A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

HH. Christ’s Teaching On Our Ultimate Authority

(Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13)

I. Introduction

A. Down through Church History, a great battle has occurred over what constitutes our ultimate authority for faith and practice – the teachings and traditions of men or what is stated in written Scripture.

B. However, this battle did not begin with the Church, for Jesus addressed it before the Church era, and He noted its existence in the Old Testament in Matthew 15:1-9 and Mark 7:1-13. We view His remarks for our insight:

II. Christ’s Teaching On Our Ultimate Authority, Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13.

A. When the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, the nation’s religious authorities, saw Jesus’ disciples fail to wash their hands when they ate meals, a severe violation of the tradition of the elders, they found fault with them, and they confronted Jesus about the matter, Matthew 15:1-2; Mark 7:1-2.

B. In Christ’s era, violating hands-washing ordinances was a serious fault in the eyes of Israel’s religious leaders:

1. The Pharisees asserted that oral traditions on many kinds of washings of one’s hands or utensils or even furniture had been handed down from Moses coupled with precedents set by various judges along with opinions of predominant teachers (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 240, citing J. W. Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels, 1946, p. 280-281).

2. “‘The legal washing of the hands was considered of great importance by the Rabbis . . . One who neglected hand-washing after eating was ‘as bad as a murderer’ . . . The opposing schools of Hillel and Shammai’” begun by “‘two great rival teachers and heroes of Jewish traditionalism . . . (nevertheless) were agreed on the ordinance of hand-washing.’” (Ibid., Pentecost, p. 241, citing Shepard, loc. cit.)

C. Jesus’ reply to the religious leaders was both stunning and convicting, for He critiqued them for placing the traditions of men above God’s written Scriptures, thereby violating Scripture, Matthew 15:3-6:

1. Though Christ would later address the issue of hand-washing with one’s meals, He answered His religious critics by asking them why they transgressed God’s Scriptural commands by their traditions, Matt. 15:3.

2. Jesus then gave a glaring example of how His critics violated Scripture with their traditions, Matt. 15:4-6:

a. He referred to Exodus 20:12 in the Ten Commandments given by Moses that they were to honor their father and mother, and He also referred to Moses’ words in Exodus 21:17 and Leviticus 20:9 that directed that he who cursed his father and his mother was to be executed for committing a capital offense (Matthew 15:4)! Jesus thus built a strong case that involved the commands of Moses written in Scripture involving a capital offense to match the degree of emphasis that His religious critics put on hand-washing with meals!

b. However, Christ added that His critics taught that whoever told his father or mother that what finances he had that could be of help to his parents in their old age was a “gift,” that is, Qorban, what was given to the temple as a gift to God, was free from his obligation to give his parents that money (Matthew 15:5-6a).

c. To explain, “‘The meaning might simply be, and generally was, that it was to be regarded like Qorban – that it, in regard to the person or person’s named, the thing termed was to be considered as if it were Qorban, laid on the altar, and put entirely out of their reach.’” (Ibid., Pentecost, p. 243, citing Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 1912, vol. 2, p. 19) The son might give just a portion of the money to the temple with the blessing of the religious leaders since they profited from such temple gifts in a big scam (Ibid., Pentecost, p. 242, citing David Smith, The Days if His Flesh, 1911, p. 244-245)!

d. Jesus thus rightfully accused His religious critics of making the commandment of God to honor and not curse one’s parents of no effect by their wicked Qorban tradition (Matthew 15:6b)!

e. However, this problem of putting man’s traditions above God’s written Word had long been a problem in Israel’s history, what Jesus noted in Matthew 15:7-9: Jesus accused his critics of hypocrisy in critiquing His followers for not following their tradition when they in fact were the ones to be blamed for disobeying God (Matthew 15:7). He added that the prophet Isaiah well stated in Isaiah 29:13 that Israel’s people drew near to God with their mouths, honoring Him with their lips, but their heart was far from Him as they vainly worshiped Him in teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:8-9).

Lesson: According to Jesus, Scripture takes precedence over man-made traditions and commandments, that to reverse this priority leads to a hypocrisy and vain kind of worship that is devoid of truth and righteousness.

Application: To worship God in truth, may we heed Scripture above the traditions and commandments of men.