"Tradition" and Matthew 15 - responding to an Evangelical

[Eruorto]

I am responding to a discussion with a Evangelical Protestant; a couple of ideas in the Bible came up and I would like to run this by the community here.

The Catholic Bible with the Church using historical events or Church history to interpret claims a different Gospel than the 66-book Bible being interpreted grammatically, contextually, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and recognizing the progressiveness of revelation within the Bible, thus creating two different gospels. The Bible warns about giving tradition a higher importance than the Word of God (e.g., Matthew 15). The Bible warns about perverting the Gospel (e.g., Galatians, just to name one spot).

My response (so far):

The Bible warns about giving tradition a higher importance than the Word of God. (Matthew 15).

The Bible does not make a blanket condemnation of “traditions” - only those that are contrary to God’s law. In Matthew 15 (and Mark 7), Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their attitudes, their hearts. The tradition that He calls them out for having twisted is the giving of offerings to the temple so that they don’t have to use them to support their parents, thereby violating the commandment to honor their father and mother. Jesus does not say that there is anything wrong with having a tradition of giving to the temple. It is the reason that the Pharisees are doing so that is wrong and violates God’s law. When they complain about the disciples not washing their hands, it is a problem, not because there is anything wrong with clean hands, but because the Pharisees have put external cleanliness above spiritual cleanliness. Jesus says, however, that it’s what comes from inside (man’s sinful heart) that makes a person unclean, not what comes from outside (from unwashed hands).

I haven’t quite gotten to the part about “perverting the Gospel,” and it goes on a bit into the Sacraments diminishing the Holy Spirit’s work by attaching an action/work to receiving grace (and another comparison to Galatians). So I’m working on that and will likely post something on that in the main Apologetics forum when I have more time. What do you think of my response so far? Thanks!

 

[Ranp]

Note that there are two types of traditions. The Catholic Church has many traditions that can and do change over time. An example of a simple man-made church tradition is the discipline of celibacy in the Latin Rite. Any simple man-made church tradition can be changed at any time by the Chruch.

The Catholic Church also follows the unwritten Word of God contained within Holy Tradition. Holy Scripture was the part of the Holy Tradition that was written down by the Apostles. Of course Holy Tradition is written down, just not by the Apostles. An example of Holy Tradition is the concept of the Holy Trinity, which is not record in Holy Scripture, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and that only men may be priests. Holy Tradition is protected by the Holy Spirit, thus it cannot never be changed.

I strongly suggest reading the book Tradition and the Church (1928) by Monsignor George Agius.

amazon.com/Tradition-Church-Msgr-George-J-C-D/dp/0895558211/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442436680&sr=1-1&keywords=tradition+and+the+church

 

[Eruorto]

Excellent, I will check that book out.