Matthew 23:13

A common misinterpretation is to apply this condemnation universally to all religious leaders or churches today, ignoring the specific context of first-century Jewish hypocrisy and legalism, leading to blanket cynicism toward organized religion; others wrongly see it as justification for rejecting all authority or doctrine, overlooking Jesus' affirmation of true spiritual leadership elsewhere, or assume it means salvation is unattainable due to human gatekeepers, which contradicts the gospel's emphasis on direct access to God through Christ.

In this verse, Jesus pronounces a woe on the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy in obstructing the kingdom of heaven; they neither enter it themselves through genuine faith and repentance nor permit those who are on the verge of entering to do so, burdened instead by their legalistic traditions, outward religiosity, and misleading teachings that prioritize human rules over God's grace.