Traditions and doctrine

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 doctrine the traditions of men.' – Mark 7-5-7


Whenever I read Jesus’ attacks on the scribes and Pharisees I get a little bothered. Sure, Jesus was preaching pre-church and He was preaching to Jewish religionists and not Christians, but there are lessons and principles that are timeless. I get bothered and convicted when I find myself thinking like a Pharisee.

Here is one of those lesons. In addition to worshipping God with their lips and not their hearts the Pharisees worshipped Christ in vain because they taught the traditions of men as doctrine.

The context was still the disciples and their failure to wash their hands according to a legalistic ritual that some of the Jews had come up with. The Pharisees saw that as a way to determine whether or not someone was spiritual or close to God.

The disciples failed their test, so Jesus dealt with the issue.

It never was about what men actually do – it is all about what is going on in our hearts. We can make up all the rules and standards we want and they can eventually become part of what we teach.

There is nothing wrong with standards and traditions. They can often be good things. The problem comes when we equate them with scripture. We then can make the traditions so important that they become the judge in place of God’s word.

We need to examine our churches and our own lives to check out whether our teachings are based in the word of God, or our own traditions.

Let’s be sure we don’t get the two confused.