Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 15:15 - 15:20
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_15:15-20
15Peter said to Him, "Explain the parable to us." 16Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also? 17Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? 18But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, slanders. 20These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."
Mat_15:15-20 This speaks of the need for spiritual balance between freedom in Christ and self-limiting responsibility out of love for Christ and others (cf. Rom_14:1 to Rom_15:13; 1 Corinthians 8; 1Co_10:23-33; 1Ti_4:4; Tit_1:15).
Mat_15:16 "Are you still lacking in understanding also" This is a rare, emphatic Greek idiom. Even the disciples did not understand until after the resurrection (cf. Luk_24:45, see also Luk_24:16; Luk_24:31; Act_16:14; 1Jn_5:20).
Mat_15:18 What food one may or may not eat is not the issue but the person's heart (cf. Mat_12:34; Mar_7:20). By these statements Jesus negated the food laws of Leviticus 11! Jesus is usually said to have rejected the oral tradition of the rabbis, but affirmed the OT. However, in this instance and His treatment of divorce (cf. Mat_5:31-32; Mat_19:8-9) He changes OT Law. It is best to affirm Jesus' right and inspiration to reinterpret both the OT and rabbinical tradition without turning this into a hermeneutical principle. Modern interpreters are not inspired but illumined. We affirm Jesus' teachings, but dare not follow His hermeneutic technique!
▣ "heart" See Special Topic at Mat_5:8.
Mat_15:19 "fornications" The English word " pornography" shares the same root word as this Greek term. It meant any inappropriate sexual activity: premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, bestiality, and even a refusal of levirate responsibilities (a brother failing to sexually relate to the widow of a deceased brother in order to provide heirs).
In the OT there was a distinction between marital infidelity (adultery) and pre-marital promiscuity (fornication).
▣ "thefts" The English word "kleptomania" is derived from the same Greek root.
▣ "slanders" This whole list referred to the Ten Commandments. Blasphemy was to speak against God.
hyperlink