15 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying,

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1 May 18, 2014 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON JESUS TEACHING ON THE LAW MINISTRY INVOCATION O God: We give thanks to You for the manifold blessings to us. You did not have to bless us but You did. We shall remain eternally grateful. Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and the rich man to teach His followers to put their selfish desires aside so they can help the poor. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ. TEXT: Background Scripture Exodus 20; Isaiah 29:13-14; Matthew 5:17-48; 15:1-19; Romans 3:31 Key Verse Matthew 15:8-9 Lesson Scripture Matthew 15:1-11, Matthew 15:1 11 (NKJV) 15 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. 3 He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and your mother ; and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. 5 But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God 6 then he need not honor his father or mother. Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 9 These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. 10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. 1

2 Matthew 15:15 20 (NKJV) 15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, Explain this parable to us. 16 So Jesus said, Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. COMMENTARY Verse 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. Some other manuscripts read, Came to Jesus from Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees. This, which is virtually the reading of the Revised Version, whether original or not, seems to represent the fact correctly. The bigoted rabbis of the capital, aroused to fresh action by the news of Christ s success in Galilee, send emissaries from Jerusalem to see if they cannot find some cause of offence in the words or actions of this rash Innovator, which may give the desired opportunity of crushing him. An occasion offered itself, and was immediately seized. Verse 2. Thy disciples. They had watched our Lord and his followers partaking of some meal, and doubtless Christ had acted in the same manner as His disciples. Open houses and food partaken of in public allowed this close observation without any infringement of Eastern courtesy. They come to Christ with the insidious question, because they consider Him answerable for His disciples doings. They imply that His teaching has led to the transgression. Doubtless, the apostles, from Christ s instruction and example, were learning to free themselves from the endless rules and restrictions which were no help to religion, and to attend more to the great realities of vital piety and holiness. The omission of the outward acts, rabbinically enjoined, was readily marked and censured. The tradition. This formed a vast collection of additions, explanations, etc., of the original Law, partly, as was affirmed, delivered orally by Moses, and handed down from generation to generation; and partly accumulated by successive expounders. It was not put into writing until after our Lord s time but was taught authoritatively by accredited teachers, who, while retaining the letter of the Law, abrogated its spirit, nullifying the broad line of God s commandments by enforcing minute observances and puerile restrictions, which were a burden and impediment to purity and devotion, rather than an aid and encouragement. The elders, the ancients. The older expositors and rabbis, whose 2

3 commentaries had been orally handed down. Such traditions were regarded with more respect than the letter of Scripture and the latter had to give way when it seemed to be antagonistic to the former. Wash not their hands when they eat bread. To eat bread means to take food of any kind. The fear of legal defilement led to a multitude of rabbinical rules of the most vexatious and troublesome nature, the infringement of any of which endangered a man s ceremonial purity. These frivolous regulations had been built upon the plain Mosaical enactments of Lev. 11, etc. St. Matthew, writing for those who were well acquainted with these glosses, enters into no details; St. Mark is more explicit. It is to be remarked that the Pharisees were extending and enforcing these traditions just when the Law was to be superseded by something more spiritual, and doing so in spite of the interdiction. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you (Deut. 4:2). Verse 3. He answered. Christ does not formally defend His disciples, nor condemn the Pharisees for their ceremonial ablutions, but He turns to a matter of more importance, even a plain breach or evasion of a plain commandment. Ye also. If my disciples transgress a tradition of the ancients, ye too transgress, and that the commandment of God an error of far graver character. His nonobservance of these minutia showed their unimportance and called attention to the inward purity which they typified, and which could be maintained without these external ceremonies. At the same time, Jesus does not condemn such symbolical acts, even as He Himself washed the disciples feet before the last Supper. The evil in rabbinical teachings was that it superseded the spiritual view and placed outward cleansing on a higher level than inward holiness. By on account of, in order to maintain. Your tradition. Tradition which is emphatically yours and not God s, a human gloss, not a revealed command. Jesus does not accept the assertion that these traditions are derived from the ancients; He gives them a more modern origin. Verse 4. Christ proceeds to give an instance of the evacuation of the Law by means of tradition. God commanded. Christ cites the fifth commandment, because it more especially appealed to the conscience of every one and was emphasized by the solemn enactment of death as the penalty of its infringement (Exod. 20:12; 21:17). Honor This term includes the idea of succor and support, as in 1 Tim. 5:3, Honor widows that are widows indeed; and in 1 Tim. 5:17. In God s view, honor to parents is not, shown only in outward salutations, obedience, and respect, but also in material assistance, help provided for their needs, alms freely bestowed when necessary. This well-known signification makes the tradition next given more inexcusable. Die the death. shall surely be put to death. If words against parents are thus punished, shall not deeds be visited? 3

4 Verse 5. But ye say. In direct contradiction to what God commanded. It is a gift, etc. This is better rendered, That wherewith thou mightest have been benefited by me is Corbon; i.e. is given, dedicated to God. The vow to consecrate his savings, even at death, to the temple absolved a man from the duty of succoring his parents. It was further ruled that if a son, from any motive whatever, pronounced any aid to his parents to be corban, he was thenceforward precluded from affording them help, the claims of the commandment and of natural affection and charity being superseded by the vow. He seems to have been allowed to expend the money thus saved on himself or any other object except his father and mother. So gross an evasion of a common duty could not be placed in the same category as the omission of unnecessary washings. Verse 6. And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. The words are best taken as put into the Pharisees mouth in the sense, The man under those circumstances shall not honor, etc.; he is free from the obligation of helping his parents. Christ, thus, sharply emphasizes the contradiction between God s Law and man s perversion thereof. Thus; This is our Lord s own saying. Made of none effect. Evacuated its real force and spirit. By; owing to, for the sake of, Verse 7. Ye hypocrites. He called them by this name because, while they pretended that zeal for God s glory led them to these explanations and amplifications of the Law, they were really influenced by covetousness and avarice, and virtually despised that which they professed to uphold. Well did Esaias prophesy of you (Isa. 29:13). That is, their conduct fulfilled the saying of the prophet. Such prophecies were for all time and were suitable for various circumstances, characters, and events. Christ is wont to fortify His arguments by the authority of Scripture, often rather explaining the mind of the Spirit than quoting the exact words. Verse 8 With their mouth. They use the prescribed forms of worship, guard with much care the letter of Scripture, observe its legal and ceremonial enactments, are strict in the practice of all outward formalities. But their heart. This is what the prophets so constantly object. Prayers, sacrifices, etc., are altogether unacceptable unless inspired by inward devotion, and accompanied by purity of heart. Verse 9. But in vain, etc. The Hebrew gives, And their fear of me is a commandments of men which hath been taught them, or learned by rote. Their worship is vitiated at its very root. Commandment of men. This is Christ s designation of rabbinical traditions (comp. Col. 2:22). Verse 10. He called the multitude. Jesus had now finally broken with the Pharisaical party; He had carried the war into their camp. It was necessary that those who had followed these false teachers should know, on the one hand, to 4

5 what irreligion, immorality, and profanity their doctrines led, and, on the other, should learn the unadulterated truth, pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father. So He calls around Him the crowd of common people, who from respect had stood aloof during the previous controversy, and teaches them a great moral truth which concerns every human being. Hear, and understand. The distinction which He was about to enunciate was difficult for persons trained in Pharisaical dogmas to receive and understand; He therefore calls special attention to His coming words. The depreciation of ceremonial cleansings might easily be misunderstood. Jesus would say There is indeed cleansing necessary for all men; but it does not consist in outward washings, but in inward holiness. In what follows, our Lord says nothing definitely about the distinction between clean and unclean meats laid down in the Mosaic Law; he would only show that impurity in the moral sense came from within. This is leading up to the principle enunciated by the apostle, Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer. (1 Tim. 4:4, 5). Verse 11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man. The word rendered defileth means renders common, in opposition to separate for God s use; hence the verb, ethically applied, signifies to contract guilt. The rabbis taught that certain meats of themselves polluted the soul, made it abominable in God s sight. This was a perversion of the law respecting clean and unclean food. The pollution or guilt arose, not from the nature of the meat, but from the eating of it in contravention of a positive command. It was the disobedience, not the food, which affected the soul. It is remarkable that these distinctions of meats still obtain among half the civilized inhabitants of the world one of the hardest tasks of Christian missionaries is to make men understand the non-importance of these differences. We do not see that Christ here abrogated the Levitical law, but he certainly prepared the way for its supersession and transformation. He made no sudden and violent change in the constituted order of things. Indeed, some distinctions were maintained in apostolic times and it was only gradually, and as circumstances made their observation impossible, that such ceremonial obligations were regarded as obsolete. It is, perhaps, with the view of not shocking inveterate prejudice, that he does not say, No food whatever defileth, but That which goeth into the mouth defileth not, referring especially to the notion above reprehended, that eating with unwashed hands polluted the food taken and the soul of the person who consumed it. Our Lord says nothing of excess, e.g. gluttony and drunkenness, which, of course, has a polluting and deteriorating effect on the moral nature. But that which cometh out of the mouth. In the former sentence, the mouth is regarded simply as the instrument for receiving food and preparing it for digestion; in this sentence it is 5

6 considered as the organ of the heart, that which gives outward expression to inward thoughts and conceptions. Defileth a man. Pollutes his soul, not with merely ceremonial defilement, but intrinsically and morally. Of course, our Lord is referring to evil words, etc. For the mouth may give utterance to God s praise, words of love, sympathy, edification, but the evil in a man s heart will show itself in his mouth; and the open expression will react on the wicked thought, and make it more substantial, deadly, and operative. Verse 15. Then answered Peter. The disciples could not understand the apparent depreciation of the external in religion; they did not see the meaning of what Christ had said. Peter, as their mouthpiece, asked for further explanation. Declare; Explain. Parable. The word in an extended sense is used of any hard, enigmatical saying or figurative expression. The term here is applied to the statement in ver. 11. The apostles did not comprehend the minimizing of the rules concerning purification, and the possibility of a man being defiled by what proceeded from his mouth. Inveterate prejudices die hard, and it is difficult to emancipate one s self from old modes of thought. Verse 16. Are ye also yet without understanding? Even yet; In spite of all that has passed my teaching, my life, my miracles do you not understand in what real purity consists? Often had Jesus to complain of the dullness of his disciples intelligence, the slow appreciation of His meaning, the indifference to the spiritual side of His acts and doctrine. Up to the very last they failed to apprehend His mission; nor was it until the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured upon them, that they really and in fullness understood the Lord s teaching and their own duties and powers. Verse 17. Whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, etc. Food taken into the mouth goes into the stomach, is assimilated into the bodily system, and its refuse passes away to the draught the necessary house. It has nothing to do with the heart or the moral being; it affects only the material organization, and has no connection with the spiritual. Christ does not concern Himself with questions concerning the mutual influence of soul and body, the animal and spiritual nature; He puts forth an argument which everyone could receive, plain even to those without understanding. Verse 18. Those things. He does not assert that everything which issues from a man s mouth defiles him; for many good things may come from a man s mouth; but He means that the evil to which he gives utterance is fraught with pollution to his moral nature. From the heart. The heart stands for soul, mind, spirit, will, the whole inner man, that which makes him what he is, a conscious, intelligent, responsible being. Hence are attributed to it not only words, but acts, conceptions which issue in external actions, and the consequences which these involve. 6

7 Verse 19. Out of the heart proceed. These are produced or created by the human will, of which the heart is the symbol. Evil thoughts. Some would translate the words, evil machinations, but there is no need to change the usual rendering, which is very appropriate here. Evil thoughts are the preparation of all other sins, and have a pernicious influence on the character. We are very much what we think. That on which our minds are fixed, that which is the chief object presented to our inward sight, shapes our disposition and life. High and noble thoughts elevate and purify; low and mean thoughts debase and pollute. The wickedness in a man springs from within; he is guilty of it. If he admits the tempter, succumbs to his seductions, it is his own will that is in fault, encouraging the evil imagination, and not at once resisting, abhorring, and repelling it. Well may we pray, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me and remember the wise man s injunction, Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Prov. 4:23). Verse 20. Thus, Jesus sums up what has been said, and recalls the circumstance which led to the discourse, emphatically repeating His judgment on the Pharisaical gloss. RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER O God: We are blessed to have been guided by Your Word that we might be acceptable in Your sight. Help us to discern evil from good and not be bound by actions that are displeasing to You. Amen. 7