Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
- KJV And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
- BSB He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.
- NKJV He said to them, “ All too wellyou reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
- NASB He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus said they cleverly set aside God's commandment to keep their tradition. He exposes their hypocrisy as deliberate, not accidental.
Overview
With pointed irony, Jesus accused the leaders of skillfully nullifying God's law in order to preserve their own customs. Their tradition did not merely supplement Scripture but actively displaced it. The charge prepares for the concrete example of Corban that follows, where tradition is shown to overturn a clear command of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 29:13The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;
- Gal 2:21I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
- Jer 44:16–17“As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
- Isa 24:5The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
- Matt 15:3–6He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?
- Ps 119:126It is time to act, Yahweh, for they break your law.
- Rom 3:31Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
- Mark 7:3(For the Pharisees and all the Jews, don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.
- Mark 7:13making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”
- 2 Kgs 16:10–16King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it.
- 2 Th 2:4he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
- Dan 7:25He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.
- Dan 11:36The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 7:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
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