You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
Christ now settles the matter in two parts: these men rest on outward ceremony alone and neglect true holiness of heart, and they worship God by their own invention, not by His word. Worship is spiritual; it cannot consist in water or ritual. Isaiah spoke of men in his own age, but Christ rightly applies that prophecy to the Pharisees, for they are the same sort of hypocrites.
AI summary
These men from Jerusalem, who should have been better, were worse. They accused Christ's disciples of breaking tradition by eating with unwashed hands, a decent custom the Pharisees had turned into a religious duty. That this was the worst charge they could bring shows how inoffensively His disciples lived.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 15:1-9
He justly calls them hypocrites: they profess great religion yet set aside God's commands for their elders' traditions, proving they honor men above God and seek man's praise rather than His. Their religion is mere externals invented by men, not the spiritual worship God requires. Even their own rabbis said nine tenths of the world's hypocrites belonged to Jerusalem.
AI summary