Mark 7:1-13, "[1] And there assembled together unto him the Pharisees and some of the scribes, coming from Jerusalem. [2] And when they had seen some of his disciples eat bread with common, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. [3] For the Pharisees, and all the Jews eat not without often washing their hands, holding the tradition of the ancients: [4] And when they come from the market, unless they be washed, they eat not: and many other things there are that have been delivered to them to observe, the washings of cups and of pots, and of brazen vessels, and of beds. [5] And the Pharisees and scribes asked him: Why do not thy disciples walk according to the tradition of the ancients, but they eat bread with common hands? [6] But he answering, said to them: Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. [7] And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and precepts of men. [8] For leaving the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pots and of cups: and many other things you do like to these. [9] And he said to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. [10] For Moses said: Honour thy father and thy mother; and He that shall curse father or mother, dying let him die.[11] But you say: If a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban, (which is a gift,) whatsoever is from me, shall profit thee. [12] And further you suffer him not to do any thing for his father or mother, [13] Making void the word of God by your own tradition, which you have given forth. And many other such like things you do.
Protestant Christian Understanding: The Church is rejecting the commandments of God to keep their own tradition, which is not what God intends today. This passage warns against exactly what the Catholic Church does.
Catholic Christian Understanding: This passage is where Jesus is condemning the Pharisees for undermining the word of God, where God commands them to honor thy father and mother. By mere human tradition, they created a scheme to hide their money in the Temple and claim they gave their money to the Temple, therefore not having the funds to support their parents financially. However, the kicker was that they got an interest return on their donation to the Temple which created income for them. This was their way of getting around not having to use their funds to take care of their parents, as God commanded them to.
The Catholic Church totally agrees that making up human traditions is completely wrong, and has never taught otherwise. The Catholic Church would also say that one of the greatest examples of humans making a tradition and veering away from the word of God is the made up concept of "Sola Scriptura", or bible alone, which is not taught by the bible at all. Sola Scriptura is a man made concept which undermines the Word of God on many different levels ignoring the fullness of what God left us. So yes, the Catholic is against HUMAN tradition, as Jesus is in Mark 7 and the parallel passage in Mathew 15 and Paul in Galatians 2:8 all say when they warn Christians to not let anyone take you captive by HUMAN tradition.
However, Catholicism recognizes, by the many commands of the bible, that NOT ALL tradition is of human tradition. Rather, some of it is Apostolic tradition and therefore is Divinely inspired as an authoritative tradition. This type of tradition is referred to constantly in the Bible, for example First Corinthians chapter 11, Paul says to the Corinthians, "Now I praise you because you remember in everything to hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you."
Paul also says in Second Thessalonians Chapter 2:15, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle."
Paul explicitly explains here not all tradition is bad and in fact, commands us to hold onto it. Paul commands us to not just hold onto the written tradition, but the oral as well. As a side note, but very important logical point of thought, a Christian cannot be against tradition without being against the written tradition, therefore, they would have to be against the bible. The bible is a written tradition, the word itself means to hand down.
Paul then again speaks of unwritten traditions favorably in Second Thessalonians Chapter 3:6, " And we charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us."
Another example the bible gives on unwritten traditions when Paul says in Acts 20:35 "Remember what Our Lord said. It is more blessed to give than to receive." That sentence is not found anywhere in the Gospel, but was obviously a tradition passed onto them from Jesus as Paul mentions it.
Another example would be at the end of the second chapter of Matthew's gospel when Matthew says, "Jesus moved to Nazareth and was raised there, so that it might be fulfilled that which was spoken through the prophets, HE shall be called a Nazarine." That statement "He shall be called a Nazarine" is nowhere found in the old testament. It was spoken of the prophets and passed down as a tradition to which Matthew had learned and held on to.
Therefore, Catholics agree that human tradition is bad, but Divinely inspired traditions are to be held on to as commanded by the bible. Any tradition that the Catholic Church holds today is biblical and is not a concept that was simply conjured up by man without Divine intervention.
No comments:
Post a Comment