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Dictionary of Biblical Words
:
This
was very plentiful among
the
Jews, the written
law
being supplemented by the oral (or spoken) law, which consisted in the
tradition
of the
elders
handed
down
from
generation
to generation. It
often
made
the word
of
God
void by limiting it or adding to it. This the
Lord
pointed out again and again Matt. 15, Mark 7). It is to be feared that
even
now tradition and the law of precedent has not
wholly
ceased to govern and guide the
church
of God, instead of the word alone.
Concise Bible Dictionary
:
This may be described as that which is handed down as oral
teaching
. It may be from
God
, as in
2 Thessalonians 2:15
15
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
;
2 Thessalonians 3:6
6
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 of us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)
; and
1 Corinthians 11:2
2
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)
(where it is translated “
ordinance
”), instruction handed down before
the word
of God was
complete
. Or it may be from
man
, as was the tradition of the
elders
of
Israel
, which was strongly denounced by the
Lord
, and declared to be a subverting of the commandments of God (
Matt. 15:2-6
2
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4
For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6
And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. (Matthew 15:2‑6)
;
Mark 7:3-13
3
For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4
And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.
5
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10
For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11
But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12
And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13
Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. (Mark 7:3‑13)
;
Gal. 1:14
14
And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. (Galatians 1:14)
). In
Colossians 2:8
8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
it is the mere teaching of the moralists, of which much has survived to the present
day
. What man institutes, man holds to most tenaciously.
Bible Handbook
:
The
references to
tradition
in the Scriptures demand our attention. It is clear that the
Lord
when on
earth
had to encounter and to condemn the traditions held by the rulers.
That
they
held the traditions as binding is obvious.
There
“came to
Jesus
scribes
and Pharisees, which were of
Jerusalem
, saying, Why do Thy disciples
transgress
the tradition of the
elders
?
for
they wash not their hands when they
eat
bread
” (
Matt. 15:1-2
1
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. (Matthew 15:1‑2)
). The question is
put
in precisely the same way as if the disciples had broken the
law
.
It is pretended that much of the tradition was received by
Moses
on the
mount
; that it was not written
down
, but was committed orally to
Joshua
; that Joshua
delivered
it to seventy elders, and they committed it to the
great
synagogue
; and these handed it down to the Rabbins. It is called in
Scripture
the tradition of the
fathers
as well as of the elders (
1 Pet. 1:18
18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:18)
).
Another part of the oral law, as it is called, are canons made by the learned heads of the
Sanhedrim
, explaining the law, and acting as ‘fences’ to
prevent
the law from being broken by ignorance or cunning.
This
latter division was
often
added to, as occasion required. It was
also
often modified, when circumstances seemed to
make
its strictness impracticable.
Thus the oral law was not
all
equally binding, though it is often spoken of as if it were. That held to be handed down from Moses was called the
Halacha,
or ‘
rule
,’ and must be obeyed. The
other
part was called
Hagada,
or ‘
what
is said’; and, though to be received
with
the greatest respect, it often contains the judgments of learned Rabbins, differing widely one from another.
It is
certain
that this latter division has been largely added to since the
time
of the Lord on earth: how much of it then existed is not known.
Nor do we know what changes
have
taken
place
in the whole of this oral law since that date. For centuries it was not allowed to be written: it must be handed down by the memories of the learned. It is believed to have been first committed to
writing
in the last half of the fourth century. The first printed edition of the Babylonian Talmud in 1520-23, filled 12 vols. folio.
On looking at the oral law as contained in the Talmud or Mishna, one cannot but be struck with its minute detail and frivolous trifling; precisely as our Lord said to the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye
blind
guides, which strain at [or, out] a
gnat
, and
swallow
a
camel
” (
Matt. 23:24
24
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Matthew 23:24)
).
Nor was their tradition simply minute detail, much of it also was
folly,
as the Lord explains respecting their traditions as to oaths (
Matt. 23:16-22
16
Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18
And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19
Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20
Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21
And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22
And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. (Matthew 23:16‑22)
).
And
some
of it actually violated the law, as the Lord shews by their tradition as to the relation of
children
to parents. The law said, “Honour thy
father
and thy
mother
,” but they had a tradition that a
son
might
say, “It is
Corban
,” respecting whatsoever his parents might be profited by
him
; and he would not be suffered to do anything more for father or mother. Thus they made the commandment of
God
of no effect by their tradition (
Matt. 15:3-6
3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4
For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6
And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. (Matthew 15:3‑6)
;
Mark 7:11
11
But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. (Mark 7:11)
) Corbin is a
Hebrew
word, and is very often translated in the
Old
Testament
by ‘
offering
.’ It is a
gift
to God. The tradition allowed a
child
to say his property or income was dedicated to God, and he would then be
free
from helping his needy parents: as people now
give
their property to the
church
, instead of thinking of those who
have a
natural
claim on them..
Surely
the bringing in of tradition was a cunning
work
of
Satan
. It would have shocked the sensibilities of
many
a
Jew
to call in question any part of the law as given by Moses; and
yet
they were led to acknowledge that there was another law equally binding on them, which, in many ways, diverted their attention from the true law, occupied them with trivial details (as the
washing
before
eating
), corrupted their
judgment
, and in some things led them to
break
the law, which they were zealously professing to
keep
all the while.
Our Lord could not
let
such a state of things exist around Him without thoroughly exposing its folly and
evil
, and this He did with the most withering
rebuke
.
Paul
has not hesitated to tell us that, when he was persecuting and wasting the church of God, he was more exceedingly zealous than others of the traditions of his fathers (
Gal. 1:14
14
And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. (Galatians 1:14)
).
Peter
also, in writing to believing Jews scattered abroad, reminds them that they had been redeemed from their ‘vain
conversation
’ (or
manner
of
life
) received by tradition from their fathers (
1 Peter 1:18
18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:18)
).
It may interest the reader to know that the devout Jews of the present
day
still
hold
the oral law to be binding upon them. In 1845, because some of their
brethren
began to doubt of ‘the divinity of the oral law,’ which apparently they had never seen, ‘Eighteen Treatises from the Mishna’ were translated into English. (Sherwood, Gilbert, & Piper, London.) “There
can
be no doubt,” say the translators, “that the
Israelite
, who believes in the divinity of an oral law — who thinks the
salvation
of his
soul
depends on such belief — but to whom the Mishna in the Hebrew is a sealed
book
— there can be no doubt that to such a
man
, if he be
rational
as well as pious, the present
translation
must be highly acceptable, as mere belief in the contents of a book not understood can confer no claim to heavenly reward. ... We find the
holy
pages of the
Pentateuch
,
the Prophets
, and the Hagiography [sacred writings] open for his instruction,
comfort
, and consolation; and the same free access should be
given to
pages containing so large a
portion
of the oral law, which also claims a
divine
origin.”
But a Jew would perhaps retort that ‘tradition’ is also held among Christians, and is indeed enforced in the
New
Testament.
We do read that the
apostle
Paul, writing to the
Thessalonians
, said, “Brethren, stand
fast
, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our
epistle
.” And they were to withdraw from every
brother
that walked disorderly and not after the tradition which had been received from them (
2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6
15
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
6
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 of us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)
).
Paul also instructed
Timothy
: “The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same
commit
thou to
faithful
men, who shall be able to
teach
others also” (
2 Tim. 2:2
2
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2)
).
When these things were written,
the Word
of God was not completed; and the
epistles
that had
been written were in manuscript, and perhaps not more than one copy of each existed at any of the assemblies, so that the saints were taught the Scriptures by
hearing
them read, and not by reading them. Paul, in more than one place, enjoins that the epistles should be
read
to the assemblies (
Col. 4:16
16
And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. (Colossians 4:16)
;
1 Thess. 5:27
27
I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. (1 Thessalonians 5:27)
), and Timothy is exhorted to “give attendance to reading,” which, being placed with exhortation and doctrine (or
teaching
) seems to imply public reading.
When the Word of God was
complete
there was no further need of any tradition. It declares itself to be “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness
: that the man of God may be
perfect
,
throughly furnished unto all good
works
” (
2 Tim. 3:16-17
16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16‑17)
). There is no room for any tradition: all that is needed is to be found in what
is written — written
by
inspiration
of God. A
solemn
warning is given against adding to or taking from “the words of the
book of
this
prophecy
” (
Rev. 22:18-19
18
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18‑19)
), as there was also a warning against adding to or taking from the law (
Deut. 4:2
2
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)
; see also
Prov. 30:5-6
5
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
6
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:5‑6)
). The Jews did this, and are still doing it to their own condemnation.
A corrupt church, alas! is also doing it to its own
destruction
. The
second
Nicene
Council
(A.D. 787) pronounced its
anathema
on any who should dare to reject the tradition of the church, be it oral or written. The Council of Trent also, in A.D. 1549, declared that the interpretation of Scripture had to be regulated by tradition. May God enable us to cling tenaciously to the
Bible
— all the Bible — the Bible
only
.
From
Manners and Customs of the Bible
:
Matthew 15:3
3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? (Matthew 15:3)
. Why do ye also transgress the commandment of
God
by your
tradition
?
See also
Mark 7:9
9
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:9)
.
Lightfoot (Horae Hebraicae, on verse 2) gives a number of curious illustrations from the old Talmudical writers, showing the value which they set on traditions: “The words of the
scribes
are lovely, above the words of the
law
; for the words of the law are weighty and
light
, but the words of the scribes are all weighty.” “The words of the
elders
are weightier than the words of
the prophets
.” “A
prophet
and an elder, to what are they likened? To a king sending two of his servants into a province. Of one he writes thus: Unless he shows you my
seal
, believe him not; of the other thus: Although he shows you not my seal, yet believe him. Thus it is written of
the prophet
. He shall show thee a sign or a miracle; but the elders thus: According to the law which they shall teach thee.”
Related Books and Articles:
672. Tradition
From:
Manners and Customs of the Bible
By:
James M. Freeman
Narrator:
Chris Genthree
Duration:
1min
Call: 1-630-543-1441
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, … rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
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