Matthew 15:8–9

So in Isaiah's day the people of Judah had an outward regard for the law of Moses and for the worship of God. But they had no inward reverence for Jehovah Himself. In the Lord's day it was so again with the people. Their house was swept of idols and decorated with "pious" deeds, but it was an empty shrine. Though God was on their tongues, He was not in their thoughts. So the Lord gave this solemn warning to people who were living an empty show. The Pharisees offered lip-service, and those who set out to please people offer eye-service. How could either be acceptable to Him who does not look on the outward appearance, but judges the heart?

I would say the passage in Matthew is the stronger one. It sets out the Jewish people in their sin, represented by the Pharisees He was speaking to… In Matthew it is the character of the people. The whole people did so. It was their common guilt.

They were not sinners in the usual sense of the word — not irreligious, with no profession or thought about God. Quite the opposite. What is said of them here is, "this people draws near to me"… "But," He adds, "in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." So all this religion and religious activity is swept away at once… There is a worship which is worshipping God in vain.

As to the flesh, the Gentile was far off from God on the outside. The Jew was near on the outside, but morally he was as far off as the Gentile. Speaking to the Jews, the Lord has to say, "This people draws near to me with their mouth… but their heart is far from Me."

Notice what went with this condition, and was probably its chief cause. Human rules had taken the place of the Word of God and of His fear. The Word had lost its place of authority. Rules and tradition became their guide for conduct. They lived in fear of what men thought and taught, instead of the fear of God. As a result the Word was a sealed book to them.

It is sobering to realise how near we all often come to the condition where these words are literally true of us. For the writers of these Psalms, their joy in God was their treasure. So their hearts were seeking Him, and their feet were in the way of worship.

They were not sinners in the usual sense — not irreligious, with no claim about God and no thought of Him. Quite the opposite; here the verse says of them, "This people draws near to Me." … The Lord dismisses all this religion and religiousness at once. The "washing of hands" might have looked right, since the Lord Himself uses water as a picture of purity. But it served their own ends. The Lord says that whatever it was, it was a commandment of men — that was all. And it was in vain. There is a worship which is worshipping God in vain.

This quotation marks out two evils for condemnation — (1) Insincerity before God — honouring Him with the lip, but not caring about Him in the heart. (2) Putting human authority in the place of God's — trying to worship Him by the commandments of men instead of by His own will.

The New Testament uses a particular and uncommon Greek word for commandments that come from man. The usual word is entole. But entalma occurs only three times — in Mark 7:7, in the parallel passage, Matthew 15:9, and in Colossians 2:22 — each time in the phrase "the commandments of men." … In all these passages the word seems to point especially to moral maxims and rules of conduct. Men tried to lay these on the shoulders of others as heavy burdens. But the Lord showed they had no authority.

Scripture calls it the tradition of the elders, and man calls it that too, because it carries authority with him. But the Lord calls all tradition "your tradition." Man's religion glorifies man; it is his. … Nothing is so dear to a man as the cover for his own corruption, or so full of Satan's power as false religion. … Then, if I add anything, God is imperfect in what He gave as a guide. In fact I always put something in its place, and I must. His guide is perfect for the man of God, so this is the natural man's subtlest substitute. But if God has been imperfect in one small point, I can count on Him in none of the rest.

The Lord puts His finger straight on this moral disease. He shows that God was as far as possible from accepting the worship of these hypocrites. He shows too that the commandments of men could only push God aside and exalt man, to the harm of God's glory. They cancelled the commandments of God. The false authority of man invaded His worship, and man replaced God in what acted on the heart.

God refuses this sort of honour altogether. "In vain do they worship Me," says the prophet Isaiah, and the Lord repeats it. God wants a pure heart, sanctified by the Spirit and by the truth. He wants worship offered in spirit and in truth. The Father is seeking such to worship Him. He wants grace, but no one draws near to God without truth — without a heart where the divine life is. The Lord judges all this human religion — outward, Pharisaical, priestly — once and for all.

Isaiah's severe words fell on them. This kind of religious wickedness always shows up in men whose hearts are far from God while their lips honour Him. They put their own rules and commandments in the place of His word. All such worship in name only is empty and in vain. Yet a true believer can easily get tangled in these things today.

We can guard ourselves against the twofold danger named in the quotation from Isaiah. First, by the self-discipline that keeps the soul in a true sense of God's greatness and man's unworthiness. Second, by full submission to Scripture, our only guide to God's revealed will for man.