The conflict between the commandment of God and the tradition of men is as old as human existence on earth. In the earliest records of the relationship between God and men we find that people had already developed traditions which they regarded before and above the commandments given by God for the regulation of their lives. To a large degree the entire Old Testament can be interpreted in terms of this struggle. The New Testament then gives abundant testimony to the continuation of it as the commandments of God assumed the form of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The tradition of men begins when human preference is substituted for something that God has instructed men to do. When the next generation reinforces the practice of the substitution by adopting and perpetuating it, it gains strength and begins to command respect. When several generations have thus embraced the substitution, it becomes so honored by time that it is held sacred and is exalted above even the very word of God.
In the Mosaic Law (Exo. 21:17) God commanded that children should honor their father and mother. According to Jesus' application of this requirement (Mat. 15:5-6) it meant that children must provide for their parents' needs when old age made them unable to care for themselves. Other aspects of this Divine instruction reveal that God wills children to speak to their parents in a way that is always respectful, polite, and kind, (Lev. 20:9, Dty. 27:16, Pro. 20:20 and 30:17). But between the time these directions were given and Jesus' comments about them, the Jewish people found it expedient to make substitutions for them. They decided that by dedicating their possessions to God, (a formal ritual that involved the actual offering of only a token part of them), it placed off-limits all the rest from use by anyone else, including their parents. Thus they were excused from sharing their goods with needy parents. In talking about this maneuver with their fathers and mothers, it seems they were using speech that was harsh and disrespectful.
Their wily strategy was opposing one part of the Law to another, which really amounted to substituting human for Divine will. And because it had been initiated many generations before and had gained the sanctity of longevity and general acceptance, it had become an entrenched tradition in Jewish life. But when Jesus declared, "For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God," (Mat. 15:6), He opposed it for what it was, a presumptuous departure from the way God had ordained them to go. Their practice had nullified God's law among them. Living apart from God's law in their own tradition, they were unwittingly living apart from His favor. This reality is stated by Paul when he told the Jews in Rome, "Both Jews and Greeks are under sin," (Rom. 3:9).
We must always examine and reexamine our practices, procedures, customs and methods lest it be that we are substituting our own preferences and nullifying the will of God. Likewise,we must scrutinize everything to detect any instance where we might be perpetuating a tradition that makes God's will come to nothing. A man who who had served more than forty years as a preacher told me frankly, "I know that infant baptism has no Scriptural basis, but it is such a beautiful custom that I continue to perform it." This is the attitude we must avoid. In the day we give account to God all human traditions will be discounted. Only the word of God will stand to justify or condemn our souls before God. Those who have conducted their lives by the traditions of men will suffer eternal exclusion from His grace. No one can determine his own path to salvation; any way marked out by man leads only to the wrong destination. Indeed, we must obey God rather than men, (Acts 5:29).
