Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - TRADITIONS

TRADITIONS

Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, made this statement: 

…stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught…

(2 Thessalonians 2:15)

We all seem to follow our own traditions. Each culture or society seems to have its own way of doing things and from which there seems to be no real departure from that pre-established practice. For example, a church service tends to have the same order of service, type of music, length of message, etc., and all of this done in the same allotted period of time. We tend to wear the same type of clothes (our “Sunday clothes), sit in the same seats, talk to the same people, and have the same ancillary events - youth groups, men’s or women’s events, special speakers, Bible studies, etc. And often all this is done to make those sitting in the pews feel content. There often seems to be more emphasis on the mode of service than the content of what is being said.

As a result, each body has traditions which they tend to follow. But really, all these activities that we do and follow are actually traditions of man and not of God. And we are warned about following the traditions or doctrines of man.

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, 

“Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, 

but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

He answered and said to them, 

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, 

as it is written:

‘This people honours Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

and in vain they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

(Mark 7:5-7)

The traditions spoken of by Paul were not those which seem to divide a church and appear to authenticate one denomination over another but rather those basic truths sent down from one generation to another and on which the foundation of the faith rested. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the unchanging relationship between God and man, and the righteousness that won’t fade or wear away are the traditions that we should be focused on and not the church traditions that have been devised by ourselves.

At the very least, it is something we should be thinking about.