---
title: Matthew 15:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-15-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-15-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 15:6
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 15:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition"
- NWT (2013 revision): "you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition"

## JW Usage

Matthew 15:6 is paired with Colossians 2:8 in JW publications as Jesus' own condemnation of human tradition. The verse — "you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition" — is read as a categorical rejection of all tradition rather than a targeted rebuke of the specific Pharisaic ruling Jesus has just exposed (vv.4-5, the corban evasion of the fifth commandment).

## Protestant Usage

Jesus is rebuking a specific tradition — the Pharisees' corban ruling that allowed a man to dedicate his property to the temple in such a way that it could no longer be used to support his parents, evading the fifth commandment. The whole pericope (vv.1-9) names the wrong precisely: a tradition that overrides God's word. Jesus does not condemn tradition as a category; he names the test ("invalidating the word of God") and applies it to the corban ruling. In the same Gospel he commands the apostles to teach "all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:20) — that command is itself a tradition to be passed on. Paul uses the same word paradosis positively at 2 Thess 2:15 and 1 Cor 15:3. The test Jesus applies here is content, not age — a tradition that preserves God's word is good, one that overrides it is bad. The Watchtower's blanket rule against post-apostolic tradition fails the very test Jesus actually gives.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders ēkurōsate ton logon tou theou as "you have made the word of God invalid" — defensible but slightly weaker than the consensus "void" or "nullified" (ESV: "you have made void the word of God"). "Invalid" reads as a procedural-legal term; the Greek is stronger, denoting abolition or annulment. The shift is subtle and not doctrinally decisive — the deeper interpretive point is that the Watchtower lifts the verse out of its corban context and applies it categorically, when Jesus himself applies it to a specific failed tradition by a specific named test.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Paradosis Is Mandatory When Paul's, Forbidden When Anyone Else's](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/paradosis-only-watchtower-canon.md) — 2 Thessalonians 2:15 — The Watchtower's Selective Tradition Rule [Authority]
- [High View of Scripture, Low View in Practice](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-bible-authority-lip-service.md) — The Governing Body claims sola Scriptura while operating as the gate to it [Authority]