Matthew 15:1-20
Jesus
Teaches about Purity in this Baptist Bible
Study
15:1
Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from
Jerusalem and said,
2 "Why do Your disciples
break 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 yourselves transgress the
commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
4 "For God said, 'HONOR
YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL
OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'
5 "But you say, 'Whoever
says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that
would help you has been given to God,"
6 he is not to honor his
father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated
the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 "You hypocrites, rightly
did Isaiah prophesy of you:
8 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME
WITH THEIR LIPS,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR
AWAY FROM ME.
9 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY
WORSHIP ME,
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE
PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"
10 After Jesus called the
crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and
understand.
11 "It is not what enters
into the mouth that defiles the man, but what
proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."
12 Then the disciples came
and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees
were offended when they heard this statement?"
13 But He answered and
said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not
plant shall be uprooted.
14 "Let them alone; they
are blind guides of the blind And if a blind man
guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
The Heart of
Man
15 Peter said to Him,
"Explain the parable to us."
16 Jesus said, "Are you
still lacking in understanding also?
17 "Do you not understand
that everything that goes into the mouth passes
into the stomach, and is eliminated?
18 "But the things that
proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and
those defile the man.
19 "For out of the heart
come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
20 "These are the things
which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed
hands does not defile the man."
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to change
the way that we think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
Tradition, the Ten
Commandments and Purity
Look at the world today. We
live in a society. That society needs tradition
along with rules and regulations to survive. Think
what the world would be like without them --
Chaos!
The same was true in Jesus'
time and order has to be maintained to sustain a
civilization. The Jews returned from Babylon and
immediately tried to piece their lives back
together by establishing governing bodies.
Enter: The
Pharisees
The teachers of the law took
the Testament of God and started adding by-laws to
Scripture in order to explain and interpret the
meaning. While doing so they inadvertently
established rules for every aspect of Jewish life
and called it the word of God.
So, according to these laws a
Jewish person could take away money set aside for
their parents welfare if they gave it as an
offering. So, in giving to God (which is something
we all should do) was at the expense of neglecting
the parents thereby breaking the commandment of
"Honor thy mother and thy father.".
How about
us?
Do we sometimes get so
involved in "doing for God" that we forget to do
for each other?
Jesus was asked the question
in Matthew 22:36-40 about the two greatest
commandments ..
"Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is
the first and greatest commandment. And the second
is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All
the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments".
So, give to the Lord but give
also to your neighbor. Then, and only then will we
be true followers of Christ.
Remember, what we eat
could make us sick but what we say or do can
make many other people sick! The next time we open
our mouths to speak think about how many people are
watching.
God knows what is in our
hearts and the words of our mouth will reflect who
we are in our relationship with Him.
Love In Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Another
Bible Study Lesson Online For Living
...
Matthew
14:13-21 - How did Christ Feed Five Thousand
People?
- 5,000 plus people fed from five loaves of
bread and two fish. -- A great miracle from Jesus
but there is at least one feat that was greater...
Eternal life for us!
Resources for Baptists and other Christians
about Christ teaching about purity are from New
American Standard Bible
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
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