Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
An now, O Israel, what doth the Lord require from thee, but that thou shouldst cleave to him with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul? (Deuteronomy 10:12.)
On the other hand, the traditions of men, while they set aside spiritual worship, wear a temporary
disguise, as if God could be imposed upon by such deceptions; for to whatever extent outward
ceremonies may be carried, they are, in the sight of God, nothing more than childish trifles, unless
so far as they assist us in the exercise of true piety.
We now perceive the reason why hypocrisy was viewed by Luke as equivalent to doctrines
invented by men, and why he included under this name the leavens of men, which only puff up,
and in the sight of God contain nothing solid, and which even draw aside the minds of men from
the right study of piety to empty and insignificant ceremonies. But it will be better to abide by the
narrative of Matthew, which is more copious. The disciples, after having been reproved by our
Lord, came at length to understand that he had charged them to be on their guard against certain
doctrine. It was plainly, therefore, the intention of Christ to fortify them against prevailing abuses,
by which they were attacked on all sides. The Pharisees and Sadducees were expressly named,
because those two sects maintained at that time a tyrannical sway in the Church, and held opinions
so utterly subversive of the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets, that almost nothing remained
pure and entire.
But Herod did not in any way profess to teach; and a question arises, why does Mark class him
with false teachers? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and Of The Leaven Of Herod. I reply:
he was half a Jew, was mean and treacherous, and availed himself of every contrivance that was
within his reach to draw the people to his side; for it is customary with all apostates to contrive
some mixture, for the purpose of establishing a new religion by which the former may be abolished.
It was because he was laboring craftily to subvert the principles of true and ancient piety, and thus
to give currency to a religion that would be exceedingly adapted to his tyranny, or rather because
he was endeavoring to introduce some new form of Judaism, that our Lord most properly charged
them to beware of his leaven. From the temple of God the scribes disseminated their errors, and
the court of Herod was another workshop of Satan, in which errors of a different kind were
manufactured.
Thus in our own day we find that not only from Popish temples, and from the dens of sophists
and monks, does Antichrist vomit out her impostures, but that there is a Theology of the Court,
which lends its aid to prop up the throne of Antichrist, so that no stratagem is left untried. But as
Christ opposed the evils which then prevailed, and as he aroused the minds of his followers to guard
against those which were the most dangerous, let us learn from his example to make a prudent
inquiry what are the abuses that may now do us injury. Sooner shall water mix with fire than any
man shall succeed in reconciling the inventions of the Pope with the Gospel. Whoever desires to
become honestly a disciple of Christ, must be careful to keep his mind pure from those leavens;
and if he has already imbibed them, he must labor to purify himself till none of their polluting
effects remain. There are restless men, on the other hand, who have endeavored in various ways
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John Calvin