We know that by the time of Jesus, as far as putting some kind of time stamp on it, that the Word of God was being superseded or replaced by Jewish tradition because Jesus said it was,
(Mt
15:3): …you also transgress the commandment of
God because of your tradition?
(Mt
15:6, NASB): …you invalidated the
word of God for the sake of your tradition.
(Mk
7:8): …laying aside the commandment of God, you
hold the tradition of men.
(Mk
7:9): …you reject the commandment of God, that
you may keep your tradition.
This is not to suggest that this replacement thing happened overnight in nullifying the commandments of God as a rule of life. This worldview was/is nothing new. One of the lowest points in Israel’s history is seen during the period of the judges when every man was his own authority (Jdg 21:25). I guess you cannot get any lower than the deportations of Israel by the pagan Assyrians and the Babylonians due to stubborn, idolatrous ways, yes?
The tradition (Gk, paradosis)
that Jesus referred to above has reference to ancestral customs, teachings, or injunctions
that are not written in the Law of Moses. This handed-down oral tradition is
known as the
tradition of the Elders (cf. Mk 7:3, 5). Paradosis can also refer to divine
tradition (e.g., 1 Cor 11:2; 2 Thes 2:15; 3:6). The context will determine
whether paradosis is referring to divine tradition delivered by Moses and other writers (OT & NT) under inspiration or
passed down via human tradition orally (Mt 15:2-3; 15:6; Gal 1:14; Col 2:8).
This
dethroning of the Word of God as a rule of life in Jesus’ day indicates that
human customs, teachings, or injunctions had not only conflicted with the Word
of God; the traditions of the elders were preferred over the Word of God (Mt
15:3, 6; Mk 7:8-9)! The Jewish rule of life was
human-based, secular in thinking with all the religious trappings to go with it. This oral tradition was all human and nothing sacred as far as being from God!
It
is interesting to see the inner mindsets of the ruling council in Jesus’ day. The
membership of the Sanhedrin was comprised with the same spectrum of views as
today in religious thought or political thought for that matter: conservative
(Pharisees), moderate, and liberal (Sadducees), along with ultra-thinking elements
on the polar ends of the spectrum (ultra-conservative vs radical).
Now
keep in mind, the majority of the members of this civil and religious authority
of Israel were in spiritual darkness, the blind leading the blind. We know of at least two of the Pharisees, for sure, who believed in Jesus
Christ, but the Bible is silent concerning any Sadducees. There were many other
rulers of the Jews who pretended to believe that Jesus was the true Messiah,
but they feared being excommunicated from the synagogue. I would maintain that
their belief was not authentic because according to John, via inspiration, they loved the praise
of men more than the praise of God (Jn 12:42-43). It was a false faith in action,
yes?
Dr.
Spiros Zodihiates talked about the tension between the Pharisees and the
Sadducees (Word Study, paradosis, no citation) on ancestral
injunctions which came from oral tradition rather than from the Law of Moses,
“…the
sect of the Sadducees rejected them [the oral traditions of the elders or of
the Pharisees, added] saying that what was written should be esteemed
obligatory, but that which came from oral tradition need not be observed.”
This
had to have pained the Pharisees to no end for they were insistent and
fastidious on keeping the tradition of the elders; the Sadducees were not. This
is not the only thing that these two sects disagreed upon. Allow me to give a couple of examples to illustrate the difference of opinions between the two
religious factions.
The Sads did not believe in a resurrection like the Phars. The Sads were naturalists and rejected supernaturalism; they did not believe in heaven or hell, angels or demons, etc. The Phars, on the other hand, believed in all of that for they were supernaturalists. The Phars had way more in common with the people than the Sadducee elitists. This didn’t mean that the Phars were the good guys by any stretch, spiritually speaking; both sects of the Jewish religion were without spiritual life, and rejecting Jesus only exacerbated their spiritual condition. What these two religious orders agreed upon was that Jesus had to die because He was upsetting their apple cart by publicly challenging their authority and stirring up the people by His teachings (we call the truth) that ran contrary to their religious persuasion and His unexplainable signs (we call them miracles, yes?).
Israel was a part of the detested Roman Empire; their concern was not completely without merit because of their fear of violating Rome's policy of Pax Romana (the policy of Roman peace being enforced throughout the Roman empire, cf. Jn 11:47-48, 53); however, Jesus didn’t leave heaven to change the political environment of the earth but to minister and give His very life a ransom to save man from destruction (cf. Mt 20:28; Jn 3:16). Note the finger-pointing going on in Jn 12:19. Jesus obviously didn’t fit into their political aspirations; they were looking for a political Messiah, not a spiritual One. He was perceived as a liability by the Sanhedrin by challenging their usurped authority which might stir the people up and possibly generate the perception that the Jews were violating the Pax Romana.
Rather
than concerned patriots for the nation, behind the superficial patriotism of the religious leadership was nothing but greedy,
selfish, egocentric men who cared only for their own ego, pocketbook, and padded
lifestyle! Jesus was rattling the powerbase of Israel and revealing their hypocrisy
with the truth of Scripture and His signs validating that He was the long-awaited Messiah! If it wasn’t for hypocrisy, the Sanhedrin would be
without standards.
By
70 A.D., none of that would matter; Roman troops would roll into Israel like a
steamroller under Titus. The nation of Israel would be no more until the 20th
century. There is no need to imagine what it would have been like if only
Israel had accepted Jesus as their Messiah (cf. Jn 1:11; Mt 23:37). God already
knew in his foreknowledge that Jesus would be rejected. His offer, however, was
real all right (cf. Jn 1:12)!
Well,
we know that the Sanhedrin finally got the job done, and they had Jesus
crucified, unknowingly providing them a false positive that they were done with
this Jesus of Nazareth once and for all. This wasn’t their first “rodeo” in
dealing with those troublemakers with a messiah-complex; they simply added
Jesus of Nazareth to their list of those self-ascribed ambitious messiah-types
worthy of comeuppance, particularly this Jesus, the son of Joseph.
They
had no idea that the son of Joseph would literally rise from the grave three
days later after being put to death by crucifixion! Not only that, they unwittingly carried out the will of God the Father
in providing a suitable sacrifice for man’s sin that would appease God the
Father (cf. Lk 22:42; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10), glory!
We
know that the tradition of the elders was not only considered as authoritative
as the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and held in high esteem by the Pharisees,
but their treatment, as we read earlier, of the Word of God being transgressed,
invalidated, laid aside, and rejected in order to keep the oral traditions as a
rule of life was prima facie evidence that the temporal tradition of the elders
had replaced the eternal Word of God.
Think of it! In their vanity and futility, they arrogantly assumed that the creature knew far better than the Creator on how to live out their lives and that their temporal earthly ideas from the teaching of their most gifted rabbis were vastly superior to God’s eternal Word (cf. Isa 55:9-11; Mt 24:35)! Hence, the migration from the Law of Moses to the gravitation to the oral tradition of the elders.
Do we drift to that way of thinking? That somehow finite man/woman knows better than the eternal God on how
to live out their lives? Should we ever abandon the absolute truth of Scripture, what else is there but a lie to live, yes? <><
