Generation of Vipers

When the Pharisees and Sadducees came to see John as he was baptizing, he gave them this severe chastisement: “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matt. 3:7-8).  The Savior gave a similar rebuke to the Pharisees during His ministry: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34).  In the last week of His life the Savior said once more by way of condemnation, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt. 23:33)  Both John and Jesus thus condemned the religious leaders of the day, labeling them as “vipers.”  A viper is a poisonous snake, and so clearly this was a pretty serious denunciation of vile doing and wickedness.  What was it that they were doing to merit being called vipers?

             Since the key characteristic of vipers is that they kill, perhaps this group received the term vipers from John and Jesus because they were leading others to spiritual destruction.  Just as vipers kill physically, their doctrines and practices were leading to spiritual death.  Jesus warned in these words, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”  Matthew explained this saying, “He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6, 12).  Their doctrine, like a snake’s venom, was dangerous.  Jesus later also explained the spiritual damning effect of these Jewish leaders, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in…. Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23:13, 15).  The effect of their works, though religious and pious on the outside, was to lead people away from the kingdom of God.  They were vipers by spiritually destroying those they should have been leading to salvation.   

Another way we might interpret the appellation is that these wicked rulers, the ones who ultimately sought the death of Christ, had chosen the devil—the serpent—as their leader.  Jesus condemned them for not doing the works of Abraham, whom they claimed as their father, saying, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).  So if they truly had chosen as their father “that old serpent, called the Devil,” then they too were serpents like him seeking to deceive and lead away the children of men (Revelation 12:9).  A serpent can only beget other serpents.

             Perhaps the most important question for us, then, is whether we are doing the same in our own lives.  Do we lead others to the Savior through our service, or does our pride and contention actually have the opposite effect?  Have we truly chosen the Savior as our Father to follow Him to salvation, or has the devil ensnared us to perform only the outward appearance of actions while inward our hearts are unchanged by the Lord?  John’s message to them and to us today is the same: “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matt. 23:15).  And as we do so, we can become the shepherds the Lord intends us to be instead of the serpents the devil would make of us.