The following is adapted from a recent message I listened to. Just some good warning and food for thought for those of us in church fellowships that historically make group decisions regarding practical applications in connection with Biblical teachings.
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In Vain Do They Worship Me
The Church consists of men and women, and men and women have a tendency to fall into extremes. One of our greatest temptations lies in the error of presuming that we have the authority to decide which of God’s commandments are to be obeyed; this premise finds its passage into the church through arguments of cultural relativism, suggesting that certain commands in the Scriptures were only intended for certain eras, and any that were intended (or are still relevant) for us may be freely reshaped to suit the preferences of the cultures in which we live.
As a result of this worldly “wisdom”, well-meaning Christians sometimes divide Biblical teachings into “essentials”and “non-essentials,” often depending upon the currently prevailing cultural expectations of the world around them; teachings on subjects such as nonresistance, adultery, jewelry and fashion, modesty, the practice of the headship veiling, and many more are dismissed as having been directed primarily to the first century churches, or only ever intended to be consistently kept in principle. When God’s people stumble in this way, they hand a tremendous amount of influence over to the world, not only regarding church doctrine and practice, but over the hearts and minds of future generations as well.
At the other extreme, we find a less common but equally detrimental situation which occurs when God’s people lean on their own wisdom and fears, willfully creating additions to God’s commands. History shows us that this sort of practice flourished among Jewish leaders, especially during the intertestamental period; it came to be known as siyagot laTorah, or placing a “fence around the Torah” (the Law). Their well-meant desire was to avoid breaking the commands of the Torah, but they attempted to accomplish this by creating extra laws and applications intended to keep them from even getting close to breaking a particular law in the Torah.
One example of this can be seen in how observant Jews today still will not eat meat and dairy in the same meal; this practice was initially based on Deuteronomy 14:21, where they were commanded not to boil young goats in their mothers’ milk. Rabbinic teaching currently states that meat and milk should not be consumed in the same meal, even if they were from different animals; some rabbis expanded the “fence” even further by specifying how many hours should pass between meals in order to avoid any chance of meat and milk being “cooked” together in somebody’s digestive tract. Still other rabbis command that specific dishes must be reserved separately for meat and dairy products.
The idea of “fencing the Torah” may seem strange to people outside of Judaism, but similar practices do occur among various Christian groups when particular details of practice or articles of clothing (which are not actually commanded in Scripture) come to be taught as doctrines and practices which “fence in” or safeguard the keeping of actual Scriptural teachings such as modesty, separation, or simplicity. Nevertheless, few of these Christian groups would ever think of such things as being modern forms of “fencing the Torah,” and certainly not see them in the same light as those Pharisaical practices which Jesus condemned.
Mark 7:1-8 gives us the following account: Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.” (Mark 7:1-8)
Washings were part of the Old Testament priestly practice (see Ex. 29:4, Lev. 16:4, 24), but the Pharisees began to command that these specific acts of washing had to be done before all meals for allpeople. Jesus’ responded with a harsh rebuke against them for this unnecessary command which actually caused their adherents to lay aside the commandment of God. Judging from Jesus’ response, and even His later warning in Rev. 22:19, adding or subtracting from God’s commands is something to be taken very, very seriously! And in light of this, the Scriptures give at least four reasons for the Church to not add human commandments to the precepts in God’s Word.
1. Scripture affirms that either adding or subtracting to the Lord’s commandments hinders Biblical obedience: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deut. 4:2);“Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Prov. 30:6). We do well to note that eitheradding or taking away hinders keeping the commandments of the Lord, hence the first reason to avoid adding to the commandments of the God is that it hinders obedience.
2. The commandments of men represent a form of slavery: Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23). Do we recognize that adding extra-Biblical commandments in the nature of “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” are in fact associated with the spirit of the world.
When we consider our own lives and our church fellowships, are we defined more by what we don't do, or by what we do? Without question, Biblical Christianity is a moral religion, with clear moral boundaries and Biblical teaching, but at its very foundation, Christianity is a religion of positive action. When restrictions are continually added and enforced to avoid violating other restrictions, the creation of a chain is begun which represents a form of slavery, and the adding of these additional commandments ultimately opposes the spiritual unity to which we are called in the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The commandments of men become stumbling blocks which hinder others from entering the kingdom of God. Jesus also denounced the Pharisees for hypocritically binding other people to heavy burdens: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matt. 23:4, 13). Jesus said that the commandments of men become a burden that causes sincere seekers to stumble, and we can see that they also move the focus of a church from weightier matters to spiritually trivial issues. The Apostle Paul also spoke of such men, saying,“Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth” (Titus 1:13-14).
4. The commandments of men undermine the common faith, the sufficiency of Scripture, and the wisdom of the Lord. “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints”(Jude 1:3). Notice that the faith was already delivered (past tense), implying the lack of need for men to layer it or protect it with their own novel commands. We take the New Testament as our only creed, and in light of this, if the Lord desired any other particular commands than those given in His Word, would He not have already given them?
It is pride that suggests to fallen men the idea that they have liberty tocommand where God has not; as we have seen, numerous Scriptures reinforce this principle (Deut. 12:32; Prov. 30:5-6; Rev. 22:18-19). Further, the faith and salvation is a “common” one; the faith that a believer in Judea held should be the same as the faith held in China or Peru or Mozambique, and when additional commands and fences around the teachings of God’s Word begin to perturb the commonality of the true Christian faith, too often they divide those who are supposed to be one in it.
...to be continued....
See "Part Two"
