Mark 7:8
in Mark 7You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.
KJV
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
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This verse in Mark 7
Commentary
11 notes on this verseFor the tradition of the elders themselves, which they pretended to observe from the law, was contrary to the law given by Moses. Wherefore also Esaias declares: "Thy dealers mix the wine with water," showing that the elders were in the habit of mingling a watered tradition with the simple command of God; that is, they set up a spurious law, and one contrary to the [true] law; as also the Lord made plain, when He said to them, "Why do ye transgress the commandment of God, for the sake of your tradition?"
This site's exposition
laying aside the commandment of God
on Mark 7:8-9
Jesus restates the charge even more plainly, laying aside God's commandment to hold the tradition of men, then repeats it a second time with a sharper edge, full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition, the repetition itself marking how serious he judges the offense. The bench reads full well as biting irony, the very skill and diligence the scribes brought to their tradition-keeping is precisely what made their rejection of God's word so thorough. Not every human tradition is condemned here, only the kind that displaces the commandment it claims to honor.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
In order to more strongly convict the Jews, the Lord also brings forward a prophet who condemns them. They accused the disciples for transgressing the tradition of the elders, but the Lord directs against them a far stronger accusation, namely, that they transgress the Law …
But Pharisaical tradition, as to tables and vessels, is to be cut off, and cast away. For they often make the commands of God yield to the traditions of men; wherefore it continues, For laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold to the traditions of men, as the washing of pots and cups.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For laying aside the commandment of God,.... Meaning not any particular commandment, but all the commandments of God, the whole written law; to which they preferred the oral law, or the traditions of the elders, and the decisions of their doctors. So the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "the commandments of God".
Note, Superstition is an endless thing. If one human invention and institution be admitted, though seemingly ever so innocent, as this of washing hands, behold, a troop comes, a door is opened for many other such things.
Note, It is the mischief of impositions, that too often they who are zealous for them, have little zeal for the essential duties of religion, but can contentedly see them laid aside.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Washing of pots and cups, etc. - This whole clause is wanting in BL, five others, and the Coptic: one MS. omits this and the whole of the ninth verse. The eighth verse is not found in the parallel place of Mat 15:7-9.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
This passage contains a humbling picture of what human nature is capable of doing in religion. It is one of those Scriptures which ought to be frequently and diligently studied by all who desire the prosperity of the Church of Christ. The first thing which demands our attention in these verses, is the low and degraded condition of Jewish religion, when our Lord was upon earth . What can be more deplorable than the statement now before us? We find the principal teachers of the Jewish nation finding fault, "because our Lord's disciples ate bread with unwashed hands!"
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
This passage contains a humbling picture of what human nature is capable of doing in religion. It is one of those Scriptures which ought to be frequently and diligently studied by all who desire the prosperity of the Church of Christ. The first thing which demands our attention in these verses, is the low and degraded condition of Jewish religion, when our Lord was upon earth . What can be more deplorable than the statement now before us? We find the principal teachers of the Jewish nation finding fault, "because our Lord's disciples ate bread with unwashed hands!" We are told that they attached great importance to the washing of cups, and pots, and bronze vessels, and tables!" In short, the man who paid most rigid attention to mere external observances of human invention was reckoned the holiest man! The nation, be it remembered, in which this state of things existed, was the most highly favored in the world. To it, was given the law on Mount Sinai, the service of God, the priesthood, the covenants, and the promises. Moses, and Samuel, and David, and the prophets, lived and died among its people. No nation upon earth ever had so many spiritual privileges. No nation ever misused its privileges so fearfully, and so thoroughly forsook its own mercies. Never did fine gold become so dim! From the religion of the books of Deuteronomy and Psalms, to the religion of washing hands, and pots, and cups — how great was the fall! No wonder that in the time of our Lord's earthly ministry, He found the people like sheep without a shepherd. External observances alone feed no consciences and sanctify no hearts! Let the history of the Jewish church be a warning to us never to trifle with false doctrine. If we once tolerate it we never know how far it may go, or into what degraded state of religion we may at last fall.
Modern Voices1 voice
It is not Puritanism; it is simply anarchy. I should have some sympathy with the Jewish Sabbath, if it were a Jewish Sabbath... But the absurdity of the modern English convention is that it does not let a man sit still; it only perpetually trips …
How the passage was read
On Mark 7:1-23On Mark 7:1-23
Mark explaining Jewish practice to outsiders
Mark pauses mid-story to explain handwashing to his readers: “the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not” (7:3-4). A Gospel writer translating Jewish practice for outsiders is this layer's own method inside the canon. The washing is netilat yadayim, a ritual pouring over the hands before bread, extending priestly purity to the ordinary table; the Mishnah gives it a whole tractate (Yadayim 1:1), and its schools debated the meal's washings in detail (Berakhot 8:2 records a Hillel-Shammai dispute over the order of washing and mixing the cup). The korban vow Jesus then confronts, property locked away from one's parents by a dedication formula, is explained in this site's note on Numbers 30.
Verse 19's closing phrase, which most translations render “thus he declared all foods clean,” asks for plain honesty at the point of contact: observant Judaism keeps the food laws (kashrut) to this day and does not read the verse as ending them; the Christian church, reading Mark with Acts 10 and 15, historically has. The entry states the difference as difference. What both readings share is the verse's own center: defilement is not conquered at the lips but at the heart, “for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Yadayim 1:1 (the handwashing rite) · Mishnah Berakhot 8:2 (the schools on the meal's washings)
The words behind it
10 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ἀφέντες | aphentes | Having neglected | G863 → | 143 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἐντολὴν | entolen | commandment | G1785 → | 67 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεοῦ | theou | of God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| κρατεῖτε | krateite | you hold | G2902 → | 47 times |
| τὴν | ten | to the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| παράδοσιν | paradosin | tradition | G3862 → | 13 times |
| τῶν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀνθρώπων | anthropon | of men | G444 → | 549 times |
ἈφέντεςHaving neglected
aphentesG863 →143 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
ἐντολὴνcommandment
entolenG1785 →67 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
θεοῦof God
theouG2316 →1312 times
κρατεῖτεyou hold
krateiteG2902 →47 times
τὴνto the
tenG3588 →19766 times
παράδοσινtradition
paradosinG3862 →13 times
τῶν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
ἀνθρώπωνof men
anthroponG444 →549 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 1:12When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?
it leads to
- Exodus 34:23
Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
- Exodus 23:17
Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
- Isaiah 58:1–2
“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
- Psalms 40:6
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Exodus 34:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Mark
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, A Cab Ride Across Country (1909); Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book 4; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pseudo-Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.