Danger of Tradition
April 27, 2009 | 0 Comments
Last night at our weekly Bible study we did a brief overview of Reformed/Presbyterian Theology. While I know for most it was like getting a drink from a fire hydrant, it was encouraging to see the biblical basis for Reformed/Presbyterian Theology and to how God has faithfully preserved His Word and His people throughout history.
However, there is a pitfall of which we must be aware. It is all too easy to become so engrossed with the traditions of our Reformed/Presbyterian heritage that we forget the true basis of it all: God and His Word. Just this morning I was reading from Volume 1 of the Collected Writings of John Murray and the author faithfully reminds us of the importance of the sufficiency and necessity of God's Word:
We may be loyal to a certain tradition, let us even say a good tradition, and yet be quite petrified and superstitious in our loyalty, if we have no higher norm or appeal than the traditions of our fathers. Our devotion to a tradition is wholesome only when we recognize in that tradition, not the authority of the fathers, but the authority of God's Word. Apart from the recognition of divine authority, all our religious devotion is abomination in the sight of God (emphasis mine). It is to the Thessalonians that Paul wrote, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." And we can find added meaning in the exhortation when we read of the Bereans that they were "more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Hence the necessity of constant grounding of our convictions, of our devotion and of our conduct in the Word of God.
