Tradition

I ask you to join me on a journey through Scripture to see what it says about tradition—a "walk in the Word".  As we walk, let's speak, believe, and do what is right, be merciful in our speech and actions, and walk humbly with the Lord (Micah 6:8).

Included as an appendix to this article are references to most (if not all) verses in Scripture directly related to this topic.  Please contact me if you find a verse not referenced and think it should be.

Scriptural quotations are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.  Bolded text or other emphases in the Scriptural references are mine.

Isaiah

The very first time the word "tradition" is found in the NASB is in Isaiah 29:13-

Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed." (Isaiah 29:13)

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for tradition, מסורה [mesorah], is not found in this passage.  The Hebrew text translated as "tradition" is מצות אנשׁים [mitzvot anashim], which literally means "commandments of men".  G-d is not admonishing His people, Israel because they have traditions but because they are basing their reverence/fear of Him on man-made commandments.

This is the first and only time the word "tradition" can be found in the NASB translation of the Tanakh.  After a quick search of more than half a dozen translations (including the KJV and Young's Literal), the NASB is the only translation to mention "tradition" in the Tanakh.

Matthew 15

Matthew 15 (and its parallel passage in Mark 7) records the first instance of "tradition" in the Apostolic Writings.

"Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.  For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God," he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition."  (Matthew 15:2-6)

Some Pharisees and scribes (verse 1) ask Yeshua why His disciples break a specific tradition.  The Greek word that is translated as "tradition" in this passage is παράδοσις [paradosis {strongsG}Strong's #3862{/strongsG}].  This word comes from another Greek word, παραδίδωμι [paradidomi], which means to hand over, give, or deliver.¹

What is Yeshua's response to the accusation made against His disciples?

And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition [paradosis]?  (Matthew 15:3)

Here, the Messiah establishes a clear hierarchy: G-d's commandments stand clearly above any traditions of the elders.

Notice that He does not condemn them for following traditions but for placing those traditions above G-d's commandments.  Interestingly, He quotes the Isaiah passage above and associates it with those who asked the question:

"You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.  BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand.  It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."  (Matthew 15:7-11)

In a radical twist of irony, contemporary Christianity uses Yeshua's words in this passage as justification to do precisely what He is teaching against.  They follow the traditions of men (who say that anything can be eaten as food) and use those traditions as their reason to disobey the commandments of G-d.

Yeshua and Tradition

In another, later passage of Matthew, we find Yeshua speaking about particular Jewish traditions:

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.  They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.  But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.  They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.  (Matthew 23:1-7)

Here we find two very specific examples:

• Phylacteries [תְּפִלִּין- tefillin]
• Tassels [צִיצִית‎ - tzitzit]

G-d's commandment regarding tefillin is found in Deuteronomy 6:8, Deuteronomy 11:18, Exodus 13:9, and Exodus 13:16.  "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as frontals on your forehead."

His commandment regarding tzitzit is found in Numbers 15:38.  "Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue."

The Scripture passages containing these commandments do not provide details regarding how they should be performed, only that they should be.  Without explicit instructions regarding how these commandments were to be fulfilled, individuals and groups have created (often beautiful) traditions to fill the gap.  We know from archaeological and historical evidence that particular traditions have arisen around these two commandments: how the tefillin were to be made and worn and how the tzitzit was to be knotted and tied.

If these traditions were "worthless" or "in error", here was the perfect opportunity for the G-d who had given the commandments at Mt. Sinai to correct His errant nation.  So what does Yeshua say in admonition and correction?

He corrects their motivations.  His only point in this passage was that they did these deeds "to be noticed by men".  He says nothing negative regarding the traditions they were following to keep the commandments.

Paul's Praise

Throughout Paul's writings, he frequently speaks of the praise of G-d, but in only one letter does he explicitly praise men:

I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.  (1 Corinthians 11:2)

Paul praises the believers in Corinth because they held firmly to the traditions.  Was this because they kept Lent, Easter, and Christmas at Paul's instruction?

Not even close.  Those (as well as most other Catholic) traditions were not invented until centuries later.  To what was Paul referring?  Let's do some detective work regarding Paul.

Which Traditions?

In Acts 16, the men of Philippi seize Paul and Silas and take them before the magistrates.

and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans."  (Acts 16:20-21)

In Philippi, Paul is charged with proclaiming Jewish customs.

Interestingly enough, just a few chapters later, Paul is falsely charged with the exact opposite: he is telling believers not to walk according to the customs of the Jews.

After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.  "What, then, is to be done?  They will certainly hear that you have come.  Therefore do this that we tell you.  We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.  (Acts 21:17, 20-24)

These are the exact same false charges brought against Stephen before he was martyred (Acts 6:14).

Toward the end of the book of Acts, Paul makes this declaration:

But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!"  (Acts 23:6)

Paul declares here that he is (present tense) a Pharisee, not that he was (past tense) a Pharisee.

After his trial and his appeal to Caesar, Paul is taken to Rome.  After he arrives, Paul calls the leading Jewish men of the city together and makes this statement:

After three days Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, "Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.  (Acts 28:17)

After he comes to faith in Yeshua and after all of his missionary work among the Gentiles, Paul declares that he had done nothing to violate the customs of Judaism.

To the believers in Galatia, Paul writes:

For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.  (Galatians 1:13-14)

Paul was extremely zealous for the traditions of his ancestors.  His former way of life was to persecute the believers due to his zealousness.  Did that zealousness evaporate with his faith in Yeshua?  Not according to Acts 21:20.  The thousands of Jewish believers there were noted because of their zealousness for the Law and the traditions that were associated with it.

What does all of this tell us?  First, the traditions Paul gave to the believers at Corinth, for which he praised them for holding firmly, were almost certainly the traditions of Judaism.

A Word of Caution

We cannot and should not assume that the traditions and customs of twenty-first-century Judaism are the same traditions that Paul taught.  Many modern teachings and practices have arisen from the bitter polemic between Christianity and Judaism over the past two millennia and from medieval mystical teachings.  These influences were not present in Paul's day.

Does Paul's teaching of the customs and praising the Corinthians for following them contradict the words of Yeshua?  May it never be!  Paul's writings fit within the teachings of Messiah: traditions are fine as long as they do not violate G-d's commandments.

Paul continues to speak of the traditions he taught in his second letter to the believers in Thessalonica.

So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.  (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

He later provides them with this rather remarkable command:

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.  For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.  (2 Thessalonians 3:6-9)

Paul may be speaking of the tradition he provided of discipline and working to pay for his food.  However, given the greater context of the remainder of Paul's writings, that may be short-changing his intended meaning.

Colossians 2

What about Paul's admonition against tradition in Colossians 2?

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  (Colossians 2:8)

Here, Paul plainly speaks against the tradition of men.  What is Paul's focus?  Jewish tradition or something else?

Let's get a bit of background on Colossae:

Paul had never visited Colosse- evidently the church had been founded by Epaphras and other converts from Paul's missionary travels.  The church, however, had been infiltrated by religious relativism, with some believers attempting to combine elements of paganism and secular philosophy with Christian doctrine.  Paul confronts these false teachings and affirms the sufficiency of Christ.²

When Paul deals with these issues in Colossae, Jewish tradition is not in view.  Paul later goes on to note the following:

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind...  (Colossians 2:18)

Self-abasement and worship of angels were issues within the community at Colossae.  However, they were not within the traditions of the Elders and were antithetical to the teachings of Judaism.  Colossae's tradition was that the angel Michael had appeared in the city and saved them from a tremendous flood.  There was even a temple built for him in the city.

Paul goes on to finish the chapter with this:

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?  These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.  (Colossians 2:20-23)

"Self-made religion, self-abasement, and severe treatment of the body" again are not part of the traditions of the Elders but are, however, part of Gnosticism.

Gnostics believed that matter, whether it be the physical universe or the humanly body, is evil.  It is obvious that there is a great tension between spirit and matter.  This effects many of their beliefs and especially the way they perceive(d) the world and God's interactions with it.

Gnostics believed that human beings were "sparks" or "droplets" of the very same spiritual substance (or essence) that God is.  Somehow we became trapped in our physical bodies from which we are to escape.³

Gnosticism taught that, because of the inherent evil of the flesh, every action should be taken to wrestle the flesh into submission to free one's spirit from it.  Paul's reference to "do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" fits squarely within their practices.  While there are several commandments within the Torah regarding things that should not be handled or eaten, these are G-d's commandments and not the "commandments of men".  Furthermore, Paul knew these Gnostic teachings violated G-d's instruction that certain animals were permitted for food and sanctified by God's Word and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

An Example

One example of a tradition that has arisen around a commandment in Scripture is the identification of the beginning of a month.  In 21st-century terminology, "new moon" means when the moon is entirely hidden from the naked eye.

In astronomical terminology, the phrase "new moon" is the lunar phase that occurs when the moon, in its monthly orbit around the Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun and is, therefore, in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth.  At this time, the dark (unilluminated) portion of the moon faces almost directly toward Earth so that the moon is not visible to the naked eye. 

Alternatively, the commonly held understanding of "new moon" for Hebrews is when the first sliver of the moon is sighted:

Each month the moon disappears and becomes invisible for about two days, or somewhat more or less–for about one day at the end of the old month, before it reaches its conjunction with the Sun, and for about one day after its conjunction with the Sun.  Then it reappears in the evening in the west, and this night, on which it becomes visible in the west after its disappearance, is the beginning of the month.  From this day on 29 days were counted, and if the new crescent appeared on the night of the 30th day, this 30th day was the first day of the new month.  If, however, it did not appear on that night, the 30th day would belong to the old month and the 31st day would be the first day of the new month.  And no matter whether the moon did or did not appear in the night of the 31st day, no attention was paid to it, for the lunar month never lasts longer than 30 days.⁴

Scripture, however, is silent on this particular detail, so whether one observes "hidden" or "first visible" as the new moon, we follow a tradition.  Neither contradicts what is given in Scripture.

These types of traditions serve to provide a mechanism by which we are to obey the commandments.

Summary

When Yeshua spoke against tradition, it was only because it was held in greater authority than the commandments of G-d, resulting in violations of G-d's Law.

Paul taught traditions to several congregations.  Those traditions likely included the traditions of the Elders as they were understood in his day.

When Paul spoke against tradition, it was about Gnostic traditions that caused violations of G-d's Law.