<p>15:6&nbsp;<em>He shall not honour his father-&nbsp;</em>To not honour ones&rsquo; parents is, in the Lord&rsquo;s book, to actively curse them, even though it is doubtful those He was criticizing ever actually did so (Mt. 15:1-6). This is the power of sin of omission.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Thus you have made void the word of God because of your tradition</em>- It could mean, literally, of no authority. Again the Lord is making the point that practical obedience to God&rsquo;s word is a function of what authority we give it. To disobey God&rsquo;s commands by seeking to &lsquo;get around&rsquo; them is effectively saying that God&rsquo;s word is of no authority. And this is the context of this whole discussion- God&rsquo;s word is the sole authority, and not human tradition and the concessions to disobedience made by men. His word is sent forth and&nbsp;<em>will accomplish&nbsp;</em>its purpose, Isaiah says; and yet we can make &ldquo;the word of God of none effect&rdquo; by our traditions or our lack of preaching it. The word / Gospel will inevitably have a result, and yet it is also limited by the attitudes of men.</p>
<p>Or we can understand &ldquo;effect&rdquo; as just that- effect. The command to honour and practically care for elderly parents had an &ldquo;effect&rdquo;. God&rsquo;s laws are not simple tests of obedience for the sake of it. The process of obedience has &ldquo;effect&rdquo;; disobedience therefore robs us of the positive effect which obedience will bring. Caring for elderly parents, putting &ldquo;honour&rdquo; into practice rather than leaving it as mere words, is designed to teach us something. Here in Matthew we read of the &ldquo;commandment&rdquo; (<em>entole</em>) of God, but in Mk. 7:13 of the &ldquo;word&rdquo; (<em>logos</em>) of God. What did the Lord say? Perhaps: &lsquo;You make the commandment, that is, the intention (<em>logos</em>) of God, of no effect&rdquo;. God&rsquo;s word of command is a&nbsp;<em>logos</em>, an intention. See on :9&nbsp;<em>in vain</em>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s also quite legitimate to understand&nbsp;<em>akuroo</em>&nbsp;as meaning to disannul (s.w. Gal. 3:17). In this case, the Lord is saying that the Jews were doing the unthinkable for them- disannulling God&rsquo;s law. The law was disannulled by the death of the Lord Jesus, and Judaism and the early communities of Jewish converts clearly struggled with that idea. But Matthew records the Lord&rsquo;s words at this point to demonstrate that effectively, the Law had been disannulled already by Jewish disobedience to it and following human traditions which left the Law without power and function.</p>
<p>Again, &ldquo;tradition&rdquo; is put here for &lsquo;the keeping of tradition&rsquo;. Tradition means &lsquo;that which is passed on&rsquo;, and it is only that if it is actually practised.&nbsp;</p>