Holy Tradition and Scripture Study

Hebrews Highlights #1

Preparing for Studying a Scripture Book, part 1

Studying Scriptures as participants in Holy Tradition

 

            This past Sunday I began teaching a Sunday school class on the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews. On occasion I hope to present some blogs on some of the highlights of the study. The blog will not be a reproduction of the class material. The reality is that the class and the blog are different venues with different audiences. In some matters we will discuss things more in depth in the class, while with other considerations we will say more in the blog than we did in class. In this blog I want to say how I believe that believing that we participate in an ongoing holy tradition should motivate us to do careful study of the Holy Scriptures. It is often believed that if someone holds to an ongoing holy tradition that the tradition replaces Holy Scripture. Sometimes it probably does, but that should not be the case if we rightly understand that there is a holy tradition and that we are active participants in the holy tradition.

            The reality of holy tradition is perhaps best represented by our recognition that Christ has risen from the dead to become the head of a Living Church through the work of the Holy Spirit who has descended from heaven to help, teach, guide and lead us within the Church. The Church is not merely an organization, but it is a Living organism in a continual living presence in Christ. The Church as a living organism has a memory of her experiences and lessons. Especially the Church in her memory can remember these experiences and lessons so as to speak encouragement, truth, and to challenge us in moments when we are in danger of forgetting the great realities taught to us by Christ and the Apostles. This is a reality that probably all of us have had even if we had not thought of it in terms of an ongoing holy tradition. A preacher proclaiming the truth of God's Word uses a wonderful quote from a Spurgeon, a C.S. Lewis, or a Reformer, a church doctor, a Church Father, or the brother or sister who spoke at last spring's conference. We are given examples of faithful living or truth wonderfully expressed. All of this comes from the memory of a holy tradition simply because God is not dead, Christ is risen, and the Holy Spirit dwells among us. Those of us who believe in a holy tradition have a reason for believing that such quotes were meant to be a part of how God encourages his people in our present journey. The holy tradition need not, and should not crowd out our love for the Scriptures and the teachings of the Apostles. But we understand that one master has been the source of wisdom taught to the Apostles and continually proclaimed whenever and wherever, in every time and place that Christians have met. We begin to realize that because we believe in holy tradition, we are participants in that holy tradition. We are beneficiaries of the contributions of faithful men and women who preceded us, and if we prove faithful we will contribute to the riches of the beneficiaries of holy tradition who follow after us.

            It doesn’t matter of what denomination you are a member, when you came to Christ you came to know a congregation that helped to shape your Christian life, faith, and experience. God had been at work in that congregation before you ever got there. You entered into that congregation's life and heard what they taught you, saw lives worthy of imitation, and sang hymns that helped you learn how to praise God. You entered a holy tradition, a living tradition that you did not earn but like a baby you were nourished through being in a church where Christ was proclaimed.

            But you might tell me that your first church had some horrible problems. You might say. “There were things in my first church that were horribly wrong, and eventually just to maintain my sanity I had to leave that church and find another church with less of the problems that drove me from the first one.That is a problem isn’t it? Traditions can be reflective of divine truth or they can turn in faulty directions and do great harm. The only thing that probably can’t happen is to have a group of people meeting for years and years where there is no tradition. But when we speak of the holy tradition we are speaking especially of how Christ continues to be the head of the Church, how the Spirit continues to live and dwell within the Church, and how the Church continues to be a living organism which responds to Christ’s headship and to the dwelling of the Holy Spirit within.

            What does this have to do with a Bible study? For the person who believes in holy tradition, it means that as we study the Bible we are participating in this great holy tradition that began as Christ trained disciples who would faithfully commit his teaching to faithful persons who would continue to teach others and to be examples to others and to live in fellowship so as to encourage one another. So wherever we are in the chain of church history we are participants in a holy tradition where one generation commits to the next what they were faithfully given. So as we study the Scriptures we want to be a continuing link in a chain of faithfulness. We want to learn as much as we can about living faithfully in Christ from those who have been in the faith before us, and we want to reach a point where we will have a legacy and an understanding to pass along to those who follow Christ after us. We are linked through the holy tradition to those who came before us and to those who will follow after us. Therefore we are active participants being formed and helping form the holy tradition that is moving towards the day when Christ having purified his bride is ready to present her and us to His father on that great day of our eternal redemption.