Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 23:13

"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye enter not in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering in to enter[.]" — Matthew 23:13 (ASV)

While our Savior was speaking to the people and His disciples, the scribes and Pharisees may have again drawn near. At any rate, His next words were addressed to them: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” This is the first of eight “woes,” in which the Lord Jesus both foretells the doom of the hypocrites gathered before Him and reveals the depth of His pity even for them. In seven of the eight “woes,” He calls them “hypocrites”; in one, He addresses them as “blind guides.” This first “woe” was pronounced against them because, as far as they could, they “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.” This was a terrible charge to be brought against them by Him who could read their hearts and who could truthfully say to them, “for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”

They ought to have helped men into the kingdom; instead of doing so, they hindered those who were entering. Are there not false teachers, nowadays, who put stumbling-stones instead of stepping-stones in the way of those who are entering the kingdom of heaven?