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Inspired APOSTOLIC TRADITIONS – Matt. 15
Inspired APOSTOLIC TRADITIONS – Matt. 15
We need to consider 1st the position of the apostles .. the inspired and confirmed ambassadors of Christ.
1. inspired – John 14:26
2. unique – qualifications required – Acts 1:21-22
3. Confirmed – Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:1-4
In their writings, they affirmed that they indeed passed on ‘their traditions’ –
1 Cor. 11:1-2 – Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 2Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
2 Thess. 2:15 - So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
2 Thess. 3:6 - Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.
Then we need to consider how can we SHOW that such ‘traditions’ are apostolic? From a Catholic source:
a) - Q. What is tradition? [pg. 87]
A. The doctrines which the Apostles taught by word of mouth, and which have descended through every successive generation even to our times.
Source: A Doctrinal Catechism, by the Rev. Stephen Keenan, published in 1848 by E. Dunigan & Brother, [James B. Kirker], in New York, No. 371 Broadway, pgs. 86-87.
HENCE – the problem is first proving they came from the apostles! Hence the early church:
“the holy and inspired Scriptures,” wrote Athanasius “are fully sufficient for the proclamation of the truth”; while his contemporary, Cyril of Jerusalem, laid it down that “with regard to the divine and saving mysteries of faith no doctrine, however trivial, may be taught without the backing of the divine Scriptures… for our saving faith derives its force, not from capricious reasoning, but from what may be proved out of the Bible.” Later in the same century John Chrysostom bade his congregation seek no other teacher than the oracles of God; everything was straightforward and clear in the Bible, and the sum of necessary knowledge could be extracted from it.” Kelly, Early Christian Doctrine, pp. 42-43
Aquinas declared that “we believe the successors of the apostles and prophets only in so far as they tell us those things which the apostles and prophets have left in their writings,” Thomas Aquinas, De veritate XIV, 10, ad 11, emphasis added.
If we could find historical evidence that the church taught / believed / practiced such – that would only prove that the tradition was ‘alive’ at that point … but NOT that it came from the apostles. There were many false teachers even in the 1st century!
We are then back to showing that an apostle or one designated and authorized by an apostle actually taught the ‘tradition’. The only true source we have for doing that is the writings of the New Testament. Book, Chapter, and verse for all we would practice and proclaim as apostolic.
Many ‘traditions’ developed because they ‘worked’. As long as they work, we keep them simply as what works and when they don’t, we are free to change how we do things. BUT, let us hold to the traditions that we can show came from the apostle’s teaching.
Hugh DeLong
