And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Parallel translations
- WEB he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.
- BSB he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
- NKJV then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
- NASB he is not to honor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
- NLT In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own 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 concludes that by such tradition they have nullified God's word. It matters because it shows that human rules, when set above Scripture, can empty God's commands of their force.
Overview
The Corban practice meant a son could justify not honoring his parents, directly overturning the commandment. Jesus says bluntly that they have 'made the commandment of God void' for the sake of their tradition. This is the heart of his indictment: tradition had become a tool to circumvent obedience rather than to serve it. The principle stands as a permanent caution that no human teaching may be allowed to cancel the plain teaching of God's word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Tim 5:8But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
- Jer 8:8How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
- Ps 119:126It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
- Mark 7:13Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
- Mal 2:7–9For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
- Hos 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
- Ps 119:139My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.
- 1 Tim 5:3–4Honour widows that are widows indeed.
- Rom 3:31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
- 1 Tim 5:16If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:6 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.
Original language
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