“Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.’ And He answered and said to them, ‘Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor your father and mother,” and, “He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.” But you say, “Whoever says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,’ he is not to honor his father or his mother.” And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.’
“‘You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men”’” (Matthew 15:1-9).
Jesus confronted the Pharisees over their traditions. The Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples broke “the tradition of the elders” (Matthew 15:2). In response, Jesus asked them why they allowed their tradition to serve as justification for them to “transgress the commandment of God” (Matthew 15:3). They were zealously defending their traditions instead of the law of God.
However, there is a sense in which certain human traditions can serve a purpose in our service to God, provided that we keep them in their proper place. Remember what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth regarding their assemblies: “But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner” (1 Corinthians 14:40). When the local church meets together, the Lord does not want confusion and chaos. After all, “God is not a God of confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33). This does not mean we must be inflexible in the order of our services, but it does mean that we must be sure we do things “properly and in an orderly manner” (1 Corinthians 14:40).
How can we be sure we do that? We do not carry out this command by following the prescribed order of services in the New Testament because one is not given. There are certain “acts” we are to do in our assemblies – singing, praying, teaching, giving, and observing the Lord’s Supper (Ephesians 5:19; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 11:23-26) – but no order for these is given in the Scriptures. So how do we do these things “properly and in an orderly manner”? We do so by having a way that we customarily do them. In one sense of the word, this is a tradition and there is nothing wrong with that.
However, the Pharisees overemphasized human traditions. This can be done in two ways:
- When the traditions are bound upon others as a religious requirement – The Pharisees did this with hand washing (Matthew 15:2). There is certainly nothing wrong with washing hands before a meal, but it is wrong to condemn someone as being guilty of sin for not washing their hands before a meal.
- When the traditions are elevated to such a level that they rival the word of God – The Pharisees did this in their “loophole” they created for the commandment to honor their parents by dedicating that money to God (Matthew 15:4-6). Obviously, there is nothing wrong with choosing to dedicate money to the Lord, but it is wrong to disobey the command given by God (i.e. providing help to one’s parents in need) in favor of a rule that was made by men.
If we are guilty of overemphasizing human tradition in either one of these ways, we “transgress the commandment of God” (Matthew 15:3), we have “invalidated the word of God” (Matthew 15:6), and make our worship to God “vain” (Matthew 15:9). There is nothing wrong with traditions that are authorized as expedients (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23), as long as we do not make them a requirement for others or elevate them to a level that is equal to the Scriptures.
So who are the real Pharisees today? They are not the ones who boldly defend the word of God. Instead, they are those who promote and defend human traditions as if they were divine law.
