The Traditions of the Elders, Mark 7:3-13

This post concerns the Jewish traditions of the elders.

The Traditions of the Elders discusses Jewish additions to God’s laws.

The Pharisees and scribes had made up and imposed a large numbers of rules and laws on the people—a set of laws called the Tradition of the Elders, Mark 7:3. “For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders…And there are many other traditions that they observe.”

They taught that violation of these laws constituted sin.

They asked Jesus about His disciples, Mark 7:5. “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Jesus answered, Mark 7:6-7. “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart… far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Then, Jesus gave an example, Mark7:8. “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” The tradition on parent’s care allowed the Jews to give money to the temple and completely avoid God’s law to care for their parents.

We have the same problem today of following men’s laws rather than God’s. Many churches have practices not found in the Bible. For example, historically, the practice of sprinkling or pouring water began in the second century and progressed to a church sanctioned practice by the Roman Catholic church in 1311. (The Orthodox Church still allows only immersion as baptism.)

The word baptism means to immerse completely and fits with Peter’s teaching on remission of sins, Acts 2:38. “Repent and… baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,”

Thus, the scriptures recognize immersion as the point of forgivness of sins and one becomes a member of the church, Acts 2:47. “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Today, we must take care must to teach the Bible and not the ideas of men.

So, what did we learn?

1.The Jews erroneously taught their traditions as opposed to the scriptures.

2.Today, forgiveness of sins still comes by immersion.

For more on the Bible, click tdroberts.org or https://justchristian.com or https://podcastjustchristian.com

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