Traditions

Beliefs or customs handed down from previous generations. Believers are to hold to the traditions of the Christian faith. Human traditions can be contrary to God's word and thereby come into conflict with the Christian faith.

Examples of human traditions

Ruth 4:7; 2 Chronicles 35:25; Ezekiel 24:17, Ezekiel 24:22; Mark 7:3–4; Luke 2:42; John 19:40

Believers are to hold to and hand on the traditions of the Christian faith

1 Corinthians 11:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:2 See also Deuteronomy 4:9–10, Deuteronomy 6:6–7, Deuteronomy 11:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23; Ephesians 2:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:6

Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.

but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.

Human traditions can be contrary to God's word

Matthew 15:3–6 parallel Mark 7:9–13Colossians 2:8 See also Micah 6:16; Colossians 2:20–22; Titus 1:13–14

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

The Christian faith is in conflict with traditions of purely human origins

Mark 2:18–22 parallels Matthew 9:14–17, Luke 5:33–391 Peter 1:18–19 See also Matthew 15:2 parallel Mark 7:5; Galatians 2:11–16, Galatians 4:9–11

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?” Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.