The Tradition Trap

Tradition was made with one addition to God’s words: 

God said: “And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16)

Eve Said: “The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” (Genesis 3:2-3)

Eve added one addition “do not touch or you will die.” This is tradition, it adds to the Almighty’s words and create rules He never designed. God said eating the forbidden fruit was the sin, Eve says its to touch it and so tradition works to change what the Lord commanded and replace it with man’s tradition. Jesus said, “You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men. He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the commandment of God to maintain your own tradition..” (Mark 7:8-9). Tradition has the power to be at odds with God’s commands and teachings. The Apostle Paul warns us, “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). Indeed there is much in the Church that is the traditions of men and not the commands of Christ. For Jesus tells us to call no one tescher, leader, or pastor, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ (Pastor) for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ.  The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:7-11), and yet Catholic Priests are called fathers and Protestant pastors are called teachers! Indeed, God’s words set aside for the traditions of men! 

We claim to be Solae Scriptura, measuring, testing, and doing only what is prescribed and ordained in Scripture, and yet we have so many traditions at odds with Scripture! The idea of having priests or full time clergy and laity (everyone else, congregation, audience) is gross violation of the truth that all Christians are priests, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” (1 Peter 2:9) and “from Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6, Jubilee 2000 Translation and 1970 The Jerusalem Bible), and “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” (1 Peter 2:5). 

Worse we have the tradition of one man, a pastor or priest who teaches for an hour at the pulpit, when the Apostle says a service should look thus, “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.  If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.  But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.  Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.  If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.  For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,” (1 Corinthians 14:26-33), with all church memebers participating not stifled as spectators! 

There is the tradition of building temples, cathedrals and church buildings when the Scriptures testify we are the temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), we are the church, and the apostles met in houses (Acts 2:46), upper rooms (John 20:1-18), and did not build tabernacles, God even rebukimg Peter when he proposed the idea, “And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” (Matthew 17:4-8). In fact God never wanted a building or temple, “But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?  I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” (2 Samuel 7:4-7), “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

‘Heaven is My throne,

And earth is My footstool.

What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,Or what is the place of My rest?

Has My hand not made all these things?” (Acts 7:48-50), “"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands,” (Acts 17:24), but rather God chooses to dwell in us, who He made in His Image, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:9), “What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people,” (2 Corinthians 6:16), “But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast,” (Hebrews 3:6), “In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord and in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit,” (Ephesians 2:21-22), “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” (1 Peter 2:5). There was no temple or building in Eden (Genesis, Chapters 1-3) and there will be no temple in the New Jerusalem and Earth, “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:22). Temples, and buildings are about man’s hubris not honoring God. We are God’s temples! One could argue that Notre Dame Cathedral burning down in Paris France was a message from the Lord that He never wanted buildings and that we are His temples, human flesh. 

The truth is we are still acting like Prima Scriptura: Scripture and Traditions of Men as equal. We have not yet won Solae Scriptura because we keep like Eve adding to what Christ commanded and mutating the church until it looks like the Pharisees. The Apostle even uses Eve as an example of how we can be decieved, “I fear like Eve you will be seduced bu the serpent from a pure and undivided devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). One could interpret Paul to say, “I fear you could be seduced by tradition from pure devotion to Christ.” 

Tradition is a dangerous weapon to get us farther from Christ and what He actually said. How many teach in churches traditions that you must seek God or please Him, and yet God lives in us, “Anyone who confesses Jesus Christ is Son of God, God lives in them and they live in God” (1 John 4:15). How many serpentine traditions convince people God is afar, when He is near, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed,” (Psalm 34:19), and “.What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.  Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Philippians 8:31-39).  

Tradition is a trap the seeks to bury the Truth beneath error, rituals, and man made religion (Colossians 2:23). Tradition is the devil’s number one tool to take the church and derail it from fixing its eyes on Christ (Hebrews 12:2), count all lost but  knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8), and having a pure undivided devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). Tradition is the curtain Christ tore at His death on the cross (Matthew 27:50-51), His blood not the tradition of the fathers redeemed us, “Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Sadly, Constantine The Great, patriarchs (not the apostles), Popes and Clergy re-erected the curtain of tradition to try and bury the Truth of the Gospel (see the last chapter of Eusebius’s The History of the Church). 

So many churches have traditions of men that warp what Christ and His apostles wrote. The congregations listen to the religion of their ministers rather than the words of God in Scripture!, “you ignore the commands of God and substitute your own tradition.” (Mark 7:8-9). This is why even after The Reformation we still have people drowning spiritually in the traditions of men. Tradition must die and the Way, Jesus Himself (John 14:6) must be all sufficient; Jesus alone we follow! For the Apostle tells us this is the mature Christian, “Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.  For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,  though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.  I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ: For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. ” (Philippians 3:2-11, 15).

If we are to become Solae Scriptura and shake the shackles of manmade religion and tradition off, we must put to death the substitutes (institutes) that contradict the Scriptures and lead away from the Holy Trinity! For why consult Augustine of Hippo, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Zwingli, Charles Spurgeon, OswaldChambers, C.S. Lewis and more? When you can have Christ and the Holy Spirit teach you?, “Christ,  in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3) and “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26) and The Holy Scriptures which are God Breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Amen.