The Commandment of God
Vs.
The Traditions of Men
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
Is tradition of equal value to the Bible? Do customs of men have the same authority of the Word of God? We know what the various ‘traditions’ (Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish) say about themselves, but what do the Holy Scriptures say about tradition?
3 . . .Why do
ye
also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour 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 honour not his father or his mother, he shall be
free.
Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your
tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you,
saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,
and
honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the
commandments of men.
This is the classic example of perverting the Word of God through tradition. Jesus states the Scripture: ‘Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death’ and then the Pharisee’s lying tradition ‘Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. . . he shall be free.’ He then calls them all hypocrites for teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mark 15:3-9
6 He answered and said
unto
them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written,
This
people honoureth 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.
Mark 7:6-9
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.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why
do ye
also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Matthew 15:1-3
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;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot:
I Peter 1:18, 19
So you see that Bible-contradicting ‘tradition’ is not and cannot be equal to the Bible.
Won’t you trust Christ alone as your Saviour?
Won’t you trust the Bible alone as your source of doctrine?
