Mar 7:3-4 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter we see how the Lord acts against the religious leaders and passes His judgment on them. In their self-confidence and pride, they dare to sue His disciples, and with them Him. The work of grace arouses the opposition of the religious man because he is filled with his own importance. The disciples are taught how to see persons who are religious only in appearance. The Lord wants to show them the true character of these people. When people gather around Him, there is always a reason and a result. They come to Him because they need Him in their need, or they come to Him to sue Him. The result is always that He reveals His glory, either in grace or in judgment. The Pharisees and scribes who come here to Him possess the highest authority as far as the earth is concerned. They come from the holy city of Jerusalem, the city of the ancient religion. Both their position as religious leaders and the place where they come from, the religious center of Jerusalem, gives them prestige. They are, as it were, adorned with the law of God and with the authority that provides them with it. These people perceive that some of the Lord’s disciples eat bread in a way that does not conform to their prescription. This has nothing to do with inner spiritual life or man’s relationship to God. They only judge others according to the outer form, a form that they themselves have laid down. There is no room for grace in what people fix in forms. On top of that – and perhaps even more so is the lesson – by adhering to tradition, the true impurity of the heart is concealed and remains hidden. God has arranged all public and personal obligations in family, society, religion, and politics, but they have made many more commandments. As a result, God’s commandments are no longer carried out, for they place the people under the authority of the tradition of the elders, which are their own traditions. Traditions have it in them to make man important. If traditions become habitual acts without being tested against Scripture, traditions can turn against Scripture. As soon as we do something, just because our fathers have always done so, there is a danger that Scripture will be replaced by tradition. We need to know what we are doing and why we are doing it, with Scripture as the basis, not tradition. The Lord Jesus strongly opposes the replacement of Scripture by tradition. Public life takes place in the marketplace. The Pharisees and the Jews take part in it, but think they are defiled by it. They must first cleanse themselves of this impurity by thoroughly washing their hands. They believe that by such an outward cleansing they clean themselves of their sinful commercial transactions on the markets. Perhaps on the couches (Darby Translation) they bought on the market sick people had been laid to rest ( )! So the couches have to be cleansed before they can lie on them themselves. They also wash cups and pitchers because they might have been touched by strangers. They care about the cleansing of them, but not about the cleansing of their heart. They judge that what the disciples are doing is contrary to their traditions and therefore wrong. Surely they will have derived their traditions from the Word of God. In it there is talk of washings, for example of the sacrifices and at the performance of the priestly service. Then it seems a reasonable conclusion to impose this commandment on the whole people and that for the life of every day. But it is an addition to what God has said! It is the very nature of man, if God has not said something explicitly, to make a law himself and to impose it on others. Tradition comes from man, not from God.

‏ Mark 7:3-4

The Traditions of the Elder

In this chapter we see how the Lord acts against the religious leaders and passes His judgment on them. In their self-confidence and pride, they dare to sue His disciples, and with them Him. The work of grace arouses the opposition of the religious man because he is filled with his own importance. The disciples are taught how to see persons who are religious only in appearance. The Lord wants to show them the true character of these people.

When people gather around Him, there is always a reason and a result. They come to Him because they need Him in their need, or they come to Him to sue Him. The result is always that He reveals His glory, either in grace or in judgment.

The Pharisees and scribes who come here to Him possess the highest authority as far as the earth is concerned. They come from the holy city of Jerusalem, the city of the ancient religion. Both their position as religious leaders and the place where they come from, the religious center of Jerusalem, gives them prestige. They are, as it were, adorned with the law of God and with the authority that provides them with it.

These people perceive that some of the Lord’s disciples eat bread in a way that does not conform to their prescription. This has nothing to do with inner spiritual life or man’s relationship to God. They only judge others according to the outer form, a form that they themselves have laid down. There is no room for grace in what people fix in forms. On top of that – and perhaps even more so is the lesson – by adhering to tradition, the true impurity of the heart is concealed and remains hidden.

God has arranged all public and personal obligations in family, society, religion, and politics, but they have made many more commandments. As a result, God’s commandments are no longer carried out, for they place the people under the authority of the tradition of the elders, which are their own traditions.

Traditions have it in them to make man important. If traditions become habitual acts without being tested against Scripture, traditions can turn against Scripture. As soon as we do something, just because our fathers have always done so, there is a danger that Scripture will be replaced by tradition. We need to know what we are doing and why we are doing it, with Scripture as the basis, not tradition. The Lord Jesus strongly opposes the replacement of Scripture by tradition.

Public life takes place in the marketplace. The Pharisees and the Jews take part in it, but think they are defiled by it. They must first cleanse themselves of this impurity by thoroughly washing their hands. They believe that by such an outward cleansing they clean themselves of their sinful commercial transactions on the markets.

Perhaps on the couches (Darby Translation) they bought on the market sick people had been laid to rest (Mk 6:56)! So the couches have to be cleansed before they can lie on them themselves. They also wash cups and pitchers because they might have been touched by strangers. They care about the cleansing of them, but not about the cleansing of their heart.

They judge that what the disciples are doing is contrary to their traditions and therefore wrong. Surely they will have derived their traditions from the Word of God. In it there is talk of washings, for example of the sacrifices and at the performance of the priestly service. Then it seems a reasonable conclusion to impose this commandment on the whole people and that for the life of every day. But it is an addition to what God has said! It is the very nature of man, if God has not said something explicitly, to make a law himself and to impose it on others. Tradition comes from man, not from God.