The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 318

dispensation, begins wHh the heart. Thus the psalmist prays so beautifully, "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me." The promise here is limited to such, as when it is said, " Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart;" the prospect hereafter is for them, and for them alone; for it is only" the pure in heart" that shall" see God." No amount of outward observances or ceremonial ablutions could constitute real religion or supply its place, nor errtitle ths person that performed them to the privileges of a true child of God. The apostle insists on this when he says," He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." 6. Tradition. Tradition in general is that which is handed down from father to son, or from one generation to another. The word is sometimes used in a good sense, and sig· nifies instructions, whether relating to doctrine or duty, faith or practice, and whethel:" the delivery be oral or written ; but, and this is the main thing, consisting of truths immediately delivered by inspired men. Such is its signification in 1 Cor. xi. 2, where the apostle commands or exhorts the Corinthians to "hold fast the traditions, .even as I delivered them to you;" als9 in 2 Thess. ii. 15, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle;" and again in the same Epistle (iii. 6), "Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." But it has another sense also. in Scripture, and is employed to denote what is merely human and untrustworthy, as when St. Paul speaks of himself as he was in his original sinful, unconverted state, and says, "I profited in the Jews' religion above -many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers ; " and again, when he warns the Colossians, saying, " Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." It is in this latter sense that it is used in ver. 6 of the pre~ent chapter, when "the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders?" The Jewish theory of tra<lition was that, along with the written Law, Moses received at Sinai a. second or oral law, and that this latter law was handed down through succeeding generations. This law, consisting of traditional interpretations and gradual additions, was at length embodied in the text of the Talmud, called "Mishna.," or "second law." 'l'his oral law held a higher rank, and was more highly esteemed than the written Law. It not only supplemented the written Law by large additions, but was employed as the key to its interpretation. Thus in the end it was used in instances innumerable to supplant, or supersede, or set aside, the written Law at pleasure. We do nc,t despise tradition in the proper and legitimate sense which, as we have seen, the word sometimes has, nor in its present ordinary sense of something handed down-ordinance or ceremony-pro- vided it be agreeable to the Divine Word; but we must not set up tradition side by side with the written Word of God, nor bring God's Word into conformity with tradi- dition; on the contrary, whenever God's Word and human tradition clash, the latter must be corrected by the former. One example of this kind we have in relation to the Apostle John, about whom the saying went abroad that he should not die. Jesus had said, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" This was in the first instance misinterpreted, then the misinterpretation spread from mouth to mouth as a regular tradition, till the apostle himself felt called upon to correct it by the specific statement, " Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." 7. Isaiah's prediction as applicable to the Pharisees as to their fathers. The state- ment of Isaiah, though not in the strict and specific sense a prediction concerning our Lord's contemporaries, was a description so all-embracing and so pregnant with meaning, that it exhibited with striking exactness the chief features of their religious life, or rather of their irreligious, soulless formality. Isaiah foretold it (,rpo•"1fiT<uu•v, aorist) in the past, but it stands written from then till now, and so our Lord, in this case, uses the perfect ("tfrpawTUJ.) What was said then, so long before, was equally true in the Saviour's day ; it was as true of the children, or remote descendants, as of their ancestors, as though the traits of character referred to had become stereotyped.  316 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [ea vn. l-3T