The Vision (11.6.26): The Commandment of God or the Tradition of Men?

 

Image: Late fall sundown, North Garden, Virginia. November, 2026.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Mark 7:1-13.

In Mark 7:1-13, Mark records our Lord’s encounter with a group of Pharisees and scribes who criticized his disciples for not ritually washing their hands. In fact, there were no Biblical commands that required this kind of hand washing. These men were following “the tradition of the elders” (v. 3) or “the tradition of men” (v. 8) and not “the commandment of God” (v. 9).

When the Pharisees ask Christ about this matter, our Lord responds:

Mark 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Notice first that he calls out these men as “hypocrites.” They claimed to be holy men, but, in fact, they were only hand washers and couch baptizers.

The Greek word for hypocrite came from the world of Greek drama and referred to masks that were worn by the actors. They pretended to be someone on the outside that they were not on the inside.

A brother in our church during a recent midweek discussion noted a contrast between what he called “Sunday Christians” and “Everyday Christians” to make the same point.

If there is one thing our Lord despises it is spiritual hypocrisy. Consider his teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matt 6:5-6).

Notice second Christ’s immediate appeal to the Holy Scriptures. They were asking him about the tradition of the elders. He responds by saying “Well saith [Isaiah]…,” and he continues, “as it is written.”

Then he offers an inspired citation of Isaiah 29:13 in v.6b: “This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Christ takes what Isaiah said about the religious hypocrites of the prophet’s day and applies that to the fault-finding Pharisees and scribes of his own day.

We often say that as believers we walk a narrow path between two ditches, seeking not to tumble to one side or the other. On one side is the ditch of Legalism (adding to the Word of God) and, on the other, the ditch of Licentiousness (taking away from the Word of God).

Application:

We must exercise discernment between the commandments of God and the mere traditions of men.

To be able to discern this difference we must become life-long students of the Word. We must be reading it privately and devotionally and hearing it read and preached corporately.

We must confess our own hypocrisy, acknowledging that there have been times when our lips were honoring Christ, while our hearts were far from him.

We must avoid hypocrisy. We would not be play-actors, putting on a Christian mask and putting on a show. Our faith must be genuine and authentic.

In the end, we should also know and find comfort in the fact that though we will not attain full holiness in this life, we have been redeemed by the one who is without sin, the one who is the standard for perfect truth and integrity, the one who died on the cross for our sins, including our sins of legalism, licentiousness and hypocrisy, and who was raised for our justification.

Let us be holy, because he is holy.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle