Tradition

June 19

2 Kings 1-2

Psalm 73:4-12

Proverbs 16:8-9

Acts 15

Tradition

“When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.  But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”  Acts 15:4-5  LSB

Paul and Barnabas had been preaching and teaching throughout the area and many Gentiles were being saved.  Some men from Judea came down teaching that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved.  Paul and Barnabas “had not a little dissension and debate with them” regarding this issue.  It was decided that they should go to Jerusalem and talk to the apostles and elders to make a decision so that their teaching would all be consistent.  When they arrived, they were received graciously and they began to tell the church leaders all that God had done through their ministry.  It is interesting that it notes, “some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed” were the ones who stood up and argued that they needed to be circumcised and taught to follow the law of Moses.  Jesus spoke against the Pharisees throughout His ministry.  He called them out for their hypocrisy and legalism.  But these Pharisees had become believers.  They were sincere in their faith in Jesus.  Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were both Pharisees and perhaps were among those who were arguing with Paul and Barnabas here.  This was all new to them. These men had been leaders in the Jewish faith, had grown up studying God’s word and were very knowledgeable.  While the Pharisees had corrupted the law and had used it for their own purposes, not all Pharisees were bad men.  Many of them were sincere in their faith and they believed what they were teaching was right and pleasing to God.  Jesus Himself explained that He was not abolishing the Law, He was clarifying and fulfilling it.  When they came to faith in Jesus they still had to figure out how to bring their Old Testament knowledge into their new faith and this was part of the process of doing that.  The early church had the responsibility of developing a systematic theology that believers could follow in the coming years until Jesus returned. 

Thankfully, as believers today, we have the benefit of the whole counsel of Scripture including the Old and New Testaments.  But it is still important, like the Pharisees in this passage, that we evaluate our beliefs based on Scripture and don’t just accept them because that is what we always believed.  It is imperative that we examine our traditions and determine if they line up with the teaching in Scripture.  Some are a matter of preference which doesn’t mean we need to discard them, but rather that we just need to make a distinction between them and the things that are doctrinal issues that must be prioritized.  If they are contradictory to Scripture we need to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit about whether we need to realign our beliefs and adjust our thinking and actions.