ACC ~ Matthew 15 v3 - 4

WHY DO YOU TRANSGRESS THE COMMAND OF GOD?

ORIGEN: The Savior summarized and explained two commandments of the law, one from the Decalogue in Exodus, the other from Leviticus or one of the other books in the Pentateuch. [1] We have already described how they set aside the word of God that says, “Honor your father and your mother.” They say, “One should not honor one’s father or mother if one has said to one’s father or mother, ‘Anything by which you might have derived benefit from me has been dedicated as a gift to God.’” But now someone might ask, Is not the next statement just an unrelated addition when it says, “Let the one who speaks maliciously against one’s father or mother die under the death penalty. For it may be granted that one does not honor one’s father and mother when one has dedicated by the formula called Corban the things that would be given for the honor of father and mother”? [2] But how does the tradition of the Pharisees also set aside the statement, “Let the one who speaks maliciously against one’s father or mother die under the death penalty”? Perhaps the answer is that it is just as if one was heaping malicious accusations on one’s father or mother if one has said to them, “Anything by which you might have derived benefit from me has been dedicated as a gift to God.” It is as if one is saying that the parents are temple robbers if they receive the things dedicated by the Corban formula from the one who has dedicated them by that formula. For this reason if any person’s sons say, “Anything by which you might have derived benefit from me has been dedicated as a gift to God,” Jews punish them as the law demands as if they were speaking maliciously against their father or mother. But you, Jesus says, are setting aside two commandments of God by your one tradition. Then you are not even ashamed when you accuse my disciples when they are not transgressing any commandment. For they were walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances. [3] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.10. [4]

[1] The first is from Ex 20:12 and Deut 5:16. The second is from Ex 21:17. The wording in Lev 20:9 is slightly different.

[2] Jews often introduced a vow by the formula Corban (“I hereby dedicate the following to God as a gift”). The word Corban is not found in Matthew’s version of this saying. It is derived from Mark’s version (Mk 7:11). Origen’s use of Mark’s version may be explained if Origen is relying partly on memory at this point. But it may also indicate Origen’s use of the Diatessaron, an ancient harmony of the Gospels that included quotations from all four Gospels. The Hebrew word Corban (and its Aramaic cognate) referred to a gift or offering dedicated to God for use in the temple or in other religious service. The word was used as a formula for making a strong vow.

[3] Lk 1:6.

[4] GCS 40:50; ANF 9:439.