A friend recently asked me this question: "I ... wondered how you now conceive of your sources of authority. How do you conceive now of the authority of the Scriptures? Are they ultimate in authority, or part of a wider 'stream' of inspiration and authority?" This question deserves a substantial reply, so I am going to use multiple blog posts to answer it.
Although the question does not used the word tradition, I understand it to be asking about my relationship to tradition. In the Evangelical tradition of my upbringing, the word tradition was a bad word. It was mainly used pejoratively to ridicule people of other faith traditions, most notably Roman Catholics. Ironically, the pejorative users of this word rarely ever realized that they had their own traditions and unconsciously operated within them. In retrospect, one of the differences between the Evangelicalism I experienced and Orthodoxy is that of self-awareness. As an Evangelical--unaware or even in denial of the fact that I was the recipient of and practitioner of a tradition--I had no category for critically evaluating and consciously embracing a tradition; whereas, as an Orthodox, I very consciously embrace a tradition, and as a convert to Orthodoxy even had to critically evaluate competing traditions to decide which to embrace.
As an anthropological concept, the traditioning process has two components: the passing on and the receiving. These concepts are both spoken of and illustrated in the Bible, and in the Scriptural vocabulary, tradition is a neutral term--whether it is a bad thing or a good thing depends upon the context. Unfortunately, an anti-tradition bias has frequently crept into Evangelical edited translations of the Bible so that the same Greek word is translated as tradition when meaning something bad and teaching when meaning something good. Compare the NIV's translation of Matthew 15:3 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6, which both speak of παράδοσις but translates Matthew 15:3 with a negatively connotated tradition and Thessalonians 3:6 with a positively connotated teaching.
So in this blog post I will attempt to lay out the documentary evidence for tradition--as an anthropological process--in the Bible. I want to do two things: 1) list the data to establish the neutrality of tradition as a Biblical concept and then 2) illustrate its implementation in the Bible even when not using the technical vocabulary of tradition. Later blog posts will explore Sacred Tradition and its specific components and processes.
The Data
In the New Testament, the technical vocabulary includes three words. All of these words have meanings outside of the traditioning process, so here I will focus on their usage when part of a traditioning process:
- The noun παράδοσις, which refers to both the traditioning process, that is, "a giving over which is done by word of mouth or in writing, i.e. tradition by instruction, narrative, precept, etc." as well as the content being being passed down, this is, "that which is delivered, the substance of a teaching"
- The verb παραδίδωμι, which means to "deliver verbally commands or rites"
- The verb παραλαμβάνω, which means "to receive something transmitted, to receive with the mind by oral transmission: of the authors from whom the tradition proceeds"
Look at these three tables.
παράδοσις
| Reference | Usage | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Mat 15:2 | “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” | Negative |
| Mat 15:3 | He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? | Negative |
| Mat 15:6 | he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. | Negative |
| Mar 7:3 | (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, | Negative |
| Mar 7:5 | And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” | Negative |
| Mar 7:8 | You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” | Negative |
| Mar 7:9 | And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! | Negative |
| Mar 7:13 | thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” | Negative |
| 1Co 11:2 | Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. | Positive |
| Gal 1:14 | And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. | Negative |
| Col 2:8 | See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. | Negative |
| 2Th 2:15 | So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. | Positive. Note that the there are written and oral components to the tradition. |
| 2Th 3:6 | Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. | Positive |
παράδοσις is used negatively 10 times and positively 3 times. Other than establishing its neutrality as a word, I think we can take away that it is important to critically examine the traditions passed on to us, the first step, of course, is to become aware of the fact that I am the recipient of traditions.
παραδίδωμι
| Reference | Usage | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Mat 11:27 | All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. | There is a body of revelation that the Son of God received about the Father, and He has passed this on to His disciples. |
| Mar 7:13 | thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” | Negative connotation |
| Luk 1:2 | just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, | The basis of Luke's content was oral tradition. |
| Luk 10:22 | All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” | See comments on Matt 11:27 |
| Act 6:14 | for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” | The Jews had the perception that the customs they practiced were the selfsame customs that Moses had handed down. |
| Act 16:4 | As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. | The decree of the council of Jerusalem was a letter accompanied by men explaining the letter. The letter and its traditional explanation were later enscripturated by Luke. |
| Rom 6:17 | But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, | Whoever first preached to the Romans passed on a body of oral tradition, and Paul commends them for their obedience to it. |
| 1Co 11:2 | Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. | Paul commends the Corinthians for obeying that traditions he passed on to them long before he wrote them. |
| 1Co 11:23 | For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, | Paul illustrates the traditioning process with respective to Eucharist. |
| 1Co 15:3 | For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, | Paul illustrates the traditioning process with respective to kerygma. |
| 2Pe 2:21 | For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. | The recipients of tradition are accountable for it upon knowing it. |
| Jde 1:3 | Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. | The content of our faith is a body of revealed tradition that Jesus received from the Father (Matt 11:27) that He then passed on to the Apostles and through them to the holy ones. (John 16:12-15) |
παραλαμβάνω
| Reference | Usage | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 7:4 | and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) | traditions here is not the noun παράδοσις but rather the gerund of this verb. traditions = "those things they have received" |
| 1Co 11:23 | For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, | Paul is an conduit in the traditioning process. |
| 1Co 15:1 | Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, | The gospel is a component of tradition. |
| 1Co 15:3 | For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, | Paul is a conduit again. |
| Gal 1:9 | As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. | There are competing traditions and we must practice discernment. |
| Gal 1:12 | For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. | A portion of the tradition Paul received came by revelatory rather than oral transmission. |
| Phl 4:9 | What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. | Paul again enjoys his audience to practice the things they received from him before they received a letter. |
| Col 2:6 | Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, | |
| Col 4:17 | And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” | |
| 1Th 2:13 | And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. | The Thessalonians discerned that the source of Paul's tradition was God and not men and so received it. |
| 1Th 4:1 | Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. | Be faithful to implement what has been received |
| 2Th 3:6 | Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. | Excommunicate those who reject the tradition that was received. |
In the above three tables we see that the traditioning process was alive and well in the New Testament and actively practice by the Apostles who often wrote letters to encourage the faithful keeping of the tradition passed on orally.
The Implementation
There are some passages in the Old and New Testaments that illustrate the traditioning process without so much using the technical vocabulary. Here are some examples:
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, Yahweh will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that Yahweh will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 12:21-27 ESV)
Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand Yahweh brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, Yahweh killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to Yahweh all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ (Exodus 13:13-15 ESV)One of the purposes of a rite or ritual service is to create a setting wherein spiritual truth can be organically transmitted. The tradition includes not just the truth but the ritual tool for transmission.
“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that Yahweh our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And Yahweh showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.’ (Deuteronomy 6:20-25 ESV)
Many of the laws in the Pentateuch are related to ritual purity rather than morality. Traditions of ritual purity were valuable tools for passing on spiritual truth. The tradition included both the ritual and the truth.
And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of Yahweh your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh is mighty, that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.” (Joshua 4:5-7, 21-24 ESV)Shrines located at specific localities are valuable for passing on spiritual truth. The tradition included both the shrine and the truth.
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of Yahweh, and his might,and the wonders that he has done.
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God. (Psalm 78:1-8 ESV)
This Psalm documents the goal and the implementation of the traditioning process in the Old Testament. Psalms 48:13 and 22:31 also are good references.
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV)
This verse shows that the process documented in the Old Testament in Psalms 78 is at work in the New Testament.
Conclusion
In this post we see that tradition is a neutral anthropological process in the Bible. It can transmit good things and bad things. At the same time, the people of God in both the Old and New Testaments embraced it as the way to propagate information both within the same generation and between generations. And this traditioning process entailed not just abstract spiritual truth but also ritual in order to create a natural context for organically transmitting the truth.
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