of the law and about the lower and more circumstantial matters (Matthew 23:23). This is not a Precisian.
29the law: in this context and throughout the book, the teaching of Scripture. The Hebrew word Torah is often translated “Law,” but while God’s entire Word has the force of law, Torah is best understood as teaching—teaching that, indeed, has the force of law, but is also directed to people’s hearts and minds so as to change what they are inside.
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