The Commandments of Men

The Pharisees often criticized Jesus for ignoring their traditions. One such time was when he and the disciples did not wash their hands before eating, ignoring the religious tradition of the Pharisees. Jesus' response was to lash out at them for their commandments of men which caused people to violate the commandments of God. He gave an example. The Pharisees were so greedy for money that they regarded financial support of parents less important than giving to their ministry.

Some ministries today ask people to give what they have not got, or offer false promises of financial blessing for giving, much like the financial scandal of indulgences that precipitated the Protestant Reformation. Some traditions diminish the commandments of God, by eclipsing the teachings of Christ, with the traditions of men. We read of Jesus' classic confrontation with the religious traditions of men in Matthew 15:1-9.

As Protestants, we naturally compare this with the two most ancient Christian traditions and they certainly contain many commandments of men which Jesus could criticize if he were with us in the flesh today. However, before we look elsewhere, let's look in our own traditions first.

There are two kinds of traditions, those which the original apostles taught as doctrine, and later traditions which crept into Christianity, which may or may not be helpful to our faith. One reason why we Protestants believe in the Reformation teaching of sola scriptura, is that Christianity is a continual weeding out process. As layers of tradition creep into the church, we need to constantly compare those doctrines to original Christianity, otherwise our religion becomes like the game of Chinese whispers, constantly changing from generation to generation, until it no longer resembles the Christianity of Christ.

What that means to Protestants is that we must be continually reforming. Every teaching needs to be re-evaluated, re-examined in the light of the teachings of Christ and the apostles. Do Protestant churches have teachings of men that need to be reformed? There is probably not a single church that does not need to have some teachings of men weeded out. That will always be the case until Christ returns. The criteria are still the same today as then. We worship in vain when we teach as doctrines the commandments of men.