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Tradition: How Shall We Regard It?
by Pastor Cornelius R.
Stam
Many sincere believers have a
vague idea that tradition is always wrong. They suppose that tradition in
itself is contrary to the Word of God.
Others lean heavily on tradition.
Indeed, the great majority of Christians probably lean more heavily on
tradition than on the Bible itself.
We received a letter some time
ago from an advocate of a religious practice which is all but universal in
Christendom.
He wrote: “It
has been the regular practice of the Church for centuries of time. Is it
possible that the Church has been wrong all this time?”
Our answer is — certainly it is
possible that the Church has been wrong all this time. Man can always be wrong —
and generally is!
Can the Church be wrong? Look at
the sad history of Israel, God’s covenant people!
And shall we say that we are less
prone to err? Can we claim that the Church under grace has done better than
Israel under the Law?
Not one whit. The history of the
Church in this age of Grace does not make any better reading than the history
of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures.
Whatever may be the virtues or
vices of tradition, let us put it down as a fixed principle never to depend on man — not even the Church. We can depend only upon the written Word of God.
TRADITIONS TRUE
AND FALSE
The word tradition merely means that which is handed down from one to another. It is not necessarily false.
In I
Corinthians 11:2 Paul writes: “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember
me in all things, and keep the ordinances (Gr. paradosis,
traditions), as I delivered them to you.”
In this case what Paul had handed down to the Corinthians was most assuredly
true, for he had received it by divine revelation.
Concerning the
Lord’s supper he says: “FOR I HAVE RECEIVED OF THE LORD that which also I delivered unto you” (I Corinthians 11:23), and a few chapters farther he says again: “For I delivered unto you first of all THAT WHICH I
ALSO RECEIVED” (I Corinthians
15:3).
Twice in his second letter to the
Thessalonians he emphasizes the importance of these traditions.
“Therefore,
brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught,
whether by word, or our epistle” (II Thessalonians 2:15).
“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” (II Thessalonians 3:6).
But let us not forget that Paul
was chosen of God to proclaim a particular message some years before the
Scriptures were completed.
Notice carefully that he does not
instruct his readers to follow tradition in general, nor even the traditions of
any particular group. He speaks only of that which he had himself received by
revelation to proclaim to them.
Those traditions were, of course, absolutely dependable, but
the Scriptures have since been completed.
No man today
can say “Thus saith the Lord,” unless he quotes the written Word of God.
Therefore, human traditions, as
such, are wholly unreliable. They may be true or they may be false.
THE DANGERS OF
TRADITION
Because some traditions are true men soon confuse
tradition with revelation and begin to depend on it.
Since God uses men to proclaim
His Word we are prone to confuse the words of men with the Word of God. Tradition is the more dangerous because it is not necessarily
false.
Error when mixed with truth is
the more difficult to discern.
Furthermore, our adversary often
uses personalities to lead sincere believers into error.
Dr. So-and-so’s hearers know him
as a godly man. They cannot believe that he would preach anything but the truth
and accept all he says in simple faith! But this is a perilous mistake.
The very best of men are only men
at the very best. Even the most godly men fail. They fail even in handing down
the Word of God to their hearers, and so the truth is corrupted. Let us
illustrate:
Suppose my computer printer is
down and I decide to type out twelve copies of the eighth chapter of Romans on
my old typewriter.
How should I go about it? Suppose
I make the first copy, then copy the second from the first, the third from the
second, the fourth from the third and so on to the twelfth.
Do you see the danger? If I
should make an error in the second copy there is the danger of repeating that
error in every successive copy — and the more such an error may seem to be correct, the greater the danger.
If I make two more errors in the
fourth copy, one in the fifth and another in the seventh, the errors will
multiply and the last copy may well contain them all!
The correct way would be to make
all twelve copies from the original. So, it is with the Word of God.
Men, even godly men, err and
their errors are transmitted from generation to generation. Almost every time
another error arises it is passed on to following generations; as a result,
almost every imaginable heresy is taught in the name of Christ. That is the
extreme danger of depending on tradition.
Therefore, even if our fathers copied from their fathers, let us not copy from our fathers. Or, to put it another way — even if our
spiritual leaders copied from their spiritual
leaders, let us not copy from our spiritual leaders.
Let us go to the original — to
the Word of God itself and be safe. Before Paul was saved, he made much of the
traditions of the fathers. He says in Galatians 1:14:
“And [I]
profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being
more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.”
But with all this tradition
behind him he still did not recognize his own Messiah; indeed, he became His
greatest enemy on earth.
And Paul was not the only one
thus blinded by false traditions. Some years after his conversion he wrote to
the Romans:
“Brethren, my
heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
“For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
“For they being
ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:1-3).
They were so steeped in tradition
that they could not see anything else. This casts light on Peter’s statement to
the believing Jews of his day:
“Forasmuch as
ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
“But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18,19).
If Paul had continued in the
traditions of his fathers he would have been lost. If these Jewish believers
had continued in the traditions of their fathers, they would all have been
lost, as the nation was.
What peril there is in following
tradition! What multitudes have been lost because they depended upon tradition
instead of the Word of God!
OUR LORD AND
TRADITION
The Lord Jesus was hated and
persecuted for openly opposing the traditions of the Pharisees.
However, His
answers to them were most significant. When the Pharisees came from Jerusalem
and found the disciples eating with “unwashen” hands, “they found
fault” (Mark 7:2).
“For the
Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding
the tradition of the elders.
“And when they
come from the market, except they wash [Gr. baptizo, baptize] they eat not. And
many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing
[Gr. baptismos, baptism] of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.
“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?” (Mark 7:3-5).
Matthew’s
record tells us that He began to answer by saying: “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition?” (Matthew 15:3).
But Mark continues with His
answer:
“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.
“Howbeit in
vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
“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.
“And He said
unto them, full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your
own tradition” (Mark 7:6-9).
How dangerous, then, to follow
tradition!
“AUTHORITIES”
There is always a tendency to
place spiritual leaders upon pedestals. How often Christians settle doctrinal
questions by appealing to “authorities!”
That is how tradition grows. It
is always puzzling to us to note how most believers see this clearly in the
case of the spiritual leaders of Jesus’ day, yet fall into the same trap
themselves.
Most believers roundly condemn
the spiritual leaders of Jesus’ day for having set themselves up as authorities
and condemn the people of that day for having followed these leaders so
blindly.
Yet these same believers play
“follow the leader” as seriously as those of Jesus’ day!
They have such implicit
confidence in their spiritual leaders that they can hardly believe that any of
them are guilty, actually guilty, of
unfaithfulness to God and His Word.
When men arise to call
Fundamentalist leaders to repentance, their followers gasp with astonishment.
But is the Church in any better
condition than Israel was in the days of Christ? Are the masses any less
confused than the Jewish multitudes?
Is the Church any less divided
than Israel was? They forget that our greatest Christian leaders are but men
and that our fathers were but men as we are, and as prone to err as we.
Indeed, those who occupy the
highest places, ecclesiastically, are often most used by Satan to keep men from
seeing the truth and rejoicing in it.
And Fundamentalist leaders are by
no means exempt.
The Pharisees
were the Fundamentalists of Jesus’ day, yet our Lord called them “blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14).
And though our Fundamentalist
leaders preach salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, do not suppose that
many have not been lost by following their traditions.
They have given their hearers the
impression that water baptism has some essential value in this age of Grace,
especially since it has been made the rite of initiation into the company of
God’s people.
Let young Christians fall into
worldliness or sins of the flesh and they are frowned upon for their
waywardness, but these are not the greatest sinners in the Church.
The greatest sinners are the
Fundamentalist leaders who are idolized by the throngs who drink in their every
word and whom they keep in darkness as to the most glorious truth in the whole
Bible — the mystery of God’s purpose and grace.
They know there is something
wrong with the Church and they know what that something is, but they love the
praise of men.
They well know that they ought to
repent, but they are as determined to be “orthodox” and defend their traditions
as the Pharisees of old, even if it means they must reject the written Word of
God.
Though they have seen something
of the glory of the finished work of Christ and the believer’s completeness in
Him, they are determined to defend a baptism ceremony which is far more
unscriptural in this age of Grace than the Pharisees’ traditional baptisms were
in the age of Law.
They would be glad to preach the
clear, unadulterated “gospel of the grace of God,” but that would be too
costly — the people would not take it!
And all the while they are too
blind to see that the reason the people would not accept it is because the people have been following them!
We acknowledge, of course, that
the same degree of guilt does not rest upon all who practice water baptism.
Some sincerely believe that
baptism is an ordinance of the Church.
But woe to men
who go back on the light they have received! Our Lord said: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is
that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23).
Many of our Fundamentalist
leaders need to repent. Our correspondence files bear abundant testimony to
this fact!
They are so self-satisfied that
they ignore the sad condition of the Church, over which God has made them
overseers.
Just because they are popular and throngs flock to hear them,
they suppose that the Church is strong, while in reality it is sick and weak
and exerts so little influence on the masses that the world laughs.
And while it is supposed that the
Church today is spiritually advanced (whatever intellectual advances may have
been made) it is filled with children who need constantly to be entertained to
keep them coming to the services.
But the Church would soon see and
rejoice in the Mystery which Paul burned out his life to proclaim if it were
not for the spiritual leaders.
This is why we appeal to every
reader: Do not depend upon men. The traditions of men have wrought as much
folly and shame in the Church as they ever did in Israel.
How many souls have been lost
because of traditions!
And if Satan cannot keep them
from being saved, he will rob them of their blessings as believers.
This is why Paul wrote to the
Colossians:
“Beware lest
any man spoil [rob] you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
“For in Him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
“And ye are
complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power:
“In Whom also
ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the
body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
“Buried with
Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him, through the faith of the
operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:8-12).
Circumcision and baptism spoke of
death to the flesh and cleansing from sin.
How Satan has robbed those who do
not see that this is all accomplished for us by the finished work of Christ — that
believers are complete IN HIM, already crucified with Christ and raised to walk
in newness of life.
OUR ATTITUDE
TOWARD TRADITION
In closing, what should our
attitude be toward the words of men, even the best of men?
Acts 17:11 tells us about the
Bereans to whom Paul preached. They were broad enough to listen to Paul
respectfully, and carefully consider what he had to say even though it must
have shocked them, but they were narrow enough to refuse to take even his word for granted.
“These
[Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word [Paul’s word] with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures
[God’s Word] daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).
They received Paul’s word but they did not
immediately believe it. They gave him an
interested hearing, but then put his words to the test of Scripture.
We wonder how many of our readers
are really Bereans.
How many are spiritually big
enough to listen to the words of men, but who are also big enough to test the
words of men by the Word of God. It is by this method alone that we can be kept
in the truth and delivered from error.
These are the characteristics of
the spiritually great.
If you have been depending upon
some man or men to lead you into the truth you may be very far from the truth,
but if, like the Bereans, you will search the Scriptures daily, with an honest
desire to know the truth you will stand, in God’s sight, among the nobles of
the Church.
The Berean Bible
Society was founded over seventy-five years ago for the sole purpose
of helping believers understand and enjoy the Word of God. Our Organization
holds without apology to all the fundamentals of the Christian faith and
is evangelical, that is, we believe that salvation is by grace
through faith alone on the basis of the shed blood of Christ.
We also emphasize the
importance of proclaiming the whole counsel of God in light of the Pauline
revelation. Insofar as Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, it is our firm
conviction that in his epistles alone we have the doctrine, position, walk, and
destiny for the Church, the Body of Christ, during the dispensation of Grace.
When did the Berean Bible
Society actually have its beginning? Interestingly, it began in a two-room
school house in Preakness (now Wayne), New Jersey. Here a group of believers
began to see the importance of understanding the “the mystery”
revealed to Paul, and the urgency of proclaiming the unadulterated
“gospel of the grace of God”. It was Pastor C. R. Stam’s first pastorate:
the Preakness Community Church.
When the school house had to
be torn down, the little group felt led of God to launch a building program,
even though they were in the depth of the Great Depression. The builder was our
beloved Herbert Birchenough, though other members helped put in the basement
and served in other ways. In this church the Berean
Searchlight was first published.
It was not long before Pastor
Stam was addressing a well-filled church each Sunday, with Mr. Ernest Ulmer the
Superintendent of a growing, enthusiastic Sunday School. Brother Ulmer’s fervor
and godly life were an inspiration to these young people and many of them gave
their hearts and lives to the Lord.
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