Thur 11Jun09: Matthew 15: 1 - 20 NKJV
And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men v9
The commandments of men. They are passed off as doctrines of God by the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem. It's a hypocrisy, one that has been prophesied earlier by Isaiah:
Inasmuch as these people draw near to Me with their mouths, and honour Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, . . . Isaiah 29 : 13
The Lord pointed out publicly that Isaiah was prophesying about them. Isaiah had prophesied correctly, he said. These scribes and Pharisees, highly respected and authoritative leaders of Jerusalem, were the real hypocrites, the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy.
Their sin: to take the teachings of men and to pass them off as doctrines of God.
These hypocrites had taught that young people can be exempted from honouring their parents if they declared that whatever they could give to their parents had been dedicated to the temple. This was a "commandment of men", formulated by the scribes and Pharisees, and passed off as a doctrine of God. This counterfeit doctrine had trampled upon one of the Ten Commandments, the very original teaching of God, as pointed out by our Lord, in Exodus 20:12
Honour your father and your mother.
In the words of our Lord, they have made the commandment of God "of no effect" by their traditions.
Christians, let us beware of such hypocrisy. It is a sin to pass off any man-made idea as God's teachings, making God's commands of no effect over our lives. When such man-made commandments are taught, emphasised and promoted long enough, they become traditions which trample upon the original teaching of God.
The hypocrisy and blindness of the scribes and Pharisees were unimaginable. They could ignore one of the most fundamental commandment given through Moses in promoting their own man-made tradition. And they were offended when the Lord Jesus rebuked them publicly. (v12)
The commandments of men. Let us ensure that they do not evolve into doctrines of God.
