Matthew 15:3

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, WHY DO YE ALSO TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD BY YOUR TRADITION? The charge is retorted with startling power: 'The tradition they transgress is but man's, and is itself the occasion of heavy transgression, undermining the authority of God's law.'...

3._Why do you also transgress? _There are here two answers that are given by Christ, the former of which is addressed, as we say, to the person; while the latter decides as to the fact and the question in hand. _Mark _inverts that order; for he first represents Christ as speaking on the whole subject, and afterwards adds the reproof which is directed against hypocrites. We shall follow the narrative of Matthew. When the Lord, in his turn, puts the question to the scribes _why _they break the Law of God on account of their traditions, he does not as yet pronounce a direct acquittal of his disciples from the crime charged against them; but only points out how improper and unwarrantable is this readiness to take offense. They are displeased when _the commandments of men _are not observed with exactness; and how much more criminal is it to spend the whole time in observing them, to the disre...

1-9 Additions to God's laws reflect upon his wisdom, as if he had left out something which was needed, and which man could supply; in one way or other they always lead men to disobey God. How thankful ought we to be for the written word of God! Never let us think that the religion of the Bible can be improved by any human addition, either in doctrine or practice. Our blessed Lord spoke of their traditions as inventions of their own, and pointed out one instance in which this was very clear, that of their transgressing the fifth commandment. When a parent's wants called for assistance, they pleaded, that they had devoted to the temple all they could spare, even though they did not part with it, and therefore their parents must expect nothing from them. This was making the command of God of no effect. The doom of hypocrites is put in a little compass; "In vain do they worship me." It will...

Verse Matthew 15:3. _WHY DO YE - TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENT_] Ye accuse my disciples of transgressing the _traditions_ of the _elders _- I accuse you of transgressing the _commands_ of God, and that too in favour of your own tradition; thus preferring the inventions of men to the positive precepts of God. Pretenders to zeal often prefer superstitious usages to the Divine law, and human inventions to the positive duties of Christianity....

See also Mark 7:1. THEN CAME TO JESUS ... - Mark says that they saw the disciples of Jesus eating with unwashed hands. Matthew 15:2 TRANSGRESS THE TRADITION OF THE ELDERS - The world “elders” literally means “old men.” Here it means the “ancients,” or their “ancestors.” The “tradition of the elders” meant something handed down from one to another by memory; some precept or custom not commanded in the written law, but which scribes and Pharisees held themselves bound to observe. They supposed that when Moses was on Mount Sinai two sets of laws were delivered to him: one, they said, was recorded, and is that contained in the Old Testament; the other was handed down

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 15:1 _Discourse concerning ceremonial pollution. _(Mark 7:1.) MATTHEW 15:1 THEN. This is after the third Passover, which whether our Lord attended or not, has been a matter of some dispute. Moral considerations would make us infer that he was present, fulfilling all righteousness, though there is no direct statement in our narratives on the subject. CAME TO JESUS SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, WHICH WERE OF JERUSALEM, SAYING. The Sinaitic, B, and some other manuscripts read, _Came to Jesus from Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees. _This, which is virtually the reading of the Revised Version, whether origina

BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM,.... Taking no notice of the tradition about eating bread without washing the hands, whether it was right or wrong; it being at most but an human tradition, of no moment and importance, whether it was broke or kept; he makes a very just recrimination, by putting another question to them, WHY DO YOU ALSO TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD BY YOUR TRADITION? suggesting, that, if his disciples were guilty, they were not so guilty as they themselves were; that his disciples, at most, were but guilty of the breach of an human precept, whereas they were guilty of the breach of a divine command; and that it was strange, that men who were so scrupulous of breaking, and bore so hard on such as did transgress the traditions of the elders, could allow themselves to transgress the commandments of God; yea, to do this by, and while they were observing their own trad...

Matthew 15:1. _Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread._ A very wonderful omission certainly, but it seems to have struck them as a very great crime. «They wash not their hands when they eat bread» as if the commands of God were not enough, men must overload us. with their own commands, and sometimes the very people who would see us break God's commands without being at all distressed are dreadfully shocked if we do not keep theirs, showing clearly that they have a higher estimate of themselves than they have of God. Matthew 15:3. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Fo

3. THE CORRUPTION OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES; THE CANAANITISH WOMAN AND HER FAITH; THE MULTITUDES HEALED. CHAPTER 15 _ 1. The Question of the Scribes and Pharisees.(Matthew 15:1 .) 2. His Answer. (Matthew 15:3 .) 3. The Multitude Called.(Matthew 15:10 .) 4. The Disciples Instructed.(Matthew 15:12 .) 5. The Canaanitish Woman. (Matthew 15:21 .) 6. The Multitudes Healed. (Matthew 15:29 .)_ This chapter introduces us more fully

THE WASHING OF HANDS AND THE TRADITIONS OF THE ELDERS (Mark 7:1 *). Mt. is again briefer than Mk. He omits the parenthetical explanation Mark 7:3 f. and the technical term Corban, turns the statement of Mark 7:9 into a question (Matthew 15:3), and puts the quotation from Isaiah as a climax after the Corban passage. He also substitutes God (Matthew 15:4) for Moses (Mark 7:10) to heighten the antithesis with But _you_ say ...