In order to be a chief priest or a Pharisee, one needed to be a student of the Word of God from a young age, and to know the Torah from front to back. Yet the religious leaders, who were zealous for the law and knew all about the Torah, were the very people who plotted to kill Jesus.
They had head knowledge, but they did not have a heart for the person of Jesus. They had all this Bible knowledge, but they did not have the Author of the Bible in their hearts.
In a marriage, husbands and wives can use Bible verses to condemn one another. Now,
please don’t do that—please don’t use your Bible knowledge to make people feel lousy about themselves! That is what the Pharisees did.
They would quote from the Old Testament to tear people down instead of saving them. They wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery, quoting from the law of Moses, but Jesus saved her by inviting the one who had no sin to cast the first stone. Beginning with the eldest Pharisee, they dropped
their murderous rocks and departed. Whenever you find people using the Bible to condemn and to crush those who have failed and who are in need of a Savior, your spiritual antenna needs to be on high alert.