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Tradition and the Church (A study of Mark 7:1-23) Tradition and the Church A Deeper Look into Mark 7:1–23 (A companion to the Sermon: The Trouble with Tradition 08/17/03) Tradition, in the confines of the church, and its practices have been and will continue to be a focal point of concern for all who profess the call to restore the church to its original form according to the New Testament scripture. Traditions are those things we do or practice for which we do not have express commands or precedent in the New Testament. While having traditions is not wrong, we must always be careful that we do not fall into the trap of binding these traditions where God has not bound. The beginning of the reformation and eventually the restoration movement had their roots in this very idea. Martin Luther saw the Roman Catholic Church as having a disregard for the word of God because some of its practices or traditions were in conflict with the word of God. It is ironic that later, Thomas Campbell, who studied his way out of the denominationalism that resulted in Luther’s reformation, was concerned about the very same thing. He saw the denominational world as holding to the teaching of men more than to the bible. It was because of this that Campbell wrote his now famous, “Declaration and Address,” in 1809. In his “Declaration and Address,” Campbell made a compelling plea that espouses as a move toward church unity, that the church can bind only as articles of faith or practice those things taught in the New Testament. Christians will have a variety of beliefs and practices, but the church may require, as articles of faith and practice, only those items as old as the New Testament. Traditions are wrong if they: 1. Contradict Scripture, or 2. Bind as an article of faith or practice a tradition as a spiritual obligation or standard. Example: Instrumental music in worship is a long debated subject of the religious world. Is it wrong to use a musical instrument in worship? Those who use IM say that there is no mention of instruments in the scriptures, no condemnation as to their use, they enhance the worship service and aid in their worship to God. However the same people must agree to the following facts as they are historically accurate. IM played no part in the worship of the 1st century, the first instruments in worship cannot be found until the middle of the 2nd century and were not generally accepted until even later. IM in worship is a tradition instituted by man and is not of divine origin. Arguments from the scripture as to the commands to sing and make melody in your heart often fall on deaf ears. The reply being “I do sing and make melody in my heart the instrument only enhances it.” Where we end up is evident. Everyone believes he is right in his activity. However, let’s remember our precept: Traditions are wrong if they: 1. Contradict Scripture, or 2. Bind as an article of faith or practice a tradition as a spiritual obligation or standard. IM is a tradition that man has added to worship, no one can deny this fact. It is also a fact that man must worship God on the first day of the week as commanded in the scripture. Therefore to follow the tradition of having instruments of music in worship binds as an article of practice a tradition as a spiritual obligation. If one enters a church building to worship and finds IM being used he has only one of two options, he can either leave and forsake the command of God to worship Him or stay and be forced to partake in a tradition in order to fulfill his spiritual obligation. Thomas Campbell writes, “Nothing ought to be received into the faith or worship of the Church, or be made a term of communion among Christians, that is not as old as the New Testament.” Jesus in this incident of Mark 7 wants to show us how easy it is to stray from God’s word and insert our own ideas in its place. The Pharisees and scribes accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking with the tradition of the elders by not washing their han |