Session 2
Matthew 15:1-11,16-20
Memory Verse: Matthew 15:8-9
Several implications arise out of this lesson about which leaders can challenge the adults in their groups. One implication for believers is to examine where we have allowed our traditions to go beyond the limits of the Word of God. Many Christ followers accept extra rules that leave us carrying a heavier burden than God Himself ever intended. Even more important, believers need to examine whether any of our traditions work against God’s Word. Often, man-made regulations actually diminish the power of God’s Word in our lives. We never want to be guilty of ignoring or circumventing what God has said in order to follow our own agenda.
Finally, this lesson challenges us to examine our spirituality. We need to steer clear of superficial, outward conformity to rules and expectations that are designed to meet the approval of others. Instead, we are called to pursue what arises from God’s Word and moves us to be transformed by His Spirit. As you dig into today’s passages, take time to examine these points in your own life. Then ask God to help you know the best way to share them with the adults in your Bible study.
We tend to like things that are genuine. We generally say no to knockoffs, artificial, or substitute anything. Don’t give us blended vegetables and call them hamburgers. We’ve developed an eye for spotting imitation leather and knockoff purses. Our taste buds can discern the real thing compared to artificial sweeteners. We like the genuine. The same is true in relationships. We want friends who are genuine, not superficial. Likewise, God desires our relationship with Him and the practice of our faith to be genuine. (PSG, p. 18)
The opening word of chapter 15 (“then”) could indicate some aspect of sequence after the events of chapter 14. Primarily, though, it provides an introduction to the event examined in this session. The passage underscores the rising conflict that marked the attitude of the religious leaders in Jerusalem toward Jesus.
The concerns of the Pharisees seem to have begun with good intentions; but, over time, these leaders ended up taking people in the wrong direction. For example, the fourth commandment stated that the Jews must avoid working on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14). But what constituted work? In Numbers 15:32-36 a man was executed for gathering sticks on the Sabbath. How would one know what was work and what wasn’t, what was allowed and what was forbidden?
Likewise, according to the Mosaic law, priests were required to wash their hands (and feet) before performing their duties in the tent of meeting (Ex. 30:18-21; 40:30-32) or eating the sacrificial meal
(Lev. 22:4-7). However, Moses also taught that the Lord considered the whole nation to be a “kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6). Thus, the Pharisees reasoned that the requirements of the priests should apply to everyone in the covenant community.
In order to help pious Israelites define these matters, an abundance of regulations and traditions grew up and were passed down from generation to generation. With the best of intentions, rabbis tried to build a “fence” for the law, much like we put up guardrails to keep people from getting too close to danger or too close to the edge. Soon, however, the cautions took on a life of their own and multiplied exponentially. The rules were codified first in the Mishnah and later in the Talmud. Eventually, whole commentaries were devoted to various topics of the law.
The episode on which this lesson is based divides into three natural sections. In the first scene, the Pharisees and scribes confronted Jesus over the actions of His disciples related to ceremonial washings before a meal (vv. 1-9). In verses 10-11 Jesus instructed the crowds based on the challenge from the religious leaders. Then in verses 12-20 Jesus elaborated further on the matter to His disciples.
The whole episode ends where it began, returning in verse 20 to the conclusion of the challenge raised in verse 2. This episode includes an abundance of direct speech-from the Pharisees and scribes, from Jesus, from the disciples, and from Peter.
Read Matthew 15:1-11,16-20 in your Bible. Identify what was superficial about the religion of the Pharisees. (PSG, p. 19)
EXPLORE THE TEXT
1 Then Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? 4 For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. 5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,” 6 he does not have to honor his father.’ In this way, you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition.”
Matthew named the Pharisees more than any other Gospel writer (29 times). According to Josephus, at the time of Jesus there were more than six thousand Pharisees, making them the largest sect of Judaism. For the most part, they were centered in Jerusalem.
Pharisee means “separatist.” They were proud of their rigorous keeping of both the written law of Moses and an oral law passed down over time. The primary stress of the Pharisees was on ritual purity, Sabbath observance, and tithing.
Scribes were “experts in the law” (Luke 11:45-46,52; 14:3) and “teachers of the law” (Luke 5:17; Acts 5:34). They not only copied the law, but they also taught their interpretation of God’s Word. Some scribes were Pharisees, but not all Pharisees were scribes. Some also were members of the Sanhedrin, the governing body of the Jews (Matt. 26:57-59). The Pharisees and scribes came all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee, suggesting they were an official entourage.
With a judgmental spirit, the leaders asked why Jesus let His followers break the tradition of the elders. The fact that they applied their question to the disciples rather than directly to Jesus was a subtle way of attacking the teacher by attacking His students. Break is a present tense word that indicates a
continuous practice.
The so-called tradition referred to all the rules and regulations passed down in an oral law through the rabbis. The Pharisees believed these traditions were as binding as the written law. Failure to wash their hands before eating was not just about hygiene, but about ritual purity.
Rather than answering their question, Jesus posed one of His own, contrasting God’s commandment with your tradition. In this challenge, He used their own word: break. Jesus’s disciples broke tradition, but the Pharisees more seriously broke God’s ordinance. In fact, Jesus said their tradition led them to violate God laws. The fence that was supposed to protect Israel became the cause of the people’s disobedience.
Jesus focused on the command to honor one’s parents. He quoted two Old Testament passages-
Exodus 20:12 (Deut. 5:16) and Exodus 21:17 (Lev. 20:9)-and attributed both to God. The honor due parents is positive and required. Speaking evil of them is negative and forbidden. It was taken so seriously that it demanded violators be put to death.
But you say is emphatic and sets the Pharisees against what God says. The specific example Jesus mentioned concerned a person who would withhold benefits from his parents by committing them to the temple. By designating one’s estate as a gift to the temple, a person could claim that he could not use those resources to support his elderly parents, even though he still owned them and could use them for himself during his lifetime.
Applying the strongest double negative available in Greek, Jesus said that such people did not honor his parents, but they actually nullified (or invalidated) the word of God. Indeed, it was human tradition that opened this loophole and led people to use this legal subterfuge.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
7 “Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said: 8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 9 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.” 10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand: 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth-this defiles a person.”
The term hypocrites arose out of the Greek theater and referred to one who acted a part on stage behind a mask. In fact, in Jesus’s day there was a large Greek theater in Sepphoris, near Nazareth. Over time, hypocrite came to be applied to people who pretended to be something they were not. Spiritually speaking, this would include those who were not on the inside what they appeared to be on the outside.
After responding to the Pharisees and scribes from the Law (v. 4), Jesus now spoke to them from the Prophets. Specifically, He cited Isaiah 29:13. While Isaiah prophesied against the people of his own time in the eighth century BC, Jesus said he also prophesied correctly about you-Jesus’s contemporary hearers. This does not mean Isaiah’s words did not apply to his original context, only that what Isaiah said also pertained to this people living in the first century AD.
In saying this, Jesus demonstrated that the Word of God that came in one particular historical setting applies to any similar situation. Put another way, God has the power and authority to apply His prophetic words to any people from any time who demonstrate similar characteristics. His Word is eternal, so it is not limited to a specific people living at one time.
The quotation from Isaiah is appropriate as it expands on Jesus’s previous theme of honor (vv. 4,6): This people honors me with their lips. Honors is present tense, indicating an ongoing superficial action. Lips refers to what people say. This stands in contrast with the word heart, which refers to the center or core of one’s being-one’s true self.
Through Isaiah, Jesus emphasized a people who spoke well of God, even though their hearts were far from Him. This dichotomy had major negative impacts on both worship and teaching. Insincere worship means vain worship. Jesus likely listed this vain worship first in the sentence for emphasis. It refers to that which is of no purpose. Ideally, worship brings honor and glory to God. But hypocritical worship is nothing more than outwardly going through the motions.
Second, the Jewish leaders’ doctrinal teaching consisted of repeating human commands. The words teaching and doctrines are related and provide an alliteration in the Greek language-didaskontes and didaskalias. The Jewish teachers claimed to be sharing divine doctrines when, in reality, they were replacing God’s truth with ideas springing from human origin.
Having called out the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus turned His attention to the crowd. He probably addressed them to explain His teaching since the Pharisees were very influential among the common people. Up to this point, these spectators had remained in the background. Now, the leaders would fade into the background as Jesus urged the people to listen and understand. Jesus saw this as a teaching moment. Both words are present tense, indicating ongoing actions. The twin terms indicate receiving and thinking about what Jesus was about to say.
In verse 11 Jesus expanded His teaching from ritual hand washing to the broader topic of moral purity. Using two present tense participles He contrasted what goes into (eis) and what comes out of (ek). The word not comes first in the Greek sentence structure to provide emphasis. In direct opposition to what the Pharisees taught, what enters people is not what defiles them, but what comes out of them.
Defilement doesn’t come from simply touching something that easily can be washed off. Instead, it comes from what’s deep inside a person. As Jesus will clarify in verses 18-19, what’s in the heart comes out of the mouth. As a result, genuine purity before God isn’t about food going in. It’s defined by what we allow to rule our hearts each day.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
16 “Do you still lack understanding?” he asked. 17 “Don’t you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
After Jesus had finished with the Pharisees and scribes (vv. 1-9) and admonished the crowds (vv. 10-11), His disciples gathered around Him. As usual, Peter served as the spokesman, asking Jesus to explain His teaching (vv. 12-15). When Jesus asked, Do you still lack understanding?, He was referring to what He had said in verse 10. The you is plural as Jesus was speaking to all of His disciples (v. 12). The rhetorical question is a rebuke for their lack of discernment.
The construction of Jesus’s second question (Don’t you realize?) expected a “yes” answer. They should have perceived the meaning of Jesus’s teaching.
Where Jesus said, Whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated, we might say, “What goes in one end, comes out the other.” Jesus said the waste is eliminated from the stomach through excretion. But Jesus was not merely describing the process of digestion. His point was that this natural, physiological process has no impact on a person’s relationship with God.
Verse 17 explains the first part of Jesus’s statement in verse 11, while verse 18 explains the second part of verse 11. As earlier, heart refers to the core of one’s being, and that is what defines what defiles a person before God.
Jesus then gave a sampling of seven sins that arise from the heart and represent real defilement. The list is not comprehensive by any means, but Jesus emphasized that these sins are rooted in the heart by placing it first in the sentence. In addition, from further emphasizes their origin.
First, and underlying all the others, Jesus named evil thoughts. All actions and deeds begin in one’s thinking (see 9:4), so this item serves as an umbrella for the rest. The other sins Jesus named follow the order of the second table of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:13-17; Deut. 5:17-21). Interestingly, these commands follow the fifth commandment about honoring parents, which Jesus had noted in verse 4.
These sins are plural in Greek to emphasize that they are not merely abstract categories but specific acts committed many times. Murders violate the sixth commandment. It refers to taking a person’s life with premeditation, which begins in one’s thinking and takes planning (see Matt. 5:21-26). Adulteries and sexual immoralities violate the seventh commandment (see 5:27-32; 14:3-4; 19:9). This too begins in one’s thinking (5:27-28), whether one violates their marriage vows or commits other sexual sins.
Thefts are a violation of the eighth commandment. This also begins in the realm of thoughts and violates the tenth commandment related to coveting. The word refers to taking what belongs to someone else for one’s own. False testimonies refer to lying or committing perjury, violating the ninth commandment (see 26:59-61). Slander is related to blasphemy. The Greek wording can refer to attacks against another person
(Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; 1 Tim. 6:4; Jude 9) or against God (Matt. 12:31-32). Jesus’s plural use of the word
covers both.
Again, these are the things is not meant to indicate a comprehensive list, but Jesus’s use of seven items offers a complete sample. His final pronouncement, eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person, provides a “bookend,” or inclusio, to the opening question of the Pharisees in verse 2. Such a simple external act does not have anything to do with true moral defilement before God.
By associating defilement with an internal source rather than merely as contact with external objects, Jesus undermined the whole of the Pharisees’ system of rules and regulations in one stroke!
Review these points from Apply the Text on page 26 of the Personal Study Guide:
Invite adults to share which is the most difficult for them to obey in genuine faith. Challenge them to spend time in prayer this week reviewing the list and asking God to fill in the gaps they experience in
their lives.
Direct the group to the second set of questions on page 26 of the PSG. Read the content aloud and instruct adults to silently ponder what they might be substituting for a genuine relationship with God. Remind them that Jesus’s questions were given to us to consider today, and we can go to Him with our responses. Share how God has spoken to you personally as you studied this week.
Close the session in prayer, inviting God to help adults honor Him above every other standard. Urge the group to identify ways they can reject superficial religion so God can give them pure hearts as they draw close to Him.
Send the group a text or email. Suggest that they review the first set of questions on page 26 of the PSG. Encourage them to share ways they will commit to helping other believers toward a deeper relationship with God. Remind adults that the words of their mouths reflect what is in their hearts.
Regeneration is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Luke 13:3; John 3:3.)
Take seriously all biblical commands for Christian living.
Read Matthew 15:1-6. Identify in these verses the commands based on God’s Word. Identify any practices based on human tradition. Why do you think some people make man-made traditions the measure of spirituality (v. 2)? Make a list of ways you can avoid the trap of substituting human expectations for obedience to
God’s Word.