Mat 15:13 Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be uprooted.

Plants are Christ's symbol for productive work of the mind, but here what is really being discussed is not plants, but planting a metaphor that brings together "the spiritual," in the form of the seed, "the emotional relationships," in the form of placing seeds in the earth, and the mental, in the form of a plant arising from knowing how to put the seed in the earth. Christ is saying that the works of men that are not consistent with the will of God are temporary, doomed to eventually fail.

Alternative translation: Every planting that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted out.

Symbolic version: Every generation of effort that is not based on the work of God is a total loss.

"Plant" is from phuteia, which doesn't mean "a plant" (except as translated here) but "planting," "generation," and "production." It has the sense of one crop in a cycle of crops, one harvest in a cycle of harvests. The verb phuteuô, "to plant" is used for "planted." "Uprooted" is from ekrizoô, "rooted out."

Mat 15:11 That which goes into the mouth does not defile a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.

What if the word translated in the above verse doesnt' mean "defile" at all, but something else entirely? The word translated above as "defile" is koinoô, which means "to make common," "to communicate," and "to impart." "To make common" doesn't mean, as it does in English, "to make lower-class," but more in the sense of "to share." The word also means "to partner" and "to come to terms with." Only here in Matthew is it translated as "defile," which as far as I can see, has nothing to do with the original intent of the Greek. I believe this is an example of a word getting filtered through through the feudal era sensitivity, which looked down upon all things "common."

Alternative translation: That which goes into one mouth does not share a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this is what communicates a man.

Symbolic version (mouth=mind): That which goes into the mind is not shared with others, but what comes out of the mind is what is shared with others.

Merry Christmas and Blessings to All!

And may Christ's Words be with you always!

Mat 15:7 [You] hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
Mat 15:8 This people come near to me with their mouths and honour me with [their] lips; but their hearts are far from me.
Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men.
The KJV is very misleading here. Christ is actually telling people that they have nothing to fear from God, that God wants people to be close to him, not to fear (worship) him.

Alternative version: Play actors, Isaiah predicted you truly, saying: These people make love to me with their mouths and value me with their lips, but their hearts are distant from me, but they falsely fear me, teaching instructions [on] the precepts of men.

Decoded: People think mentally they love God, but they have no feeling for or relationship with God. They falsely feel fear God because their teach the thoughts and preconception of men.

These verses quote Isaiah 29:13 so our discussion of original language compares the original Hebrew and the resulting Greek, which is always a lot of fun, at least for me. Interestingly, there is a real difference between the English translation of the Greek and the original Hebrew that doesn't exist between the Hebrew and the Greek. The English, at least of the King James, clearly did not look at the Hebrew version when creating a translation.

The quote references a number of Christ's common symbols, which demonstrates that Christ relies on Old Testament in his system of metaphors. Symbolically, hearts are the realm of feelings, and Christ uses them to describe the relationships between things. In general, spoken words are symbolic of thoughts and the mental realm, but Christ connects this to various forms of success in life. As is so often the case, here Christ divides the "real," that which was created by God, from the "artificial," that which was created by men.

"Hypocrites" is from hupokrites, which is a great example of a word that has taken its English meaning from the Bible and its religious interpretation rather than the original Greek and Christ's original sense. The word means "one who answers," and is used in Greek to mean "interpreter" or "actor." Christ used it to mean that the scribes and Pharisees were just re-interpreting the law and play-acting their religion.

"Come near" is from the Greek engizô (eggizo) which means "to bring near," "to approach," and "to be on the point of" (doing something). It is from the Hebrew, nagash, which means to "draw near" and "approach," but which is also used to describe sexual intercourse. Maybe combining "make advances" and "make love" into a single word might capture it.

"Honour" is from the Greek timaô , which means "to revere," "to honor," and "to value." In the original Hebrew, it is from kabad, which means "to be heavy," "to be rich," and "to be honored." Though the Greek word doesn't have the same sense of "weight" as the Hebrew, weight is often connected in Greek with value. In a commodity based society, value and weight were the same. We say that we give "weight" to an arguments in the same sense that the ancients would give "weight" to the rules of a leader or a God.

"Are far " is from the Greek, apecho ("to be absent") porrho ("at a distance"). The Hebrew is rachaq , which means "to be or become distant."

"In vain do they worship me" is from the Greek matên, ("in vain," "at random," "idly," and "falsely") sebomai ("full of awe," "fear to do," and "worship"). In Hebrew, the sense of fear is more direct. The single word, yir'ah, which means "fear," "awe," or "fear of God." In the original Hebrew, this line is translated in KJV as saying, that the fear of God comes from the teaching of men, not from God. The Greek could and should be translated this way as well.

"Teaching (for) doctrines, the commandments of men" is from didaskô (to teach) didaskalia (teachings) entalma (order) anthropos (men). The Greek, entalma, only appears here and is not a standard word in Greek. It is translated as a local form of entolê.

Mat 15:6 And he need not honor his father nor his mother. Thus have you made the commandment of God have no effect by your tradition.

This is a typical example of Christ setting the priority of the spiritual (commandments of God) over social convention. It is also an example of emotions and personal relationships (in this case with relatives) trumping less personal relationships and the realm of the words.

Alternative translation: And [people] need not honor their fathers and mothers and canceling a command of God by what you have passed down.

"Make to have no effect" is from akuroô, which means "to cancel," "to set aside," and "to treat as if it has no effect." It is a metaphor for "to render powerless."

"Tradition" is from paradosis , which means "handing down," "transmission," and "that which is handed down." This specifically includes legends, traditions, and doctrines but it is not specific about the quality of what is handed down, only that it has been passed down.

Mat 15:5 But you say, Whoever shall says [to his] father or [his] mother, [it is] a gift [to God] from that you might have profited by me; and honours not his father or his mother.

I have looked at a lot of versions of this verse and even most try to "clarify" the muddle of the KJV by adding and rearranging the words, but I think they all miss the main point. Most translations make this verse into a statement just about telling parents that the support that they might have gotten was given as a gift to God, but it is a little more than that.

Alternative version: But you command them to tell fathers and mothers, "An offering [to God] came from that which [would have been] my support."

So Christ is accusing the scribes and Pharisees of teaching people to take the money that they would have used for support of their parents and make an offering of it.

In terms of Christ's symbols for spirit, physical, mental, and emotional, the "offering" is in the mental realm, as is all forms of wealth." God or spirit is never mentioned even symbolically in the verse. In Christ system, religious traditions fall into the realm of "emotional relationships." Parents belong both to the realms of the emotional and physical since they have physical needs. Here, Christ is saying symbolically that our primary family relationships take precedence over social relationships not that relationships are more important than God or spirit.

There is also an important and very modern application of this same idea. We may not excuse ourselves from supporting our parents because of religious tithes, but many do excuse themselves from supporting their parents because they claim that is "the government's job" and that this is why they pay taxes. Symbolically, this is exactly what Christ is talking about. People want to use social obligations as an excuse for avoiding personal ones.


"Gift" is from dôron, which means "gift," "present," and specifically a "votive gift" or "offering" to a god. The simpler term without the sense of a votive offering is "dorea."

"Say" is used twice in the original KJV, but there are two different terms used in the original Greek. The first, legô, is used to describe what the scribes "say." It means literally "pick up," but it used to mean "recount," "tell over," "say," "speak," "teach," and "command." The second term, used to describe talking to parents is epo, which is from epos meaning "word." It is used like we might say "give someone the word."

Mat 15:4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He who curses his father or mother, let him die the death.

In the Sermon on the Mount after Christ teaches the Beatitudes, he goes through several of the ten commandments and raises the bar on morality. Not only shouldn't we kill, but we should turn the other cheek. One commandment he didn't mention at the time was this one. He fills in that gap now. Christ sees parents as a symbol for the union of the physical and mental in a relationship. That union creates a new spirit and new life. Words are symbolic of our mental powers. If we turn our mental powers against the union of mind, spirit, and body that creates a new spirit and life, the result is a separation of mind, spirit, and body in death.

"Honour" is from timaô , which means "to revere," "to honor," and "to value." It even has a sense of value in an economic sense meaning "to estimate," which has the same root as our word "to esteem."

"Curses" is from kakologeô, which means "to revile" and "to abuse." Literally, it means "bad words."

"Let him die" is from teleutaô , which means "to bring about," "to accomplish," "to finish," and "to die."

"Death" is from thanatos , which means "death," and specifically "a death sentence." In Greek, it has the clear meaning of separating the spirit from the body.

Mat 15:3 Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Christ responds here to the accusation the his disciples violated the law by not washing their hands before meals. Christ's response is consistent with his constant criticism of social norms and traditions taking precidence over true spirit. In the original Greek, Christ makes it clear that his accusers, the scribes and Pharisees, are more interested in legalisms than the spirit of the law. Much of Christ's teaching in Matthew is aimed at clarifying that a meaningful personal relationship with God and other people are much more important in cycle of spirit than conforming to social pressure and social norms.

"Transgress" is from parabainô, which means literally "to walk over," meaning "to bypass," or "over step."

"Tradition" is from paradosis, which means literally "to give over" and it used to mean "handing over" and "passing down." It is used to mean the "transmission" of legends, "bequeathing" of an inherentence," or that which is handed down such as "tradition," "doctrine," or "teaching."

"Commandment" is from entolê which means an "injunction," "order," or "command."

Mat 14:31 O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?

The direct translation of the Greek is:
little trust (oligopistos) for (eis) what (tis) do you doubt? (distazo)

What Christ is asking here is pretty significant. When we believe, we recognize that we believe for a reason, that is, because we get something out of our belief. Christ is saying the the opposite is also true. When we doubt, we must do it for a reason, but what can we get out of it? We do it to protect ourselves. In this case, Peter started to doubt (which means something like "rethinking," see below) because he wanted to save his life, but none of us can save our lives except temporarily. In the end, we are all dead. If we are to gain something beyond death, we have to learn to have faith. Since water is Christ's symbol for the physical, the statement is simply that by trusting in God, we can overcome our physical limitations.

"O you of little faith" is one word in Greek, oligopistos, which occurs only in Matthew. It means literally, "little" (oligo) "trust in others, faith, confidence, assurance" (pistis). It does not have the same sense of religious faith in ancient Greek that it does in modern English. Greek thought balances the risks and rewards of trust. Among their sayings: "Trust (pisties) and disbelief (apistiai) destroy a man." They also said "Trust a thing to destroy. Doubt but preserve."

"Did you doubt" is from distazô , which means "to doubt" and "to hesitate." It means literally, "to drop twice."

Mat 14:29 Come.

A nice short saying from Christ and a general invitation to all of the world for us to join Christ.

The invitation was to Peter to join Christ walking on water, but I take it more broadly, addressedd to all people in all times. In Greek, the erchomai , which is the word Matthew always uses for "come." It means "to come" or "to go." It is often translated as "to set out." Joining Christ is always a journey.