Nullifying Scripture | Mark 7:9–13
And he said to them, “You have a
fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your
tradition! 10 For
Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father
or mother must surely die.’ 11 But
you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have
gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for
his father or mother, 13 thus
making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And
many such things you do.”
Sometimes one group of Christians will charge a second group
of following “the traditions of men” if that second group believes a
theological point that the first rejects.
It may be that the charge is valid.
Too often, however, that first group misapplies what Jesus actually
addressed.
Until this point in the chapter, we’ve seen that Jesus and
the disciples didn’t follow the Pharisaic custom of ritualistic handwashing, and
Jesus highlights that such traditions don’t arise from genuine worship or
concern for the Word of God. In this
exchange, He says they use tradition to cancel
out Scripture.
God’s commands were
to be taken seriously. Jesus condemns
them specifically for “rejecting the commandment of God.” While He highlights the fifth of the Ten
Commandments (Ex 20:12), He also says “many such things you do,” indicating
that they violated other parts of the Law (cf. Mt 5:19). In pointing out this commandment, Jesus also
quotes Exodus 21:17, showing the weight God gave the command through its demand
for the death penalty for disobedience.
However, they focused
on taking their traditions seriously.
Jesus speaks ironically in v. 9; “You have a fine way of rejecting the
commandment” or “All too well you reject [it]” (NKJV). They had the tradition of Corban, a gift supposedly dedicated to God’s
service. Grown sons avoided paying their
parents money by declaring the money Corban,
and a vow made to God cannot be violated (Nm 30:2). So, instead of handing down the teaching of Scripture,
the scribes and Pharisees handed down the nullification of Scripture.
People hold to a tradition of man when they hear
the Word of God abused in such a way to get around the clear teaching of
Scripture and choose to accept it. The
examples of this are numerous—the acceptance of wrong lifestyles, the
justification of lusts, etc. This
twisting of Scripture is sinful, as it does not honor God or His Word. Don’t accept a tradition that props up sinful
readings of Scripture.
