“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
A fundamental problem of the Pharisees was binding human traditions in their attempt to obey God correctly. By binding their traditions, they thought they were obeying and serving God and teaching others to do the same. They were very mistaken. Let me illustrate.
The Law of God said, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work” (Exod. 20:8-10). The Law of Moses gave limited regulations about the definition of “work” on the Sabbath day (Exod. 20:8-11; 35:3; Num. 15:32-36). The traditions formed and enforced by the scribes and Pharisees greatly expanded these. In their zeal to obey the Law, the Pharisees bound many traditions on themselves and others concerning what it meant to work on the Sabbath. Consider the following traditions they bound on others:
1. Plucking grain. When the disciples of Jesus plucked grain and ate it on the Sabbath, the Pharisees charged them with “doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:2). Yet, Jesus showed how they condemned the guiltless by their failure to know the Scriptures (which taught mercy, Matt. 12:7; Hosea 6:6). Keeping the Sabbath holy by refraining from work did not restrict kindness and mercy on that day. But the traditions of the Pharisees did.
2. Carrying a bed. A man was told what he did was “not lawful” because he carried his bed on the Sabbath (John 5:10). But it was only unlawful because it violated the definition of work established by their traditions.
3. Healing on the Sabbath. Jesus was accused of violating God’s Sabbath law and worthy of death because He healed that same man on the Sabbath (John 5:17-18). He broke their traditions about the Sabbath, but He did not break the Sabbath. He exposed their hypocritical judging by showing God’s Law allowed the work of circumcision on the Sabbath (see John 7:22-24). Plus, the Law never prevented mercy (Matt. 12:7; Hos. 6:6). They failed to judge righteously about Jesus and His work because they had exalted their traditions above the word of God.
The Pharisees demanded the only way to keep the Sabbath properly was to regulate their activities on the Sabbath by the traditions they developed about it.
This problem has not gone away. There are still those who, in their zeal for God, develop, demand, and bind their traditions as necessary to obey God properly. Some, in their zeal for reverence toward God, press for the exclusive use of “thee” and “thou” when addressing God in prayer. Some say prayer is only approved when certain formulas are spoken, or certain postures are assumed. Some bind traditions about what must be said when baptizing the sinner in the name of Jesus. Some bind one container when drinking “the cup” of the Lord’s Supper and forbid separate Bible classes when the church meets. Some bind the KJV as the only acceptable translation of the Bible.
Is insisting on vocal music only in worship merely a tradition we bind as over-zealous people? We conclude “no,” because God’s word specifies the kind of music God accepts from worshipers, and the consistent pattern in Christ’s New Testament is vocal music (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; James 5:13). This Bible pattern establishes God-approved music in worship. Adding another kind of music (instrumental) is disallowed by God (Gal. 1:6-9; John 4:24). We are not binding human traditions when we hold fast to the Bible pattern of singing (only) in worship (Col. 3:17; 2 Tim. 1:13).
We must distinguish between the traditions of men (which often “have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion” but “are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh”) and the doctrine of Christ in which we must abide to have fellowship with God (Col. 2:20-23; 2 John 9).
So, we join in this prayer with Paul, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:9-11).