Matt 15:1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, (2) Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. (3) And He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? (6) and you have deprived the word of God of its authority because of your tradition.
The Jewish religionists accused the Lord's disciples of transgressing their tradition, but the Lord condemned them for transgressing the commandment of God because of their tradition. They ignored God's commandment by caring for their tradition. In principle, the religious people today do the same. In the Lord Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees, the Lord did not care for the traditions. On the contrary, He referred them to the word of God. In principle, we are doing the same today. Men are still making void God's word by means of their tradition, and we are being accused today of not keeping the traditions. In answering those who accused His disciples, the Lord seemed to say, "You Pharisees accuse My disciples of breaking your traditions. You need to see that you have broken God's commandment by holding to your tradition, and you continue to break it." In this way the Lord brought them back to the pure Word, telling them what was the commandment of God and what was man's tradition. It is the same today. We are accused of not following the historic church, that is, of not following the traditions. We answer that we must come back to the pure Word and not care for the traditions of the historic church.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, pp. 523. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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