Matthew 15:3

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) By your tradition.—Better, for the sake of your tradition. Our Lord’s answer, it will be noted, is an indirect one, an argumentum ad hominem. He shows that their traditional casuistry was in direct opposition to the “commandment” of God, and the natural inference from that antagonism was that in itself, apart from the commandment, it had no binding authority as a rule of life.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:1-9 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 neither please God, nor profit themselves; they trust in vanity, and vanity will be their recompence.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But he answered ... - They accused him of violating their traditions, as though they were obligatory.

In his answer he implied that his disciples were not bound to obey their traditions - they were invented by human beings. He said, also, that those traditions could not be binding, as they violated the commandments of God. He proceeded to specify a case in which their tradition made void one of the plain laws of God; and if that was their character, then they could not blame him for not regarding them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. 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."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mark hath the same, Mark 7:9, though a little out of the order in which Matthew hath it: Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Our Saviour could have answered them, had he pleased, more strictly to their questions, but he must then either have incurred danger or odium; he therefore chooseth to answer them by another question, which struck at the root of the matter. Admit, saith he, my disciples culpable in not observing traditions, which indeed you call the traditions of the elders, but are your own, devised by you, or some like you, merely to uphold your power and authority, and to keep people in a needless subjection to you: I am sure you are far more guilty, in making traditions contrary to the law of God, or rejecting God’s law to keep your traditions. And indeed this is the common guilt of those who are great zealots for traditions and rites, not commanded in the word of God. The Jewish Rabbi Jose saith, He sinneth as much who eateth with unwashen hands, as he that lieth with an harlot. The papists make it a greater sin for a priest to marry than to keep a concubine, and commit fornication; they make it a lesser transgression than to eat meat on a Friday.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 traditions: and which observation carries a full acquittance of the disciples from blame; for, if by keeping the traditions of the elders, they broke the commands of God, it was a very good reason why they should not observe them.

Geneva Study Bible

{2} But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

(2) Their wicked boldness in corrupting the commandments of God (and that upon the pretence of godliness) and usurping authority to make laws, is reproved here.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 15:3. Καί] also, implies a comparison between the ὑμεῖς and οἱ μαθηταί σου; that is to say, the παραβαίνειν is acknowledged to be true of both parties, the only difference being in the matters in which the transgression is exemplified. Klotz, ad Devar. p. 636.

διὰ τ. παράδ. ὑμ.] which you observe. Notice how the one question is met with another in the same style, thereby rendering the reductio ad absurdum only the more telling. Luther appropriately remarks that “He places one wedge against the other, and therewith drives the first back.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 15:3-6. Christ’s reply; consists of a counter charge and a prophetic citation (Matthew 15:7-9) in the inverse order to that of Mk.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 15:3. Διατί, why) He replies by a question similar in form to that which they had proposed in Matthew 15:2.[678]—καὶ ὑμεῖς, ye also) Whether My disciples transgress or not, you are the greatest transgressors.—διὰ, κ.τ.λ., on account of, etc.) Traditions, even where you could least expect it, detract from the commandments of God.[679]—ὑμῶν, your) They had said, of the ancients; Jesus is no respecter of persons.

[678] The truth is never at a loss for questions, which it may put in opposition to the questions of hypocrites.—V. g.

[679] And what an amount of injury, from time to time, has been the result of the accumulation of such traditions, however much particular ones may be not without their show of plausibility, can hardly be stated.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

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 non-observance of these minutiae 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 (διὰ with accusative); 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. Matthew 15:3

Vincent's Word Studies

Also (καὶ)

The significance of this little word must not be overlooked. Christ admits that the disciples had transgressed a human injunction, but adds, "Ye also transgress, and in a much greater way." "Whether the disciples transgress or not, you are the greatest transgressors" (Bengel). The one question is met with the other in the same style. Luther says, "He places one wedge against the other, and therewith drives the first back."