Tradition

“Tradition, tradition! Tradition!” Thus sings Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, one of my favorite musicals.

The Christian church is filled with traditions. Is this a good thing? Let’s take a look at some of the traditions we have and see if there is a Biblical basis for those traditions.

Let’s start with one that is in my church, and that is the invitation. Usually at the end of the service, our pastor as do many pastors in the nation, invite people who may have just realized their need for a Savior to come forward. We then have counselors talk to them and help them with their decision. The person is then presented to the congregation.

Is this Biblical?

In Matthew 10:32 Jesus says, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” This is public confession and an invitation is a way to publicly acknowledge Christ.

Is there any danger in this tradition? No, as long as we realize that there are other places to be saved other than in a church. And that acknowledgement before others can also take other forms. Just telling your family or friends of your decision is acknowledgement before others. And for many churches, it’s not even a membership requirement to walk the aisle, just encouraged.

Okay, here’s an easy one. Doing the Lord’s supper in church. This is definitely Biblical. Luke 22 is one of the Gospel chapters describing the last supper with his disciples. And in it, Christ commands us to remember him by breaking bread and drinking wine (we now use grape juice). And you can see in 1Corinthians 11 that this is an ordinance to be followed. The Bible does not tell us when we should do this or how often, just that we should. Oh, and it doesn’t have to be done in church. You can do the Lord’s supper in your own home.

Now let’s look at some that are a little more controversial as far as their Biblical basis.

Baptism. This is another command. It is the first command that we should follow after confessing Christ.

Acts 2:37-38 says, When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

I’m not going to get into the order of things or the causality of things, that’s a blog for another time, but you can see that baptism is commanded after salvation. The end of Acts chapter 8 shows the same thing. And other places throughout Acts shows that baptism is a command to be followed after salvation.

How are we to be baptized?

Matthew 3 implies full body immersion, as John was baptizing people, including Christ Himself, in the river. But that’s not the important aspect of baptism. The important part is that baptism must FOLLOW salvation. And salvation is a conscious decision on our part. Therefore, baby baptism is not Biblical. And not only is it not Biblical, it is dangerous.

Why? Because if a person grows up thinking that they are saved because they were baptized as a child and never commits their life to Christ, they are in danger of going to hell when they die. Baby baptism can lull someone into a false sense of salvation.

One final thing about baptism. It does not save a person. Again, baptism is an act we are to do AFTER salvation. It is an act of obedience. It does not save a person. It could be argued, as seen in Acts 2, that one does not receive the Holy Spirit until they are baptized, but that’s still not the same as salvation. Luke 23:40-43 is our evidence that baptism is not necessary for salvation.

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The thief on the cross was not baptized, but Jesus says he will join Him in paradise after they die. Baptism does not save.

What about baby dedication? This is different that baby baptism. And this is Biblical.

Exodus 13:2 says, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.”

Baby dedication extends this to not only the firstborn male, but every child. As parents, we should vow to raise up our children in the Lord.

Proverb 22:6 - Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

What about speaking in tongues? This one has been twisted and corrupted over the ages. One thing to remember about speaking in tongues, there should always be an interpreter as well. See 1Corinthians 12,13, and 14. The other thing to beware of with speaking in tongues is that no where in the Bible does it say that as proof of salvation, you will speak in tongues. Paul calls this a spiritual gift and each of us has different spiritual gifts. Acts 2 is often misinterpreted. Here, tongues is actually languages. There are people from all over the world visiting Jerusalem and the disciples are given the power by the Holy Spirit to share the Gospel of Christ in the languages of all the people visiting. This is a one-time event. Personally, I believe many missionaries that go to foreign lands have the gift of tongues (or languages) as they are able to pick up the language of the people group they work with quickly.

I’m sure there are many other traditions we could discuss. The important thing to remember about any tradition, whether based on Biblical principles or not, is that tradition cannot take the place of a relationship with Christ. We must guard against doing things of tradition and checking them off of our to-do list. Even going to church can become this way.

The last tradition I’d like to mention is singing songs of worship. This is definitely Biblically based – the Psalms are songs – but again, we must guard against thinking this is THE way we worship God. Everything we do should be an act of worship to God. Singing songs is just one small thing we do. And again, guard against this just being something you do on Sunday morning. Think about the words your singing and make it a true time of worship.

Tradition is good, but a living, dynamic relationship with Christ is better. Think of Jesus as a friend. Do you just tick things off a list for your friends?

In John 15:13-15, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Don’t let tradition replace relationship.