Chapter # 7 Paragraph # 1 Study # 5
May 3, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: The mutation of the commandment of "The God" into multiple traditions of "the men" begins with the entrenched commitments of men in their hearts and culminates with deceptive, verbal, traditions by men to men.
Introduction: In our last study we considered Jesus' attribution of "hypocrisy" to The Pharisees and Some of The Scribes as a
massive disconnect between the utterances of the lips and the actual condition of the hearts of those same men. Jesus made this accusation because His adversaries were making a big deal out of the actions of Some of His Disciples in regard to their practice of eating without due diligence in the washing of their hands. [Just in passing, make note of the fact that the earlier issue of the "eating" of the disciples in
2:23-24 was
not about the failure to wash their hands, but
was about the violation of one of a host of traditions set in place by The Elders regarding the necessity of keeping the Sabbath holy. Because this issue concerned the sanctity of the Sabbath, it far outstripped the sanctity of the hands that put food in the mouth. In our current text, the importance of the particular issue has devolved from "Sabbath loyalty issues" into the myriad of precepts by men that are inevitable when the heart-root is self-exaltation rather than loving loyalty to God and His "shepherd heart".]
In our study this evening, we are going to trace the process of the mutation of "the commandment" of The God into "the multitude of precepts" that men generate when they deliberately keep their hearts "far away from God".
- I. The Actual Condition Of The Hearts Of Those Who Resist Reconciliation To God.
- A. In 7:6 Jesus, quoting Isaiah, identified the true condition of the heart in terms of "distance" from God.
- 1. This issue of "distance" has a close-context illustration in 6:45-52.
- a. In this illustration, it was Jesus Who generated "distance" between Himself and The Twelve.
- b. The reason(s) for this "Jesus-generated distance" seem to be two.
- 1) Jesus saw The Twelve as in danger of being contaminated by the behavior of the 5,000 after they had been fed by Him.
- 2) And Mark gives strong evidence of this "danger" in his final comment about the condition of the "heart" of The Twelve: "hardened"; 6:52.
- c. Thus, we are not surprised by the outcome expressed by the "lips" of The Twelve when they witnessed Jesus' method of closing the distance: "...It is a demonic spirit who intends our destruction..." (a greater "twist" regarding the identity of Jesus cannot be imagined).
- 2. This issue of "distance" at the heart-level is Isaiah's/Jesus' conclusion regarding "hypocrites".
- B. The issue of this "distance" is not found in the geography; it is found in the reluctance of men to enter into a "reconciled" relationship with God.
- II. The Level Of Determination In The Hearts Of The "Distance-Keepers".
- A. Is first described by Isaiah by the adverb, translated "far" in 7:6 (adverbs modify verbal activities), and the verb, poorly translated "away".
- 1. The adverb simply strengthens the idea of distance.
- 2. But the verb declares a "deliberate insistence upon that distance" (apecho) by combining two uses of "apo" with the verb "to hold" (apechei ap'emou).
- B. Is then described by Jesus in terms of "dismissal" (aphentes), "intense effort" (krateo), "setting aside" (atheteo), and "causing to stand" (histemi).
- 1. In respect to "dismissal", we have a compound verb using yet another "apo" as a prefix to the verb "iemi", which means "to send away": the idea is "forcing someone/something to distance himself/itself from the one doing the "sending".
- a. The "thing" dismissed is "The Commandment of The God" as a demand by God.
- b. This "dismissal", then results in refusing to yield to The Demand made by God.
- 2. In respect to "intense effort", we have the verb that, in Greek, refers to an intense effort to "organize what one has" in order to accomplish a strongly desired objective.
- a. The "thing" organized is "The Tradition of The Men" so that every objection made in favor of The Commandment of The God is overwhelmed by "piling on" detail after detail so that the tradition wins out over the commandment (this is typically done by forcing commandments to contradict one another instead of harmonizing one another).
- b. This "intense effort", then results in disobedience to something God has established as "valuable" in terms of what will be accomplished.
- 3. In respect to "setting aside", we have a "negating particle" (a) combined with a verb that means "to set down beside" so that its presence affects the decisions to be made.
- a. The "thing" set aside is "The Commandment of The God" so that whatever it requires is no longer seen as required.
- b. This "setting aside" is the active removal of God's demand so that it no longer has any place in the thinking of those who will make a "tradition" that is to be "kept" (the translation of the verb in the Textus Receptus and not the verb in the Nestle/Aland 26).
- 4. In respect to "causing to stand", we have a textual issue where the competing words are "to keep" and "to cause to stand" and the support for each verb is equal to its alternative.
- a. At issue is the previous verb "to set down beside" with its alpha particle; a "tipping point" in the question of which verb was most likely Mark's choice.
- b. The verb "to cause to stand" is the same as Paul's word in Romans 14:4 where God "causes His servants "to stand" in spite of criticisms made against them.
- 1) In our text, the "thing" caused to stand is the tradition set up by men.
- 2) This "causing to stand" is the action of erasing God's command in favor of getting the "will" of the elders to be made the priority.
- III. Mark's "Point".
- A. It is the hardened hearts of men which makes the difference when "policy" is at stake.
- B. As "hardened hearts" the issue is men being fundamentally committed to their own "policy" with its roots in their "self-exaltation".
