What Does Mark 7:9 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
What is handed down becomes the thing preserved only by nullifying what God commands.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment inherited practice is kept by setting aside what God commands. The word for “tradition” points to something handed down, while “reject” carries the force of nullifying it; the tension lies in what must be displaced for the tradition to remain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever is old or widely practiced must, by that fact alone, express obedience to God.
THE ROOT
παράδοσις
paradosis
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; in παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), to give over or hand along.
“Tradition” names what has been handed down. The verse exposes a tension: preserving that transmission can require setting aside what God commands.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This verb gives the noun its sense of something handed along.
metadidōmi: To impart or share.
μεταδίδωμι
It shows the same giving root in the act of passing something on.
ἀθετέω
atheteō
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
To put or place; with the privative prefix, ἀθετέω means to set aside, nullify, or reject.
“reject” in this verse is atheteō. The verb carries more force than simply failing to follow a command: it describes setting it aside or making it void. Beside “tradition,” it shows what is displaced so the handed-down practice can be kept.
ALSO GROWS
tithēmi: To put or place.
τίθημι
This is the verb at the root of ἀθετέω’s image of setting something aside.
athetēsis: Annulment or setting aside.
ἀθέτησις
This related noun makes the force of nullifying explicit.
THE PATTERN
What is handed down can displace God’s command when preserving the inherited form takes precedence.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.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.THE THREAD
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.The Greek word translated “tradition” is παράδοσις (paradosis) in both verses: something handed over or passed down. Colossians makes the question vivid: what is being carried forward, and where does that transmission lead?
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