(From: MARK #11 - 7:1-23)

B. 7:1-23 PHARISAICAL SINS THAT DAMN THE SOUL

a. 7:1-2 NIT-PICKING PHARISEES!

Kai suNAgon-tai pros auTON hoi Pha-riSAIoi KAI ti-nes ton gram-maTEon,

And the Pharisees gather unto him and certain of the scribes,

elTHONtes aPO Ie-ro-solLUmon, kai iDONtes

who hadcome from Jerusalem, 2and seen

tiNAS ton ma-theTON auTOU HOti koiNAIS cherSIN, tout' EStin, aNIPtois, esTHIou-sin tous ARtous.

that some of his disciples ate theirloaves with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands.

b. 7:3-4 THE TRADITION OF THE ELDERS ABOVE THE WORD OF GOD

(hoi gar Pha-riSAIoi, kai PANtes hoi IouDAIoi,

(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews,

eAN mepugME [4435]NIpson-tai [3538]tas CHEIras, ouk esTHIou-sin,

except they wash their hands diligently, eat not,

kraTOUNtes [2902] ten paRAdo-sin [3862]ton pres-buTEron [4245]; kai ap' a-goRAS,

holding the tradition of the elders; 4and coming from market,

eAN me'ranTIson-tai [4472], ouk esTHIou-sin;

except they sprinkle themselves, they eat not;

kai ALla polLA es-tin, ha paREla-bon kraTEIN [2902],

and many other things thereare, which they have received to hold,

bap-tisMOUS [909] po-teRIon [4221], kai xeSTON [3582], kai chalKIon [5473].)

washing of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels.)

c. 7:5 PHARISEES CONFRONT JESUS

kai e-pe-roTOsin [1905]auTON hoi Pha-riSAIoi kai hoi gram-maTEIS,

And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him,

DiA ti ou pe-ri-paTOUsin hoi ma-theTAI sou kaTA ten paRAdo-sin ton pres-buTEron,

Why do your :disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders,

alLA koiNAIS cherSIN esTHIou-sin ton ARton?

but eat :bread with defiled hands?

d. 7:6 JESUS' ROUGH RESPONSE

ho de EIpen auTOIS, KaLOS e-proPHEteu-sen [4395]E-SAIas peRI HUmon ton hu-po-kriTON [5273],

But HE said to them, Isaiah well prophesied of you :hypocrites,

hos GEgrap-tai, [HOti] HOUtos ho laOS tois CHEIleSIN me tiMA,

as it is written, [that] This :people honors me with their lips,

hede karDIa auTON PORro [4206]aPEchei [568]ap' eMOU.

But their heart is far from me.

e. 7:7 But in vain they worship me, Teaching fordoctrines commands of men.

MAten [3155]de SEbonTAI [4576]me, diDAskon-tes di-da-skaLIas enTALma-ta anTHROpon.

f. 7:8 Leaving the commandment of :God, you hold fast the tradition of :men.

aPHENtes te en-toLEN tou TheOU, kraTEIte [2902]ten paRAdo-sin [3862]ton anTHROpon.

g. 7:9 HE SPELLS THIS OUT WITH ABSOLUTE CLARITY

kai Ele-gen auTOIS, KaLOS a-theTEIte [114] ten en-toLEN tou TheOU,

And he said to them, Well you reject the commandment of :God,

HIna ten paRAdo-sin huMON teREse-te [5083].

that you may keep your :tradition.

h. 7:10-13 JESUS CITES A DRASTIC EXAMPLE OF TRADITION TRAVESTY

Mo-uSES gar EIpen, TIma [5091] ton paTEra sou kai ten meTEra sou; kai,

For Moses said, Honor your :father and your :mother; and,

Ho ka-ko-loGON [2551] paTEra e meTEra, thaNAto te-leuTAto [5053]:

Who speaks evil of father or mother, let him end in death:

huMEIS de LEge-te, E-AN EIpe ANthro-pos to paTRI e te meTRI,

11but you say, If a man shall say to his:father or :mother,

KorBAN, HO es-tin DOron [1435], ho eAN ex eMOU o-phe-leTHES [5623];

That with which you might have been profited by me is Corban, which is :Given to God;

ouKEti aPHIe-te [863] auTON ouDEN poiEsai to paTRI e te meTRI;

12you no longer suffer him to do anything for :father or :mother;

a-kuROUNtes [208] ton LOgon tou TheOU te pa-raDOsei huMON,

13making void the word of :God by your :tradition,

he pa-reDOka-te [3860]: kai paROmoi-a [3946] toiAUta polLA poiEIte.

which you have delivered: and many such like you do.

i. 7:14-15 JESUS EXPLAINS TO CROWD THE PROBLEM

kai pro-ska-leSAme-nos PAlin ton OCHlon, Ele-gen auTOIS,

And he called to himthe crowd again, andsaid to them,

A-KOUsaTE [191] mou PANtes, kai SUne-te [4920]:

Hear me all of you, and understand:

ouDEN es-tin Exo-then tou anTHROpou, eis-po-reuOme-non eis auTON ho DUna-tai koiNOsai auTON;

15thereis nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him;

alLA ta ek tou anTHROpou ek-po-reuOmeNA [1607] es-tin ta koiNOUNta [2840] ton ANthro-pon.

but the thingsproceeding out of the man are what defile the man.

j. 7:17 And when he entered into thehouse from the crowd, his :disciples asked of him the parable.

kai HOte eiSELthen eis OIkon aPO tou OCHlou, e-peROton auTON hoi ma-theTAI auTOU ten pa-ra-boLEN.

k. 7:18a And he says to them, Are YOU so without understanding also?

kai LEgei auTOIS, HOUtos kai huMEIS aSUneTOI [801]es-te?

l. 7:18b-19a HE CLARIFIES HIS PARABLE

ou noEIte [3527], HOti pan to Exo-then eis-po-reuOme-non eis ton ANthro-pon,

Perceive you not, that whatever from without goes into the man,

ou DUna-tai auTON koiNOsai [2840]; HOti ouk eis-poREUe-tai auTOU eis ten karDIan,

itcannot defile him; 19a because it does not go into his :heart,

all' eis ten koiLIan [2836], kai eis ton a-pheDROna [856] ek-poREUe-tai?

but into the belly, and goes out into the draught?

m. 7:19b This he said, making all :meats clean.

ka-thaRIzon [2511] PANta ta BROma-ta [1033].

n. 7:20 And he said [that], What proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man.

Ele-gen de [HOti], To ek tou anTHROpou ek-po-reuOme-non, eKEIno koiNOI ton ANthro-pon.

o. 7:21-23 A LIST OF WHT DEFILES MAN

Eso-then gar, ek tes karDIas ton anTHROpon, hoi di-a-lo-gisMOI [1261] hoi kaKOI ek-poREUon-tai,

For from within, out of the heart of :men, proceed the evil reasonings,

porNEIai [4202], kloPAI [2819], PHOnoi [5408], moiCHEIai [3430],

fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,

ple-o-neXIai [4124], po-neRIai [4189], DOlos [1388], aSELgei-a [766],

22covetings, wickednesses, guile, lasciviousness,

oph-thalMOS po-neROS, blas-pheMIa [988], hu-pe-re-phaNIa [5243], aph-roSUne [877]:

an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness:

PANta TAUta ta po-neRA Eso-then ek-poREUe-tai, kai koiNOI ton ANthro-pon.

23all these evils proceed from within, and defile the man.

NOTE: It is so easy to pick up the hypocritical spirit of the Pharisees. All is done for outward show - but no attention is given to the ugliness of the inward life. We must not out of hand condemn the Pharisees - without first asking, “Lord, could anyof this spirit exist in me?” God will help usto see any area of our lives that needs to be brought up to Hisstandard. Jesusis the only perfect human standard for us to observe! As the Son of :man, Heis our perfect human example.

And more than that - we must like Paul say as he did in Romans 7:18, “For I knowthat in me, that is, in my :flesh, dwells no good.” Only Christ in me and in Paul is good! See also Philippians 3:3 “for we are the circumcision (of heart), who worship by God's Spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence even in flesh.” Paul is not here as one dwelling in Romans 7 - he is here talking of one who hasn't arrived, but is well on the way to seeing such maturity in Christ - that Galatians 2:20 is the watchword of his testimony!

And we must also remember 2 Corinthians 4:7 - “But we have this :treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power be of :God, and not from us.” When we are one with Jesus in the Spirit - even then - this treasure is stillin earthen vessels. The best of us apart from Jesus have “foibles” that in comparison with Jesus - gives allthe glory to God.

And the spirit of Pharisees? Dyed in the wool Pharisees do notwish to be toldor shownof their hypocrisy and inconsistencies in the manner in which Jesus unmasked and exposed them. They killedHim for it! Let us then beware of this spirit of the Pharisees with all of our being.

And lastly, may we remember the mercyof God. Hechose Israel - delivered them from Egypt - planted them in their own land, Palestine - Canaan land - which by God's covenant is stilltheir's in spite of United Nations, United Europe, Third World countries, and many leaders in the United States - and then watched them turn from Him for idols made with their own hands after the custom of neighboring nations! So in the firmness of true love, He drove them out of their land on two occasions, even as He drove Adam and Eve out of Eden - yet did not in the latter case drop the whole human race, - nor Israel as His chosen nation - but purified them by suffering, and in the right time, will reveal Himself to Israel. See Zechariah 12:10-13:1 - “and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born ... In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”

Jesus in his Redemptive and Reconciling Act on Calvary, made this possible for Israel - andfor the human race - all nations from Adam. Will allbe saved? No - but a remnant of those who hearHis invitation will, and they will come and return with joy and gladness in the long-suffering and forgiving God! Let us resolve to be part of that remnant number! J.A.W.