"Tradition"

 

“Tradition”

 

The previous article, “Seven”, brought to mind the title of a 1979 book by Ralph Neighbor, The Seven Last Words of the Church: We Never Tried It That Way Before. While I never read it (but wish I had) and was unable to find a synopsis my sense is that the author was cautioning God’s people not to hold onto the traditions of the past so tightly that it keeps us from trying new things (methods, not changes in the basics of our faith) to be more effective in fulfilling our purpose. And we must remember that every tradition was at some point something new.

In 1983 Jaroslav Pelikan, Professor of the History of Christianity at Yale, said in a lecture, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.” So there’s nothing wrong with remembering the past—in fact, we fail to do so at our own peril. Philosopher George Santayana observed, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And the Apostle Paul reminds us, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us….” (Romans 15:4). Further, in 1 Corinthians 10 he cites examples of what happened when the Israelites forgot what God had done in days gone by.

Clinging to traditionalism was a problem during Jesus’ earthly ministry as well as in the early days of His church. Our Lord soundly rebuked the Jews’ religious leaders by saying, “…You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” (Matthew 15:6). A generation later Paul counseled the church at Colosse, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Colossians 2:8). (Emphasis added in both passages.) In each of these situations God’s truth was seen as secondary to human “wisdom”. The specifics may be different, but isn’t this plaguing today’s church?

It took several decades for the King James Version to be widely accepted and “Amazing Grace” was (so I’ve been told but have been unable to document for sure) initially deemed inappropriate for worship. But the KJV has been revered for over 350 years and John Newton’s hymn is likely the most widely sung today. What new things might we be doing in 2021 that may be seen as traditional a half century from now? Whatever they might be, may they be consistent with God’s Word. In the words of Moses, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it….” (Deuteronomy 4:2).

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan