“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
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
They approached God's ordinances with their mouths and made great show of devotion in synagogues and streets, owning Him as their God with seeming sincerity. But their hearts were elsewhere entirely: no true love for Him, no faith, no fear, only the world and covetousness, making religion a ladder to earthly gain.
AI summary
Verse 8. Draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, etc. That is, they are regular in the forms of worship. They are strict in ceremonial observances, and keep the law outwardly; but God requires the heart, and that they have not rendered. (f) "This people"