Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Open Letter on Scripture and sacred tradition

A---,

I agree with you on Matt 15:1-6. Human traditions that contradict Scripture ought to be reformed by using divine truth as a standard. However, Christ does not rebuke tradition itself nor does He imply that all traditions are of human origin. Rather, when asked why His disciples do not wash their hands according to human custom, He rebukes them by saying they have transgressed the very commandments which Moses received from God and passed on to the Israelites--that is, He appeals to a tradition which has God as its origin and source, just as He did on the question of marriage and divorce ("But from the beginning it was not so"). The problem with the religious hierarchy of His day was not that they received truths on tradition, but that they received human traditions as if they were of divine origin. An ecclesiastical tradition or custom is one thing, a divine tradition is quite another. And our Lord even gives the reason for their transgression: "for the sake of your tradition," that is, for the sake of a human and not a divine tradition. Not even the Pharisees would dare assert that the Ten Commandments were of human origin; their mistake was not ignoring the divine tradition of Israel, but treating human traditions as if they were a part of that original revelation. This passage, then, does not mean that a tradition of divine origin cannot exist as well within the new people of God.

Peace, etc.

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