The Meaning of Matthew 15:16 Explained

Matthew 15:16

KJV: And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

YLT: And Jesus said, 'Are ye also yet without understanding?

Darby: But he said, Are ye also still without intelligence?

ASV: And he said, Are ye also even yet without understanding?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  Jesus  said,  Are  ye  also  yet  without understanding? 

What does Matthew 15:16 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 15:10-20 - What Really Defiles
It is good to study our Lord's list of the sources of soul-pollution. Evil thoughts come first. We cannot prevent an evil suggestion being presented to our minds, but we can refuse to dwell on it. To resist the inclination to dwell on it strengthens us in the opposite direction; to yield to it is to commit the sin in our heart, which, in God's sight, is equivalent to the outward act. Notice that railing, that is, unkind and uncharitable speech, is in this black-list.
The heart, rather than the body, is the source of sin. Out of the heart! The body is the dial-plate on which the soul registers its improvement or deterioration. Do not find fault with your members: look to your heart and keep it beyond keeping, for out of it are the issues of life. Ask God to create in you a clean heart. See that you distinguish between the first Adam and the second. Deny what you inherit of human weakness and sin, and affirm all that is of Christ's imparting. The cross of Calvary and the uprising of the living Christ are facts of perpetual experience. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 15

1  Jesus reproves the Scribes and Pharisees
7  for transgressing God's commandments through their own traditions;
10  teaches how that which goes into the mouth does not defile a man
21  He heals the daughter of the woman of Canaan,
29  and other great multitudes;
32  and with seven loaves and a few small fish feeds four thousand men

Greek Commentary for Matthew 15:16

Are ye also even yet without understanding? [Ακμην και μεις ασυνετοι εστε]
Ακμην — Akmēn is an adverbial accusative (classic αιχμη — aichmē point (of a weapon)=ακμην χρονου — akmēn chronou at this point of time, just now=ετι — eti It occurs in papyri and inscriptions, though condemned by the old grammarians. “In spite of all my teaching, are ye also like the Pharisees without spiritual insight and grasp?” One must never forget that the disciples lived in a Pharisaic environment. Their religious world-outlook was Pharisaic. They were lacking in spiritual intelligence or sense, “totally ignorant” (Moffatt). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 15:16

Mark 7:18 Are ye so without understanding also? [ουτως και υμεις ασυνετοι εστε]
See note on Matthew 15:16. You also as well as the multitude. It was a discouraging moment for the great Teacher if his own chosen pupils (disciples) were still under the spell of the Pharisaic theological outlook. It was a riddle to them. “They had been trained in Judaism, in which the distinction between clean and unclean is ingrained, and could not understand a statement abrogating this” (Gould). They had noticed that the Pharisees stumbled at the parable of Jesus (Matthew 15:12). They were stumbling themselves and did not know how to answer the Pharisees. Jesus charges the disciples with intellectual dulness and spiritual stupidity. [source]
Revelation 14:18 Out from the altar [εκ του τυσιαστηριου]
From the altar of incense where he is in charge of the fire If it is the altar of burnt offering (Revelation 6:9; Revelation 11:1), we are reminded of the blood of the martyrs (Swete), but if the altar of incense (Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:5; Revelation 9:13; Revelation 16:7), then of the prayers of the saints.The sharp sickle (το δρεπανον το οχυ — to drepanon to oxu). Useful for vintage as for harvesting. So “send forth” (πεμπσον — pempson) as in Revelation 14:15.Gather First aorist active imperative of τρυγαω — trugaō old verb (from τρυγη — trugē dryness, ripeness), in N.T. only Revelation 14:18. and Luke 6:44.The clusters (τους βοτρυας — tous botruas). Old word βοτρυς — botrus here only in N.T. (Genesis 40:10).Her grapes Old word again for grapes, bunch of grapes, in N.T. only here, Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:44.Are fully ripe (ηκμασαν — ēkmasan). Old and common verb (from ακμη — akmē Matthew 15:16), to come to maturity, to reach its acme, here only in N.T. [source]
Revelation 14:18 Gather [τρυγησον]
First aorist active imperative of τρυγαω — trugaō old verb (from τρυγη — trugē dryness, ripeness), in N.T. only Revelation 14:18. and Luke 6:44.The clusters (τους βοτρυας — tous botruas). Old word βοτρυς — botrus here only in N.T. (Genesis 40:10).Her grapes Old word again for grapes, bunch of grapes, in N.T. only here, Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:44.Are fully ripe (ηκμασαν — ēkmasan). Old and common verb (from ακμη — akmē Matthew 15:16), to come to maturity, to reach its acme, here only in N.T. [source]
Revelation 14:18 Her grapes [αι σταπυλαι αυτης]
Old word again for grapes, bunch of grapes, in N.T. only here, Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:44.Are fully ripe (ηκμασαν — ēkmasan). Old and common verb (from ακμη — akmē Matthew 15:16), to come to maturity, to reach its acme, here only in N.T. [source]
Revelation 14:18 Are fully ripe [ηκμασαν]
Old and common verb (from ακμη — akmē Matthew 15:16), to come to maturity, to reach its acme, here only in N.T. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 15:16 mean?

- And He said Still also you without understanding are
δὲ εἶπεν Ἀκμὴν καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀσύνετοί ἐστε

  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
εἶπεν  He  said 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω  
Sense: to speak, say.
Ἀκμὴν  Still 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ἀκμήν  
Sense: a point.
καὶ  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
ἀσύνετοί  without  understanding 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀσύνετος  
Sense: unintelligent, without understanding, stupid.