Preserving the Christian Tradition within Modernity
The Scriptural Basis for Believing in a
Christian Tradition
The Good, the Bad, and the Baby in the
Bathwater
Written by Dan McDonald
There are several passages in the
New Testament where Christ and his apostles reject traditions. Our Lord reserved some of his most negative
criticism for religious leaders placing their traditions above the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul warned Gentile converts against
being seduced back into the traditions of their forefathers. For this reason many Christians feel
warranted in believing that tradition is almost always at odds with the Word of
God. But the same Greek word translated
tradition in all the negative uses that appear in the New Testament is used as
well in a positive manner in II Thessalonians 3:6 and also in a few other
passages. In II Thessalonians 3:6 the
Apostle Paul commands Christians to avoid certain people who do not live
according to a certain tradition. II
Thessalonians 3:6 says, “Now, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh
disorderly and not after the tradition which he received from us.” (KJV)
I want to encourage readers who
might be comfortable believing that tradition is always negative to consider
with me the perspective that there are good traditions as well as bad
traditions described by the Apostles and the Scriptures. I believe if we evaluate all the evidence
regarding what the Scriptures say about tradition, that we will perceive that
holding and teaching traditions is something essential to how God created us as
human beings. It is not a question of
whether we will hold to traditions, teach traditions, and try to preserve
traditions; but rather the question is whether or not we will be equipped to
distinguish good from faulty traditions so as to make it our goal to hold,
preserve, and teach the good while setting aside the bad. We will look in a series of blogs at how to
view, honor, use, and when necessary correct our traditions.
Our first goal in understanding
tradition, as taught in the Scripture is to develop a definition of tradition
and see how the definition is used in the Scriptures. Once we have defined tradition in such a way
and have seen how the New Testament uses the word, we will I believe be able to
see broader uses of the concept of tradition than a simple word study might
show. Word studies can help us see how
the word is used in a context to present a concept that is also taught using
other words as well. The writing of the
Apostles, like all excellent writings uses a variety of words to express a
concept without becoming stale; while also using a single word with different
applications in different contexts. The
Christian or Biblical idea of tradition is not limited to either negative or
positive uses, nor is the Christian concept of tradition exhausted by a list of
verses using the word “tradition”.
The concept of tradition rooted in
the Greek word translated into tradition means according to Vine’s Expository
Dictionary of New Testament words, “to hand over, deliver.” (http://studybible.info/vines/Tradition)
This concept of handing over is essential if we are to understand the
Biblical understanding of tradition. In
both Greek and English our words for tradition and trade are related. In commerce we trade goods and services with
one another by handing them from one person to another, usually in exchange for
some good or service or for a monetary exchange. In trade commodities, goods and services move
from one hand to another. Tradition
likewise involves handing something from one person or one generation to
another. Traditions involve the passing
along from one to another of concepts, ideas, teachings, practices, rituals,
and general ways of life expected to be continued in their essence and passed
along to those who come afterwards. I
believe that if we describe “tradition” in such a way with a definition
involving “handing over a way of living and believing and practicing” then we
can see where tradition can be used well or poorly, for good or for bad by
those participating in traditions. This
helps to explain why our Lord could speak strongly against the traditions of
some of the Jews of his day which he believed violated the Word of God. This explains why the Apostle Paul could at
times speak to Gentiles about not being seduced once more into the traditions
of their ancestors who were separated from the tradition rooted in Christ, the
Apostles, and the revelations of God to the patriarchs and prophets. It also explains why it was important to
oppose brethren who no longer walked according to the tradition received from
the Apostles.
I want to make three brief
observations in today’s blog regarding tradition.
1. Do you see why holding to traditions in
such an important feature of being human?
One of the great distinctions between human beings and the creatures of
the field, skies, and seas is that human beings pass along thoughts, ideas, and
ways of life from one generation to another.
We are rational creatures which learn and teach, imitate and role-model,
follow and lead. We who write speak of
what we have learned that we might influence others. This is part of the glory of being human
beings. This seems to me to be surely
part of what it means that we are created in God’s image. If we, as human beings pass along ways of
life from one person and generation to another then the result must be that in
instances traditions will result from such naturally occurring human
interaction. The creation of traditions
is a natural phenomenon that cannot be eradicated without minimizing and harming
our own humanity.
2. If there is something very human in
learning and teaching and developing traditions then would it not seem likely
that when Christ became “fully man” as well as remaining “fully God" in order to
redeem our humanity, that his redemption of our humanity would result in a
correction and not abolition of our human participation in tradition? The Apostle Paul spoke in II Thessalonians
3:6 of our need to beware of those who do not walk in the traditions
established by the Apostles’ Teaching.
There is a passage which admittedly does not use the word “tradition”
but seems to me to prepare one minister and all those after him to be
consciously involved in handing off and passing a way of life from one
generation to another through committing this Apostolic teaching to faithful
men who would be able to teach others.
St. Paul writes to St. Timothy in II Timothy 2:1-2 to commit what he has
learned from St. Paul to faithful men who would be able to teach others
also. This is in essence a command for
one generation to learn the tradition of Apostolic Teaching and then to pass it
along so the next generation would be able to continue to hear and pass along
that tradition through a never-ending line of faithful men. That doesn’t mean that the chain of faithful
witnesses will produce an infallible tradition, but it does mean that God has instituted
a method of conveying a tradition capable of being learned, taught, corrupted,
and corrected to future generations.
3. If tradition is something important within
the way God has chosen to preserve and spread his Gospel and bring about the
redemption and instruction of his people in each and every generation then the
tendency to promote spontaneity at the expense of tradition should be a
questionable rather than laudable characteristic within the church of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is perhaps one of the
ways in which otherwise sound Christians are brought to embrace fads which come
and go which are treated in their arrival as leadings of the Holy Spirit and
are reflected upon in their passing as misguided exuberance and spirituality
gone astray. This includes pet doctrines
made the center of the Christian faith by someone who has just discovered the
key to godliness for our present century to those who have found the ultimate
new program to trigger church growth. We
would generally discover within the Christian faith that what God owns and uses
in the life of his people is that sense and life of faith which has been
received and practiced and taught from one generation to another wherever and
whenever Christ has been proclaimed. This will surely be so in the core matters of the faith unto the Day of Christ.
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