What Does Matthew 15:9 Mean?
But in emptiness they stand in awe of me, teaching human commands as lessons.
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
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.THE KEY
Reverence can be directed toward God while the teaching carried under that reverence comes from people.
THE MEANING
This verse names a present possibility: reverence toward God can coexist with teaching that originates in human commands. That makes the worship vain, not because the reverence is unreal, but because what is taught as divine instruction has a human source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie it undoes is that sincere religious observance makes the teaching attached to it God’s truth.
THE ROOT
σέβονται
sebontai
GROWS FROM
σέβ-
seb-
To revere or show reverence.
“stand in awe of” in this verse is sebontai. This word carries the sense of reverence. The tension is that reverence addressed to God can be joined to teaching whose authority comes from people; the sentence holds the devotion and exposes the source of the teaching.
ALSO GROWS
sebomenoi: Revering; devout.
σεβόμενοι
This related form describes God-reverers in Acts 17:4, showing that the same reverence-family can describe devotion directed toward God.
sebazomai: To revere or worship.
σεβάζομαι
This related verb appears in Romans 1:25 for reverence directed toward created things, showing how much the object of reverence matters.
μάτην
matēn
GROWS FROM
μαται-
matai-
Empty, futile, or without result.
“in emptiness” in this verse is matēn. The word presents the worship as empty or fruitless. The outward act of reverence remains, yet what is taught gives it no truth when human commands are presented as God’s instruction.
ALSO GROWS
mataios: Empty or futile.
μάταιος
This related adjective describes the thoughts of the wise as “vain” in 1 Corinthians 3:20, carrying the same sense of emptiness.
mataiotēs: Futility or vanity.
ματαιότης
Ephesians 4:17 uses this noun for the “vanity” of the mind, extending the same root-family’s sense of emptiness.
THE PATTERN
When human precepts are passed off as God’s instruction, religious forms can remain while their allegiance shifts.
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.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.All of these go to decay in being used up, according to the commands and teachings of men?THE THREAD
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who stood in awe of God, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart wide, and she held fast to the things Paul spoke.The Greek word translated “worshipped” belongs to the same reverence-family as Matthew’s “worship.” Acts pairs Lydia’s reverence with an opened heart and attentive hearing, giving a picture of reverence joined to receiving what is spoken.
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