John Calvin Commentary Matthew 15:7

"Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying," — Matthew 15:7 (ASV)

Well has Isaiah prophesied concerning you. Our Lord now proceeds further, for he decides on the question at hand, which he divides into two clauses.

The first is that they relied on outward ceremonies alone and set no value on true holiness, which consists in sincere uprightness of heart; and the second is, that they worshipped God in a wrong way, according to their own inventions.

Now, although his reproof of pretended and hypocritical holiness appears until now to be restricted to persons, yet it includes the substance of this doctrine. From this, the full conclusion was, first, that the worship of God is spiritual and does not consist in the sprinkling of water or in any other ceremony; and, secondly, that there is no reasonable worship of God except what is directed by the rule of his word.

Although Isaiah, in Isaiah 29:13, did not prophesy for the future alone, but also addressed the people of his own time, yet Christ says that this prediction relates to the Pharisees and scribes because they resemble those ancient hypocrites with whom the prophet had to contend.

Christ does not quote that passage exactly as it stands; but the prophet expressly mentions two offenses by which the Jews provoked divine vengeance against themselves. With their lips only, and by an outward profession, they made a pretense of godliness; and then, they turned aside to modes of worship invented by men.

First, then, it is wicked hypocrisy when the honor that people offer to God is only in outward appearance. For to approach God with the mouth and to honor him with the lips would not in itself be evil, provided that the heart led the way.

The substance of what our Lord states on this subject is that since the worship of God is spiritual, and since nothing pleases him that is not accompanied by the inward sincerity of the heart, those who make holiness consist in outward display are hypocrites.