Mark 7 · a question people ask
Who is Jesus calling hypocrites?
The ones he is answering. "The Pharisees and the scribes asked him" (7:5), and Jesus answered them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites" (7:6). Mark says those who gathered to him were "the Pharisees and some of the scribes" who had come "from Jerusalem" (7:1). Then Jesus says to them, "For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men" (7:8). He gives an example: a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" (7:11), and "then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother" (7:12); and he adds, "You do many things like this" (7:13). The word hypocrites is Jesus's, spoken to those who had asked him (7:5-6). These notes say only what the text says, and of whom, and make it a verdict on no people, church or group today.