What Does Mark 7:8 Mean?
For letting go of the commandment of God, you hold the handing down of men, like the immersions of pitchers and cups. And many things like these you do.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.THE KEY
God’s command is released while human tradition is held fast.
THE MEANING
You can let God’s instruction slip from your grasp while gripping customs passed on by other people. Repetition can make an inherited practice feel weighty even when the command it should serve has slipped from view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An inherited religious practice is not automatically the same as holding to God’s command.
THE ROOT
ἀφέντες
aphentes
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), from ἀπό (apo, away) + ἵημι (hiēmi, send or let go)
To let go, leave, or release; the same verb can also mean forgive.
“letting go of” in this verse is aphentes. Mark’s word for “laying aside” is a form of a verb that also means to release or forgive. The Greek links letting God’s command go with the same release expressed when a debt is forgiven.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release or forgiveness
ἄφεσις
This noun from the same word family shows how release can describe letting a debt or burden go.
aphienai: To let go, leave, or forgive
ἀφιέναι
This infinitive form preserves the range of the verb behind “laying aside,” joining departure and release.
κρατεῖτε
krateite
GROWS FROM
κρατέω (krateō), related to κράτος (kratos)
To grasp or hold fast; κράτος (kratos) means strength or might.
The Greek verb carries the sense of grasping or holding firmly, with a word-family connection to strength and might. English says “hold,” while the Greek sets an active grip against the release named just before it.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: Strength, might, or power
κράτος
Its shared word family gives “hold fast” the force of a grip maintained with strength.
krataios: Strong or mighty
κραταιός
This related form echoes the strength associated with holding firmly.
παράδοσις
paradosis
GROWS FROM
παραδίδωμι
paradidōmi
To hand over or pass along; παράδοσις names what is handed down.
“handing down” in this verse is paradosis. “Tradition” names teaching passed from one person to another. The verse places this handed-down material in the grip that remains after God’s instruction has been released.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: To hand over, deliver, or pass along
παραδίδωμι
It makes clear that tradition is something transmitted from person to person.
paradotheis: Having been handed over
παραδοθείς
This related form shows the receiving end of what has been passed along.
THE PATTERN
A human practice can be held fast while the instruction it claims to honor is released.
And the Lord says, Because this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips give me weight, but their heart has gone far from me, and their awe of me is a command of men, trained.And Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in rising offerings and slaughtered offerings as much as in hearing and responding to the voice of the LORD? Behold, hearing and responding is better than a slaughtered offering; to prick the ear is better than the fat of rams.Watch lest anyone lead you off as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the handing down of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to the Anointed One.THE THREAD
And release our debts, as we also release our debtors.The Greek verb translated “laying aside” here is ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, release, leave, or forgive); Matthew uses the same verb for “forgive.” The shared word reveals release beneath both letting something go and releasing a debt.
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