Matt. 14:34–15:4 The Difference Between Christianity & Legalism

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 16 Sep 2012

Translation

14:34 And after they crossed over, they went on land into Gennesaret.

14:35 Then, once the men of that place recognized Him,

they sent emissaries into all that surrounding country

and brought to Him all those who were bad-off,

14:36 and they were calling Him aside in order to just touch the fringe of His clothing,

and as many as touched were delivered.

 

15:1 Then the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem approached Jesus saying,

15:2 “For what reason do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?

For they are not rinsing their hands whenever they eat bread!”

15:3 But He, in answer, said to them,

“And as for you, for what reason do you transgress the law of God through your tradition?

15:4 For God issued commands saying,

‘Honor your father and your mother,’

and ‘He who curses father or mother must end in death.’

15:5 but as for y’all, you say,

‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother,

“Whatever you might be obligated [to receive] from of me was a donation,”

15:6 thus he never has to honor his father or his mother,’

and y’all invalidate the command of God on account of the tradition of yourselves!

15:7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied well concerning you, saying,

15:8 ‘This people is honoring me with their lips,

yet their heart keeps far away from me.

15:9 And it is in vain that they are devoting themselves me

while teaching commandments of men for doctrines.’”

Introduction: Ways that people worship God in vain

A. Sincere worship from Gennesaret

14:34 And after they crossed over, they went on land into Gennesaret.

Και διαπερασαντες ηλθον επι[2] την γην [εις[3]] Γεννησαρετ

 

14:35 Then, once the men of that place recognized Him, they sent emissaries into all that surrounding country[4] and brought to Him all those who were bad-off,

Και επιγνοντες αυτον ’οι ανδρες του τοπου εκεινου απεστειλαν εις ολην την περιχωρον εκεινην και προσηνεγκαν αυτω παντας τους κακως εχοντας

 

14:36 and they were calling Him aside in order to just touch the fringe of His clothing, and as many as touched were delivered[5].

και παρεκαλουν[6] αυτον ‘ινα μονον αψωνται του κρασπεδου του ιματιου αυτου και ‘οσοι ηψαντο διεσωθησαν

B. Hypocrisy from Jerusalem

15:1 Then the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem approached Jesus saying,

Τοτε προσερχονται τω Ιησου [οι[7]] απο ιεροσολυμων φαρισαιοι και γραμματεις λεγοντες

 

15:2 “For what reason do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they are not rinsing their hands whenever they eat bread!”

Δια τι ‘οι μαθηται σου παραβαινουσιν την παραδοσιν των πρεσβυτερων ου γαρ νιπτονται τας χειρας [αυτων[8]] ‘οταν αρτον εσθιωσιν

 

15:3 But He, in answer, said to them, “And as for you, for what reason do you transgress the law of God through your tradition?

‘ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν αυτοις Δια τι και ‘υμεις παραβαινετε την εντολην του θεου δια την παραδοσιν ‘υμων

 

15:4 For God issued commands saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘He who curses father or mother must end[10] in death,’

ο γαρ θεος ενετειλατο λεγων[11] τιμα τον πατερα [12] και την μητερα και ο κακολογων πατερα η μητερα θανατω τελευτατω

Conclusion

The question is, Which group characterizes us: the men of Genneseret or the Pharisees from Jerusalem?

 

Are you showing up at church because you feel like that’s what good people do?
Do you participate in the liturgy and hymns because that’s what the people here expect of you?

 

Thankfully, God is gracious. When we repent and “draw near to God, He will draw near to us” (James 4:8). And it doesn’t require any elaborate ceremony. All I had to do to correct course in the middle of that hymn was to think, “Yikes, I’m sorry, God,” and re-engage mentally with what I was singing: “‘Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,’ Wow, how glorious to be forgiven and to have Your Spirit within me! Yes, ‘Great is Thy faithfulness!’”

 

Then, as we receive the blessing of God’s grace, let us, like the men of Gennesaret, bring others into the presence of Christ that they too may experience His grace. That’s real worship!

 

And, in order to avoid legalism, we must do two things:

  1. Learn what the Bible says – and does not say, and discipline yourself to major on the things the Bible makes a big deal about, and hold your brothers and sisters accountable to those things. Gathering advice from people who have had more opportunity to study the Bible is part of that process of learning what the Bible says and does not say. But there is great freedom in knowing what the Bible does not say!
  2. Be as gracious towards others and their cultures and traditions as God is gracious with you. Don’t judge them harshly for having different traditions than you.

·         Jesus decided not to do the traditional Jewish handwashing ceremony, but He didn’t make His next round of ministry in Galilee into the “Don’t Wash Your Hands Tour.” He just didn’t make a big deal of it.

·         The date of Easter was a big deal in the early church because apparently some of the apostles decided to commemorate Easter on a Sunday, and other apostles did it on Passover. When followers of those disciples ran into each other and realized they were celebrating Easter on different dates, wow, the sparks flew, but they shouldn’t have.

·         Even today, some Christians say that since there is no command in the Bible to celebrate Christmas, then Christians should not celebrate Christmas. The truth is that Christmas is a manmade tradition, although it commemorates a Biblical event, and if it is a way you can sincerely honor God, then great. But the simplistic approach of avoiding all man-made traditions is itself a tradition, and it doesn’t necessarily make you a better Christian if you boycott traditions like Christmas.

·         We could talk about clothing styles or details of baptism that go beyond what is addressed in the Bible and get into all kinds of controversies too, but don’t have time for that her. Just extend some grace.

 

So, get straight what comes from the Bible and what is manmade tradition, and extend grace to people who practice different traditions from you. These two principles will go a long way in helping us not “invalidate the commands of God because of [our] traditions.” More next week!



[1] a.k.a. Landmines.

[2] L, f1 and Majority (and thus Byzantine and Textus Receptus editions) read εις “into” instead of επι “on.”

[3] Found in א, B, D, W, Δ, Θ, and thus in Critical GNT’s.

[4] Cf. Matt 3:5 when the same phrase is used of “all the surrounding country” coming out to hear John preach.

[5] HealedNIV/ curedNAS/ made wellESV This is the only place in Matthew besides the healing of the hemorrhaging woman where swzw is used to indicate a physical healing, but is one of 7 events in the NT where swzw is used to mean a physical healing (see also Mark 5:23-28; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 8:36-50; 17:19; 18:42; Acts 4:9; 14:9; 1Cor. 1:21). The other 95 instances of swzw in the NT have to do with deliverance from death, sin, and hell. Salvation generally means being delivered from something bad. Deliverance from sin, deliverance from God’s wrath, deliverance from death, and here it means deliverance from a certain disease and all the rejection and loneliness and poverty that went with it.

[6] Parallel use of parakalew in 8:5 – the centurion. Translated besoughtKJV/beggedNIV,NKJ/imploredNAS,ESV

[7] Not in א, B, D, Θ, f1, and f13, and thus not in Critical GNT’s.

[8] Not in א, B, Δ, f1, but in Critical editions.

[9] Muslims have a similar set of elaborate rules for ceremonial washing (wudu) before entering a mosque.

[10] Let him die the deathKJV/be put to deathNAS,NIV,NKJ/must surely dieESV – The root of this Greek word means “end/complete/finish” and it is used of Herod the Great passing away (2:19) and of Jairus’ daughter too (9:18). Literally in Greek it is “must end in death,” but the repetition is due to the translation from Hebrew which follows the Hebrew idiom for emphasis in repeating the verb “dying he shall die.”

[11] Following B, D, Θ, f1, and f13, Critical editions have ειπεν instead of ενετειλατο λεγων. The Latin Vulgate translation also follows this variant. This word “commanded,” however, is found in the reiteration of the 5th commandment in the Greek translation of Deut. 5:16.

[12] The Textus Receptus edition has the word σου “you” here, following K, L, N, W, Θ, and f13, which is the Septuagint reading of Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16 (and is quoted with the “you” in it in Eph. 6:2), but it’s not in the Byzantine or Majority or Critical editions of Matt. 15:4, nor is it in the subsequent reference to the commandment in Matt. 19:19. Incidentally, the Deuteronomy 5:16 passage in the LXX includes a second sou after matera, an addition found in Uncials N and W at Matt 15:4, but almost nowhere else.