Whose Authority?

Matthew 15:6-9 (cf. vv. 1-9)

“. . . for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

‘This people give me honor with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)

From this one little example Jesus launches his major attack on the Pharisees: they are play-actors. The word “hypocrite” literally means someone who puts on a mask to play a part. The mask, says Jesus, is the words the Pharisees use. Behind their words of piety, their hearts have no intention of really discovering what God desired. They have elevated merely human customs to the status of divine commands. In the process, they have overthrown the actual divine commands themselves.

That is why serious study of scripture remains at the heart of the church’s life and task, not least for leaders. Unless we are constantly being refreshed and challenged by scripture, we won’t have our wits about us to distinguish between healthy and hypocritical tradition—or, for that matter, between life-giving innovations and deadly one (194).

A. Orendorff

The really scary thing about Jesus’ indictment of the Pharisees here in Matthew 15 is that it reveals the possibility of “honoring” God with our lips, while remaining at arms length from Him in our hearts. Just because you’re “worshipping God” doesn’t mean you’re “worshipping God.” The difference between authentic and counterfeit faith is established by how we use and submit to Scripture. The fundamental question is simply, “Whose authority are we under: God’s or people?”