Here is the balancing passage:
“Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the* doctrine* of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Mat 16:12
Why "beware’’ if you are to obey “whatever”, irregardless ? It is much more than just don’t be a hypocrite. Bad (leavened) doctrine is not binding, hence "beware’’ of what teachings you believe and follow.
Blessings
Very good point. And I certainly don’t wish to dodge this. I don’t believe there is a perfect analogy for the Teaching of the Old Covenant and the Teaching of the New Covenant. The Old did not gave the gift of the Holy Spirit within the people. Now we know Him, and can be Taught by Him. But we do this as one body and with the same judgement.
We “can” know Him and His Teachings when we are led by His Spirit. Consider what the High Priest said at the council…
John 11
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” But one of them, Ca′iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.”He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.
Now, if you listen to the words of the High Priest, they are true!!! Yet they are spoken by a man who has set himself on the opposition side of God. Jesus was warning of Teachings by these men, who have set their hearts against mercy, faithfullness, and justice. This is why Jesus warns…
Matthew 23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.*You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
Notice He says “… these you ought have done, without neglecting the others.”. It is their hearts which were set against mercy and justice and faith!
But the New Covenant brings this to the believer and converted. What I hope you understand about the Catholic faith, is this; it is not dependent on the righteousness of the persons in the Magisterium for us to hear the Truth of God in their Teaching. The Holy Spirit Himself will illuminate our minds.
Two men can be agreeing to a Teaching, yet one is known by the Lord and the other a devil. My purpose here is not to win people over to Pope Francis, but to honor their local parish priest, even for being a fellow servant subject to the government which is on the shoulders of Christ.
The Pharisees and high Priests during Jesus were Teaching nothing evil. They were simply following the evil they were blind to, so their Teaching needed much warning. From their perspective Jesus should die, for example. From Peter’s perspective, he wanted to fight to keep Jesus from dying. But none could prevent the fact that He fashioned His death as inevitable.
