The Desire of Ages
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 42: Tradition
This chapter is based on Matt. 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23
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The scribes and Pharisees, expecting to see Jesus at the
Passover, had laid a trap for Him. But Jesus, knowing their purpose, had
absented Himself from this gathering. "Then came together unto Him the
Pharisees, and certain of the scribes." As He did not go to them, they
came to Him. For a time it had seemed that the people of Galilee would receive
Jesus as the Messiah, and that the power of the hierarchy in that region would
be broken. The mission of the twelve, indicating the extension of Christ's
work, and bringing the disciples more directly into conflict with the rabbis,
had excited anew the jealousy of the leaders at Jerusalem. The spies they sent
to Capernaum in the early part of His ministry, who had tried to fix on Him the
charge of Sabbathbreaking, had been put to confusion; but the rabbis were bent
on carrying out their purpose. Now another deputation was sent to watch His
movements, and find some accusation against Him. {DA 395.1}
As before, the ground of complaint was His disregard of the
traditional precepts that encumbered the law of God. These were professedly
designed to guard the observance of the law, but they were regarded as more
sacred than the law itself. When they came in collision with the commandments
given from Sinai, preference was given to the rabbinical precepts. {DA 395.2}
Among the observances most strenuously enforced was that of
ceremonial purification. A neglect of the forms to be observed before eating [396]
was accounted a heinous sin, to be punished both in this world and in the next;
and it was regarded as a virtue to destroy the transgressor. {DA 395.3}
The rules in regard to purification were numberless. The
period of a lifetime was scarcely sufficient for one to learn them all. The
life of those who tried to observe the rabbinical requirements was one long
struggle against ceremonial defilement, an endless round of washings and
purifications. While the people were occupied with trifling distinctions, and
observances which God had not required, their attention was turned away from
the great principles of His law. {DA 396.1}
Christ and His disciples did not observe these ceremonial
washings, and the spies made this neglect the ground of their accusation. They
did not, however, make a direct attack on Christ, but came to Him with
criticism of His disciples. In the presence of the multitude they said,
"Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they
wash not their hands when they eat bread." {DA 396.2}
Whenever the message of truth comes home to souls with
special power, Satan stirs up his agents to start a dispute over some minor
question. Thus he seeks to attract attention from the real issue. Whenever a
good work is begun, there are cavilers ready to enter into dispute over forms
or technicalities, to draw minds away from the living realities. When it
appears that God is about to work in a special manner for His people, let them
not be enticed into a controversy that will work only ruin of souls. The
questions that most concern us are, Do I believe with saving faith on the Son
of God? Is my life in harmony with the divine law? "He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see
life." "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments." John 3:36; 1 John 2:3. {DA 396.3}
Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself or His disciples. He
made no reference to the charges against Him, but proceeded to show the spirit
that actuated these sticklers for human rites. He gave them an example of what
they were repeatedly doing, and had done just before coming in search of Him.
"Full well ye reject the commandment of God," He said, "that ye
may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother;
and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: but ye say, If a
man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by
whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him
no more to do aught for his father or his mother." They set aside the
fifth commandment as of [397] no consequence, but were very
exact in carrying out the traditions of the elders. They taught the people that
the devotion of their property to the temple was a duty more sacred than even
the support of their parents; and that, however great the necessity, it was
sacrilege to impart to father or mother any part of what had been thus
consecrated. An undutiful child had only to pronounce the word
"Corban" over his property, thus devoting it to God, and he could
retain it for his own use during his lifetime, and after his death it was to be
appropriated to the temple service. Thus he was at liberty, both in life and in
death, to dishonor and defraud his parents, under cover of a pretended devotion
to God. {DA 396.4}
Never, by word or deed, did Jesus lessen man's obligation to
present gifts and offerings to God. It was Christ who gave all the directions
of the law in regard to tithes and offerings. When on earth He commended the
poor woman who gave her all to the temple treasury. But the apparent zeal for
God on the part of the priests and rabbis was a pretense to cover their desire
for self-aggrandizement. The people were deceived by them. They were bearing
heavy burdens which God had not imposed. Even the disciples of Christ were not
wholly free from the yoke that had been bound upon them by inherited prejudice
and rabbinical authority. Now, by revealing the true spirit of the rabbis,
Jesus sought to free from the bondage of tradition all who were really desirous
of serving God. {DA 397.1}
"Ye hypocrites," He said, addressing the wily
spies, "well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh
unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is
far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men." The words of Christ were an arraignment of the whole
system of Pharisaism. He declared that by placing their requirements above the
divine precepts the rabbis were setting themselves above God. {DA 397.2}
The deputies from Jerusalem were filled with rage. They
could not accuse Christ as a violator of the law given from Sinai, for He spoke
as its defender against their traditions. The great precepts of the law, which
He had presented, appeared in striking contrast to the petty rules that men had
devised. {DA 397.3}
To the multitude, and afterward more fully to His disciples,
Jesus explained that defilement comes not from without, but from within. Purity
and impurity pertain to the soul. It is the evil deed, the evil word, the evil
thought, the transgression of the law of God, not the neglect of external,
man-made ceremonies, that defiles a man. [398] {DA 397.4}
The disciples noted the rage of the spies as their false
teaching was exposed. They saw the angry looks, and heard the half-muttered
words of dissatisfaction and revenge. Forgetting how often Christ had given
evidence that He read the heart as an open book, they told Him of the effect of
His words. Hoping that He might conciliate the enraged officials, they said to
Jesus, "Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard
this saying?" {DA
398.1}
He answered, "Every plant, which My heavenly Father
hath not planted, shall be rooted up." The customs and traditions so
highly valued by the rabbis were of this world, not from heaven. However great
their authority with the people, they could not endure the testing of God.
Every human invention that has been substituted for the commandments of God
will be found worthless in that day when "God shall bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14. {DA 398.2}
The substitution of the precepts of men for the commandments
of God has not ceased. Even among Christians are found institutions and usages
that have no better foundation than the traditions of the fathers. Such institutions,
resting upon mere human authority, have supplanted those of divine appointment.
Men cling to their traditions, and revere their customs, and cherish hatred
against those who seek to show them their error. In this day, when we are
bidden to call attention to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, we
see the same enmity as was manifested in the days of Christ. Of the remnant
people of God it is written, "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17. {DA 398.3}
But "every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not
planted, shall be rooted up." In place of the authority of the so-called
fathers of the church, God bids us accept the word of the eternal Father, the
Lord of heaven and earth. Here alone is truth unmixed with error. David said,
"I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy testimonies are
my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy
precepts." Psalm 119:99, 100. Let all who accept human authority, the
customs of the church, or the traditions of the fathers, take heed to the
warning conveyed in the words of Christ, "In vain they do worship Me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." {DA 398.4}
Click here to read the next chapter:
"Barriers Broken Down"
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