Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

We have in these verses a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and certain scribes and Pharisees. The subject of it may seem, at first sight, of little interest in modern days; but it is not so in reality. The principles of the Pharisees are principles that never die. There are truths laid down here which are of deep importance.

We learn for one thing that hypocrites generally attach great importance to mere outward things in religion.

The complaint of the scribes and Pharisees in this place is a striking case in point. They brought an accusation to our Lord against his disciples, but what was its nature? It was not that they were covetous or self-righteous. It was not that they were untruthful or uncharitable. It was not that they had broken any part of the law of God. But they transgressed the traditions of the elders. They did not wash their hands when they ate bread!?" They did not observe a rule of merely human authority, which some old Jew had invented! This was the head and front of their offense!

Do we see nothing of the spirit of the Pharisees in the present day? Unhappily we see only too much. There are thousands of professing Christians who seem to care nothing about the religion of their neighbors provided that it agrees in outward matters with their own. Does their neighbor worship according to their particular form? Can he repeat their shibboleth, and talk a little about their favorite doctrines? If he can, they are satisfied, though there is no evidence that he is converted. If he cannot, they are always finding fault, and cannot speak peaceably of him, though he may be serving Christ better than themselves. Let us beware of this spirit: it is the very essence of hypocrisy. Let our principle be, "?The kingdom of God is not a meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.?"? (Romans 14:17).

We learn for another thing from these verses the great danger of attempting to add anything to the Word of God. Whenever a man takes upon him to make additions to the Scriptures, he is likely to end with valuing his own additions above Scripture itself.

We see this point brought out most strikingly in our Lord's answer to the charge of the Pharisees against his disciples. He says, "?Why do ye also transgress the command of God by your traditions??" He strikes boldly at the whole system of adding anything as needful to salvation to God's perfect Word. He exposes the mischievous tendency of the system by an example. He shows how the vaunted traditions of the Pharisees were actually destroying the authority of the fifth commandment. In short, he establishes the great truth, which ought never to be forgotten, that there is an inherent tendency in all traditions to make "the word of God? of none effect." The authors of these traditions may have meant no such thing; their intentions may have been pure. But that there is a tendency in all religious institutions of mere human authority to usurp the authority of God's Word is evidently the doctrine of Christ. It is a solemn remark of Bucers, that "?a man is rarely to be found who pays an excessive attention to human inventions in religion who does not put more trust in them than in the grace of God.?"

And have we not seen melancholy proof of this truth in the history of the church of Christ? Unhappily we have seen only too much. As Baxter says, "?Men think God's laws too many and too strict, and yet make more of their own, and are precise for keeping them.?" Have we never read how some have exalted canons, rubrics, and ecclesiastical laws above the Word of God, and have punished disobedience to them with far greater severity than open sins like drunkenness and swearing? Have we never heard of the extravagant importance which the Church of Rome attaches to monastic vows, and vows of celibacy, and keeping feasts and fasts, insomuch that she seems to place them far above family duties, and the Ten Commandments? Have we never heard of people who make more ado about eating flesh in Lent than about gross impurity of life, or murder? Have we never observed in our own land, how many seem to make adherence to episcopacy the weightiest matter in Christianity, and to regard "?churchmanship,?" as they call it, as far outweighing repentance, faith, holiness and the graces of the Spirit? These are questions which can only receive one sorrowful answer. The spirit of the Pharisees still lives, after 1800 years:?the word of God of none effect by traditions?" is to be found among Christians, as well as among Jews: the tendency practically to exalt human inventions above God's Word is still fearfully prevalent. May we watch against it and be on our guard! May we remember that no tradition or man made institution in religion can ever excuse the neglect of relative duties, or justify disobedience to any plain commandment of God's Word.

We learn in the last place, from these verses that the religious worship which God desires is the worship of the heart. We find our Lord establishing this by a quotation from Isaiah: "?This people draweth near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.?"

The heart is the principal thing in the relation of husband and wife, of friend and friend, of parent and child. The heart must be the principal point to which we attend in all the relations between God and our souls. What is the first thing we need in order to be Christians? A new heart. What is the sacrifice God asks us to bring to him? A broken and contrite heart. What is the true circumcision? The circumcision of the heart. What is genuine obedience? To obey from the heart. What is saving faith? To believe with the heart. Where ought Christ to dwell? To dwell in our hearts by faith.What is the chief request that Wisdom makes to everyone? "?My son, give me thine heart?"

Let us leave the passage with honest self-inquiry as to the state of our own hearts. Let us settle it in our minds that all formal worship of God, whether in public or private, is utterly in vain so long as our "?hearts are far from?" him. The bended knee, the bowed head, the loud Amen, the daily chapter, the regular attendance at the Lord's table, are all useless and unprofitable so long as our affections are nailed to sin, or pleasure, or money, or the world. The question of our Lord must yet be answered satisfactorily, before we can be saved. He says to everyone, "?Lovest thou me??" (?).

There are two striking sayings of the Lord Jesus in this passage. One respects false doctrine: the other respects the human heart. Both of them deserve the closest attention.

Respecting false doctrine, our Lord declares that it is a duty to oppose it, that its final destruction is sure, and that its teachers ought to be forsaken. He says, "?Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone.?"

It is clear, from examination of the passage, that the disciples were surprised at our Lord's strong language about the Pharisees and their traditions. They had probably been accustomed from their youth to regard the Pharisees as the wisest and best of men. They were startled to hear their Master denouncing them as hypocrites, and charging them with transgressing the commandment of God. "?Knowest thou,?" they said, "?that the Pharisees were offended??" To this question we are indebted for our Lord's explanatory declaration, a declaration which perhaps has never received the notice it deserves.

The plain meaning of our Lord's words is that false doctrine like that of the Pharisees was a plant to which no mercy should be shown. It was a "?plant which his heavenly Father had not planted,?" and a plant which it was a duty to "?root up,?" whatever offense it might cause. To spare it was no charity, because it was injurious to the souls of men. It mattered nothing that those who planted it were high in office, or learned: if it contradicted the Word of God it ought to be opposed, refuted and rejected. His disciples must therefore understand that it was right to resist all teaching that was unscriptural, and to "?let alone?" and forsake all instructors who persisted in it. Sooner or later they would find that all false doctrine will be completely overthrown and put to shame, and that nothing shall stand but that which is built on the Word of God.

There are lessons of deep wisdom in this saying of our Lord, which serve to throw light on the duty of many a professing Christian. Let us mark them well, and see what they are. It was practical obedience to this saying which produced the blessed Protestant Reformation. Its lessons deserve close attention.

Do we not see here the duty of boldness in resisting false teaching? Beyond doubt we do. No fear of giving offense, no dread of ecclesiastical censure, should make us hold our peace when God's truth is in peril. If we are true followers of our Lord, we ought to be outspeaking, unflinching witnesses against error. "?Truth,?" says Musculus, "?must not be suppressed because men are wicked and blind.?"

Do we not see again the duty of forsaking false teachers if they will not give up their delusions? Beyond doubt we do. No false delicacy, no mock humility should make us shrink from leaving the ministrations of any minister who contradicts God's Word. It is at our peril if we submit to unscriptural teaching: our blood will be on our own heads. To use the words of Whitby, "?It never can be right to follow the blind into the ditch.?"

Do we not see in the last place, the duty of patience, when we see false teaching abound? Beyond doubt we do. We may take comfort in the thought that it will not stand long: God himself will defend the cause of his own truth; sooner or later every heresy "?shall be rooted up.?" We are not to fight with carnal weapons, but wait, and preach, and protest, and pray. Sooner or later, as Wycliffe said, "?the truth shall prevail.?"

Respecting heart of man our Lord declares in these verses that it is the true source of all sin and defilement. The Pharisees taught that holiness depended on meats and drinks; on bodily washings and purifications. They held that all who observed their traditions on these matters were pure and clean in God's sight, and that all who neglected them were impure and unclean. Our Lord overthrew this miserable doctrine by showing his disciples that the real fountain of all defilement was not without a man, but within. "?Out of the heart,?" he says, "?proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses,blasphemies; these are the things which defile a man.?'?" He that would serve God aright needs something far more important than bodily washings. He must seek to have a "?clean heart.?"

What an awful picture we have here of human nature, and drawn too by one who "?knew what was in man;" What a fearful catalogue this is of the contents of our own bosoms! What a melancholy list of seeds of evil our Lord has exposed, lying deep down within every one of us and ready at any time to start into active life! What can the proud and self-righteous say, when they read such a passage as this? This is no sketch of the heart of a robber or murderer: it is the true and faithful account of the hearts of all mankind. May God grant that we may ponder it well and learn wisdom!

Let it be a settled resolution with us that in all our religion the state of our hearts shall be the main thing. Let it not content us to go to church and observe the forms of religion: let us look far deeper than this, and desire to have a right heart in the sight of God. (Acts) The right heart is a heart sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and renewed by the Holy Ghost, and purified by faith. Never let us rest till we find within the witness of the Spirit, that God has created in us a clean heart, and made all things new.(? Ps. 51:10 2 Cor 5:17).

Finally, let it be a settled resolution with us to "?keep?" our hearts with all diligence all the days of our lives. (Prov.4:23) Even after renewal they are weak: even after putting on the new man they are deceitful. Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within. The world and the devil combined, cannot do us so much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray. Happy is he who daily remembers the words of Solomon: "?He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool?." (? Proverbs 28:26)