Paul & Traditions

2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 (NKJV)

"But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle."

People love traditions. Traditions are beliefs, customs, and practices that's transmitted or delivered from one generation to the next.

The tradition that Paul speaks of is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The letters of Paul and his teachings came by revelation of the Lord (see also 2 Corinthians chapter 12). He was careful to run what he had received by the apostles of the Lamb to insure that it was consistent with the teachings of Christ that the apostles received.

Galatians 2:1-2 (NKJV)

(cf. Acts 15:1–21)

"Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain."

Proof of this is Peter's last known letter.

2 Peter 3:14-16 (NKJV)

"Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—

as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."

It's clear that when something is passed down for one generation to another, it must remain intact.

That's why the Lord gave us 66 books. 39 OT. 27 NT.

It's a consistent Book. Now over the years many individuals have attempted to translate the books from its original languages into different languages and for the most part, each translation has small deviations.

Paraphrases are a different story because paraphrases aren't a word for word translation.

So over the course of centuries when it comes to Christianity and the NT, many have reinterpreted the Scriptures and have added in their paraphrases their own thoughts and ideas that Christ never taught.

It's easy to identify them as heresy and false teaching when you do a side by side comparison and put them to the test.

Jude 1:3-4 (NKJV)

"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."

Some traditions are family traditions. Office traditions. Job traditions and so forth.

These "traditions" could be ignored or respected but when it comes to "traditions" that clearly violates Scripture, who says that you have to obey man's traditions?

Sadly, people will worship their traditions and if you refuse to go along with their traditions, you're the one that's wrong because they're offended.

The Lord Jesus destroyed the hypocrisy of the Jewish traditions.

Matthew 15:1-2 (NKJV)

(Mark 7:1–23)

"Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

I would assume that there was a specific way to wash hands before eating bread.

Matthew 15:7-9 (NKJV)

Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,

And honor Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

And in vain they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

For years, Easter has been a tradition associated with the Christianity. But Easter is from the German interpretation of Eostre, a goddess. Come to find out that the Easter tradition is idolatry. Then when you warn the people of God about it, folk will tear you limb from limb when you tell them the truth.

Galatians 4:16 (NKJV)

"Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?"

Since when a chocolate bunny rabbit, egg hunts, new clothes, and other false traditions were accepted into the life of believers?

Then we replace "Happy Easter" with "Happy Resurrection Day" because we want to keep our "tradition."

We say "Happy Resurrection Day" to be polite so we won't offend anyone. But the Resurrection of Christ happened on the 3rd Day after Passover because the Lord Jesus was crucified on Passover before the Sabbath in 33 AD which is celebrated by the Jews.

Friday, the 6th day of the week in 33 AD would be a combination of the Passover and the Preparation Day before the Sabbath or Shabbat.

The 14th of Nisan is the first month of the year for the Jews that commemorated when the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt. No matter the year, week, or day, the Jews know when Passover will be celebrated.

According to the Catholics, they've always set the day for Easter/Eostre to be on or near the Jewish Sabbath and it's always celebrated on Sunday with Good Friday because Christ was crucified on Friday and raised from the dead on Sunday.

Now according to Leviticus 23, there's 7 Feasts that the Lord commanded Israel to keep.

According to Jewish "tradition," they were to pass this down from one generation to the next. So again, no matter the year, week, or day, the Jews know when Passover will be celebrated because it's based on the Jewish Lunar calendar not the Gregorian calendar of the Catholics.

Yet, man puts his filthy hands on this and they've perverted the Passover.

Now some of the Jews say "Happy Passover."

The Passover in Exodus 12 serves as a type and shadow of Christ our Passover (see Isaiah chapter 53 and 1 Corinthians 5:7). When John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River, the Lord Jesus came and John the Baptist said in John 1:29, "Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world."

So when Paul mentions "traditions," clearly it's the tradition of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, the Lord insured that His Word would be passed down from one generation to the next by inscribing it through the Four Gospels, the Book of Acts, Paul's Epistles, the General Epistles, and the book of Revelation.

Now if there's a tradition that doesn't violate Scripture, and you want to keep that tradition, that's your choice. But never hold people to following a tradition whenever it violates Scripture or not.

You have a right to accept tradition or reject it.

And don't get mad like the Sanhedrin when Christ and His disciples refused to follow their traditions. Suck it up.

As Paul said "Be convinced in your own mind."