"Tradition! Tradition!" I can see Tevye (from the musical "Fiddler on The Roof") now, singing these words as he stands bewailing the marriages of his three daughters, each one taking a step further outside the traditions that had sustained him throughout his life. We understand his grief. Most families have their cherished traditions - Sunrise Service at Easter, the Easter egg hunt and ham on the table for dinner - Christmas Eve services, decorating the tree, opening gifts, always in the same order - Lounging in the living room watching a football game on T.V. after having eaten far too much for Thanksgiving dinner - and singing a rousing "Happy Birthday" song as candles on the cake are blown out by that family member being honored for having made it through another year. These, and many other traditions are often the glue that holds families together, the substance that defines them.

Traditions play an important role in our lives, a role that is positive and good. But, at times, they can be troublesome, even destructive. This can be especially true in the church, particularly when traditions clash with Scripture.

I recently watched a documentary on PBS about the travels of St. Thomas as he carried the gospel message to southern India. This traditional story certainly has merit, but what intrigued me most about it was the condition of those Christian churches today. They have incorporated many of the beliefs and practices of the Hindu religion, the majority religion of that area. This is not a new phenomenon. Israel had this problem very early in its history (see Numbers 25:1-3) and continued to struggle with it for centuries (see Isaiah 2:6). Again, as Paul and others took the gospel message west, into the Greek and Roman cultures, the same thing happened. Following the death of the apostles, the gospel message quickly became a mixture of Greek philosophy, Roman practices and Biblical ideas.

Hans Kung, a noted Catholic theologian, speaks of Origen (185-251 A.D), one of the more influential early church fathers, saying, "His whole work had a clear aim: from the beginning he did theology passionately with the aim of achieving a definitive reconciliation between Christianity and the Greek world . . . though a Christianization of Hellenism was the inevitable consequence of a Hellenization of Christianity." And again: "Origen was firmly convinced that throughout his theology - in exegesis, apologetics and systematic theology - he had done no less than decipher his beloved Holy Scripture. But he was not aware how far he himself remained imprisoned in a quite definite philosophical world-view." (Great Christian Thinkers, Continuum Pub., N.Y., 1994). The Neoplatonic tradition that resulted from Origen’s work, and that of other Greco/Roman theologians that followed, was a far cry from the Judaean/Christian theology of the first century. So different, in fact, that one historian noted that by the end of the fourth century, what had been considered orthodox (truth) in the first century was now considered heresy, and what had been heresy in the first century was now orthodox. Tertullian, very early in the third century, recognized the danger, writing, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What has the Academy to do with the church? What have Christians to do with heretics? Our doctrine derives from Solomon’s Porch. Away with the fusion of Stoic, Platonic, Dialectic - and Christian!" (H.E.W.Turner, The Pattern of Christian Truth, Mowbray, London, 1954). But, in spite of such opposition, the Greek philosophers held sway.

Jesus obviously expected this to happen. In a series of parables recorded in Matthew 13 he indicated that, due to the unnatural growth of the church and the influx of false teachers, his message would become so corrupted as to be nearly lost, so rare as to be like "a treasure buried in a field" or "a pearl of great price." The apostles, Paul, Peter and John, also warned repeatedly against false teachings coming into the church as they struggled against Greek Gnosticism during their ministries.

Following the Protestant Reformation several individuals and a few groups (notably the Anabaptists and the Socinians) tried to get the reformed church to return to a truly Biblical faith. Their efforts were met with severe persecution. Many were murdered by that same reformed church. Others were imprisoned. Most were forced to flee for their lives. The traditions were too firmly entrenched to change. These same traditions continue to be the majority view in Christianity, affecting our views of God, Jesus the Christ, the nature of man, and the eventual end of it all.

The obvious question each must answer - Does it really matter whether we base our faith on the traditions of the church or upon the Bible? Ultimately God will answer that question, but for us the answer is clear - the Bible only must be our guide to faith and life. Most Protestants would quickly agree with this statement. Nearly all believe that their faith is firmly based upon the Scriptures. But they, like Origen so many years ago, are unaware of how greatly tradition has affected their understanding. While we quickly recognize that we don’t have all the answers, we are pretty confident they can be found through study and prayer. We invite you to come search the scriptures with us.