The Traditions of the True Church

(2 Thessalonians 2:10-14)

If there is one thing you can say about the modern church, it’s that it is full of traditions. Traditions have been passed from generation to generation for centuries.

But there are many traditions, teachings, and doctrines that have been introduced from non-Christians sources over the centuries too.

In this scripture today, Paul told the brethren to hold fast to the traditions of the true church. So we need to examine which traditions have passed from the early church to which we should hold fast. And also, which we should remove because they are not the traditions of the true church.

True Traditions

The traditions of the true church are not that many. When Jesus established the church He did not make it to have grand traditions and complicated processes and procedures.

He made it simple so that anyone and everyone could take part in the traditions of the true church

Basically the traditions of the true church are these.

• To meet together as a church regularly following the pattern described in 1 Corinthians 14.
• Baptise believers by full immersion into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
• To lay hands on people for the appointment of elders and deacons. Also to receive the holy spirit and to heal the sick with the anointing of oil. There may be other reasons to lay hand on people, but these are the main ones.
• To break bread as instructed by the Lord to remember, proclaim, and participate in His resurrection

And that’s about it. There are not a lot of traditions we are called upon to follow in the true church of God than these. And these are kept because they have a purpose and meaning under the New Covenant.

For example, baptism is how we enter into the kingdom of God. Through baptism, we take on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is through baptism that we become born anew and new creations in Christ Jesus. It is also how we receive the free gift of righteousness by faith as it is by faith in God through baptism that we are set free from sin and the law.

This is an extremely important tradition and one that the church must get right given its consequences. And the rest of the traditions of the true church are similar in purpose and meaning. They are neither pointless nor frivolous, as some traditions of the church today can be.

I should add that there are other things that are better classified as foundation teachings and doctrines rather than traditions. Things like repentance, understanding grace, faith, eternal judgement, resurrection, and the like. These too, are extremely important to deeply understand, but they are not traditions as such. The traditions are really things that the church should DO. Whereas these other teachings and doctrines are things the church should KNOW.

But traditions have crept into the church that are NOT of the truth. In fact they have nothing to do with the traditions of the true church of God.

Warnings about following false traditions

Before considering some of the false traditions of the church, let us consider warnings in the scripture.

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; 11 but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God) — 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:5-13)

See how Jesus calls out and scolds the Pharisees and leaders of the Jews because of their false traditions. He shows here that by adhering to these false traditions, they had made void the word of God. Their traditions became more important than the truth of the word of God. As such, they led the people astray from the truth.

This is a dangerous path. And I think it explains partly why there are so few traditions in the true church of God.

Jesus and God did not want the traditions to get in the way. They don’t want their people slavishly following traditions and being bound up in complicated forms of worship.

Instead, they wanted the traditions of the true church to be few and simple. The aim is so that people would focus on Christ Jesus and His teachings of life. Note also this warning about traditions from Paul.

8 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10)

Paul warns that people could be pushed away from the truth due to the traditions of men. It is the truth of the gospel of Christ that is important. Man’s traditions, introduced into the church, will take people away from the Lord and separate them from His salvation. We must be extremely careful to avoid false traditions in the church. Instead, let us hold fast to the substance of Jesus Christ and His teachings.

Look also at these words that define some of the false traditions Paul was dealing with in the early Gentile churches.

16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:16-23)

Consider some of the things in this section of scripture. Also, consider how they are still playing a part in the modern church. I will mention some of these in the next section. Also note the following scripture.

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods; 9 but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! 11 I am afraid I have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4:8-11)

Again we see the anxiety of Paul over the Galatians church. They were turning to human traditions rather than following the truth of Jesus Christ. They are looking to observe special days, seasons, months, and years. And these have no bearing on the truth of the covenant.

Similarly, in the verse above from Colossians 2, they were seeking festivals, new moons, and keeping sabbaths, and also restricting what they could or could not eat and drink. All of these were according to human traditions and not the truth of God.

Even though Sabbath-keeping was required under the Old Testament law, it is not part of Christian doctrine. This is because Jesus has set us free from the law.

The sabbath was meant to be a day of rest, to spend the time in worship and remembrance of God. A time to learn about God’s way so that people could lead a better life and worship their Creator.

But the way the sabbath was being employed and observed was in a strict manner. They saw the keeping of the sabbath as more important than the reason for the sabbath. Sabbath-keeping became a human tradition based on works of the law. It ceased to be a day of rest given and ordained by God for man’s benefit and to spend time in worship with Him.

So let’s look at some of the other traditions of the church that get in the way of the worship of the Lord and take people away from the truth. And I assure you, some of these will be controversial amongst Christians. Some may even think to say these things is almost heresy. But I assure you this is all true and these things are not the traditions of the true church.

False Traditions in the modern Church

As much as I hate to say it, there are too many to list in a single blog post. But if you consider the short list of the traditions of the true church in the first part of this post, then just about every other tradition in the modern church is false. But, here are a few to get you thinking.

• The lighting of candles for the dead, or any other so-called religious reason. Nowhere in the Bible is this even mentioned.
• The use of incense swung from burners in the church. Although the use of incense on stationary burners was part of Old Covenant law and the temple worship, Christ has set us free from the law and we do not serve God under the priesthood of Levi. The writer of Hebrews makes this abundantly clear, and so all of the ceremony of the law has passed away now too.
• Christmas and Easter. The foundations of these festivals are pagan and have no place in the church. Nowhere in the Bible are we told to remember the birth of Christ, and we don’t even know when it was. We do know that it was not on December 25th. And as for Easter, that too is a pagan festival brought surreptitiously into the church. The ONLY way we are told to remember Christ’s death is through the breaking of bread or communion.
• The use of man-made or carved altars. This is actually even against God’s law in the Old Testament as under the law the only acceptable altar was a heap of uncarved rocks, or a mound of earth.
• Having an altar up on a platform. Many churches have the altar on a dais or a platform with steps up to it. Under the laws of Moses this is an abomination and it shows the spiritual nakedness and lack of knowledge of the people who do such things.
• The worship of the cross. This is a controversial one with most Christians. But when you consider that most churches are adorned with huge crosses and many Christians wear a cross around their necks, and the Bible and Christian paraphernalia are often adorned with the sign of the cross, it becomes important. First, the Greek word translated as “cross” is “stauron.” It literally means “stake” or “stick.” Jesus may not have even died on a cross, but on a solid “stake” of wood. So if He didn’t die on a cross, what is the church worshipping? The cross was a sign used in much pre-Christian pagan ritual, particularly in the rites and rituals of Bacchus. And besides, even if Christ did die on a cross, the way it is displayed and worshipped today is idolatry. It is not the cross or even the stake upon which He died that is important. It is His death and resurrection that have power. This is only a brief summary of some issues with worshipping the cross and there is much more I could say, but not at this time due to lack of time and space.
• Tithing. Tithing was part of the Old Covenant law but it has no place in the New Covenant Christian Church. Besides, it is completely wrong and bears no resemblance to the Old Covenant teachings. Firstly, only the descendants of Levi were permitted to take the tithes. Anyone else had no right to them as the tithe was given by God as a perpetual due to the children of Levi because they did not get an inheritance of land when Israel was divided up. Second, the tithe was ALWAYS given in the form of the produce of the fields and the herds and flocks. It was always agricultural products. It was NEVER money. The modern tithing in the church is built on lies and is a false doctrine.
• Worshipping, praying to, and the appointing of saints. All who come to Christ and believe in Christ Jesus are His saints. Saints are not and cannot be ordained by man. As for worshipping and praying to saints, this is a false teaching and a tradition of man. The Bible tells us there is only one mediator between man and God: Jesus Christ. The dead saints cannot intervene for you and to worship them rather than worshipping Christ Jesus and God is to create a false god. And we know what the one True God thinks about false gods!
• Infant baptism. This is another lie brought into the church. Nowhere in the Bible are we told to baptise children. The depth and meaning of baptism is such that an infant cannot understand it, especially if they were less than one year old, as most are. It is a fallacy and a lie and is not a true baptism.

In truth, this is just a sampler as there are many more traditions about the clothing of priests, the ordinances of worship, and so much more that are just pointless and have no basis in the scripture.

What to do about them

Avoid them. That is the basic thing that you need to understand…have nothing to do with these traditions that are not part of the traditions of the true church.

The Lord did not make His covenant complex. It was designed to be simple so that everyone could be part of it. You do not need to be a theologian or hold a degree in bible studies to understand the ways and the will of God. If you seek it, He will open it up to you and show you the right ways.

So seek a church that has none of these things. Focus on the scripture, and if your church does something or has a tradition that is not part of the doctrines of the New Covenant, ask the leaders of the church to explain why they are doing it and where the scriptural evidence is for following that path. Also, and before asking them, ask the Lord to show you the truth.

If they cannot show you the scriptural evidence for their tradition, it is probably a tradition of man. If they are unwilling to reject a human tradition, especially after being told it is not part of the traditions of the true church, then leave. Find another church that preaches truth and not human traditions.

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