Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 23:16-19

"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor. Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?" — Matthew 23:16-19 (ASV)

The form of the fourth “woe” differs from all the rest. In the other seven, our Savior said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” In this case, His words were, “Woe unto you, ye blind guides!” They were nominally the religious guides of the Jews, but they were really “blind guides.” Sin, prejudice, bigotry, and hypocrisy had blinded their eyes. They considered themselves to be the wise men of the nation, but Jesus addressed them as both “fools and blind.” There are none so stupid as those who will not learn, and none so blind as those who will not see. This was the case with the scribes and Pharisees. They were willfully foolish and willingly blind.

Our Lord here condemned their misleading teaching concerning oaths. They actually taught that, if a man swore “by the temple,” his oath was not binding, but that, if he swore “by the gold of the temple,” he was bound by his oath. And similarly, they declared that an oath “by the altar” was not binding, but that, if a man swore “by the gift that is upon the altar,” he was bound by his oath! It is no wonder at our Savior’s indignant exclamation, “Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? ...the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?” The sanctity lay in the temple and the altar, not in the gold or the gift.

Jesus had forbidden all swearing (Matthew 5:34–36), so that He was not exalting one form of oath over another, but rather pointing out the folly and blindness of the scribes and Pharisees in reversing the right order of things. If any swearing had been permissible, an oath “by the temple” must have been more binding than one “by the gold of the temple,” yet these false teachers said, “It is nothing.” When people once depart from the plain teaching of Christ, it is easy for them to fall into all kinds of heresies and absurdities.