John Calvin Commentary Matthew 15:1

"Then there come to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying," — Matthew 15:1 (ASV)

Then scribes and Pharisees. As the fault corrected here is not only common but highly dangerous, this passage is particularly worthy of our attention. We see the extraordinary insolence displayed by people regarding the form and manner of worshipping God, for they are perpetually contriving new modes of worship. When anyone wishes to be thought wiser than others, they display their ingenuity on this subject.

I speak not of foreigners, but of the very members of the Church, on whom God has conferred the special honor of declaring with their lips the rule of godliness. God has established the manner in which he wishes us to worship him and has included in his law the perfection of holiness.

Yet a vast number of people, as if it were a light and trivial matter to obey God and to keep what he commands, gather for themselves, from every side, many additions. Those who occupy places of authority bring forward their inventions for this purpose, as if they possessed something more perfect than the word of the Lord.

This is followed by the slow growth of tyranny. For when people have once assumed for themselves the right to issue commands, they demand a rigid adherence to their laws and do not allow the smallest iota to be left out, either through contempt or through forgetfulness.

The world cannot endure lawful authority and most violently rebels against enduring the Lord’s yoke, yet it easily and willingly becomes entangled in the snares of vain traditions. Indeed, for many, such bondage appears to be an object of desire.

Meanwhile, the worship of God is corrupted, of which the first and leading principle is obedience. Human authority is preferred to the command of God. The common people are sternly, and therefore tyrannically, compelled to give their whole attention to trifles.

This passage teaches us:

1. First, that all modes of worship invented by men are displeasing to God, because he chooses that he alone shall be heard, to train and instruct us in true godliness according to his own pleasure.

2. Secondly, that those who are not satisfied with the only law of God, and weary themselves by attending to the traditions of men, are uselessly employed.

3. Thirdly, that an outrage is committed against God when the inventions of men are so highly extolled that the majesty of his law is almost lowered, or at least the reverence for it is abated.

Scribes who had come from Jerusalem. The purpose for which those scribes came to Jesus is not stated. However, I think it probable that their attention was aroused by his fame, and that they came with the desire of receiving instruction, provided that they would approve of him as a competent teacher.³⁹¹ It is also possible that they were sent to spy.

However that may be, since they had brought their haughty disdain with them, they were easily provoked by the slightest offense to bite or snarl at Christ. Therefore, we see with what difficulty those who are influenced by ambition and the lust of power are brought to submit to sound doctrine.

Those especially whose attachment to ceremonies has been strengthened by long practice cannot endure any novelty, but loudly condemn everything to which they have not been accustomed. In short, anything more haughty or more disdainful than this class of people cannot be imagined.

Both Evangelists mention that they were scribes and Pharisees; but Matthew puts the scribes first, and Mark puts them second. They convey the same meaning: that the scribes belonged to various sects, but that the Pharisees were the leaders because they occupied an honorable position and at that time held authority.

It should not be surprising that the Pharisees were the first to take offense at the disregard of the laws of which they were authors. For, as we have said, though they boasted that they were expounders of the law (and indeed their name was derived from that circumstance),³⁹² they had corrupted the purity of the word of God by their inventions.

All the traditions that then existed among the Jews had come out of their workshop,³⁹³ and this was the reason they displayed more than ordinary zeal and bitterness in defending them.

³⁹¹ “En cas qu’ils l’eussent trouve bon maistre a leur gre;” — “provided that they should find him to be a good master to their liking.”;” — “provided that they should find him to be a good master to their liking.”

³⁹² See Harmony, vol. 1, p. 281..

³⁹³ “Elles avoyent este forgees en leur boutique;” — “they had been manufactured in their workshop.”;” — “they had been manufactured in their workshop.”