Matthew 15 - The Danger of Tradition
Click To Read Matthew 15
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
The Pharisees were always on the look out for Jesus to make a wrong move. The tried to use the Old Testament law to try to besmirch him. In this case they accused Jesus' disciples of not washing their hands. But Jesus turns the tables around and points out their hypocrisy. In particular, he notes they have been more focused on tradition than scripture itself.
"The matter in question had nothing to do with good hygiene. The religious officials were offended that the disciples did not observe the rigid, extensive rituals for washing before meals." - Guzik
Then Jesus takes the offensive. He points out how the Pharisees have taken one of the most basic commandments, "Honor and your father and mother", and twisted it to their own ends. They make a crucial error when they lean on their own interpretations over the plain meaning of the scripture. Their error was that they elevated man’s tradition to an equal level with God’s revealed Word.
This error has plagued the church throughout its history. The liberal movement of the church in the 20th century took the slippery slope of elevating man's reason over the clearly revealed word of God. There are many passages that are hard to understand, yet we need scripture to be the norming norm for all issues in life. The greatest example of this is when some liberal scholars even suggested that Jesus' resurrection did not have to happen literally to be true. They reasoned it was a metaphor for God's victory over death.
The problem with this interpretation is if Jesus did not raise from the dead as the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, "We are among all people most to be pitied." And again Paul says if Jesus did not rise from the dead, "our faith is futile and we are still guilty of our sins."
When one looks out at the moral decay of our society and the dilution of the authority and role of the bible, I wonder how much we have stopped letting the Word of God speak for itself? The problem is once the authority and inspiration of has been taken over by man's reason, it is just a good book with some wise sayings. It is not the Word of God which reveals God's plan for saving the world culminating in the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ!
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
The Pharisees were always on the look out for Jesus to make a wrong move. The tried to use the Old Testament law to try to besmirch him. In this case they accused Jesus' disciples of not washing their hands. But Jesus turns the tables around and points out their hypocrisy. In particular, he notes they have been more focused on tradition than scripture itself.
"The matter in question had nothing to do with good hygiene. The religious officials were offended that the disciples did not observe the rigid, extensive rituals for washing before meals." - Guzik
Then Jesus takes the offensive. He points out how the Pharisees have taken one of the most basic commandments, "Honor and your father and mother", and twisted it to their own ends. They make a crucial error when they lean on their own interpretations over the plain meaning of the scripture. Their error was that they elevated man’s tradition to an equal level with God’s revealed Word.
This error has plagued the church throughout its history. The liberal movement of the church in the 20th century took the slippery slope of elevating man's reason over the clearly revealed word of God. There are many passages that are hard to understand, yet we need scripture to be the norming norm for all issues in life. The greatest example of this is when some liberal scholars even suggested that Jesus' resurrection did not have to happen literally to be true. They reasoned it was a metaphor for God's victory over death.
The problem with this interpretation is if Jesus did not raise from the dead as the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, "We are among all people most to be pitied." And again Paul says if Jesus did not rise from the dead, "our faith is futile and we are still guilty of our sins."
When one looks out at the moral decay of our society and the dilution of the authority and role of the bible, I wonder how much we have stopped letting the Word of God speak for itself? The problem is once the authority and inspiration of has been taken over by man's reason, it is just a good book with some wise sayings. It is not the Word of God which reveals God's plan for saving the world culminating in the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ!
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