Tradition Versus Transparency
There is a difference between the traditions of the church, and the meaning of the church. Layers and layers of practice have been built up in all areas of the exercising of the mandates set out in scripture; baptism, evangelism, exhortation, ministry. Years, decades, centuries have been spent arguing over the minutiae of the proper means of baptism. This, among many other issues, has caused rifts within the body of believers.
This is not new. In fact Paul, in the mid-first century, warned the ekklesia of this very problem. In I Corinthians Paul discusses whether or not one should eat meat sacrificed to false gods. The question of doctrine raised it’s head when some wanted to buy and eat the meat and others wanted to condemn them because they felt as though it was encouraging the practices of the pagan. In response Paul says “All things are lawful to me, but not all things profit. All things are lawful to me, but not all things build up.1”
The principle most draw from this passage is what is important is not to offend your brother, and not to cause someone else to stumble. While this is true, the core point Paul makes should not be dismissed; “All things are lawful to me, but not all things profit.”
In fact, it was Paul who went to Jerusalem and had a fight with the other apostles about trying to make the Gentiles conform to the Jewish traditions. The discussion ended with all agreeing that the Gentiles were not mandated to conform to the traditions of the Jews. It is practices which transform a truth, into a religion.
Hebrews is a major commentary on this very principle. By the time the Christ came the Jews had taken the law and made it the means of salvation. The analogy between this thought process, and modern Socialism is clear. In our time Socialism attempts to tell us that it is government, through the law, which grants society it’s rights and freedoms. In a Marxist society all rights are held by the government. Each law then grants a freedom which had previously been withheld. In a free society, all rights are assumed and each law takes a freedom away.
The principle of the free society is the principle of the creator. In the beginning God granted mankind all freedoms when he proclaimed “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over… the earth. I have given you every plant…2” They had rule over all of creation and the freedom to do anything within it. Then God set out one law. This one law took away one single freedom; “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you may not eat…3”
To this principle Paul addressed the idea – throughout his epistles – that the law condemns. It is the “taskmaster” that teaches us the meaning of sin, but it is the core understanding that the law does not grant freedom, but condemns. The idea that the law grants freedom is the deception of the serpent.
It is true that when someone breaks one law, they are apt to break more. When justice does not rain down on the heads of the wicked, they feel embolden towards more wickedness. It is the deception that the law is really just keeping them from doing the fun things in life that propels their actions. It is this very thought process that tells them that if they could only change the law to be read in their favor, that they could be free to have the life they so desire.
This is the nature and origin of tradition. All tradition begins with an understanding of a law. Then comes the desire to go beyond the law. The tradition will always stay the same, but the meaning and motive for the execution of the tradition will inevitably change.
Instead of looking to the traditions of the church, it is time to look through those traditions, back to the place of their origin. In our society we have a document that tells us that all of the rights of mankind are certain “unalienable rights” granted to us by our creator. Those men looked through the trappings and traditions of government back to the very origin of government and discovered the singular truth that we, as a society, have begun to forget; the Rule of Law.
It is time we take a look at the meanings behind our actions, and the motives we have when performing them. More importantly, it is time we stopped thinking that we can hide our sins behind traditions and realized that to God our intent is transparently clear.
The Law condemns;
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.The one believing into Him is not condemned; but the one not believing has already been condemned, for he has not believed into the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than the Light, for their works were evil. For everyone practicing wickedness hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, that his works may not be exposed. But the one doing the truth comes to the Light, that his works may be revealed, that they exist, having been worked in God. John 3:16-21
- I Corinthians 10:23
- Genesis 1:28-30
- Genesis 2:16-17
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