Replies

Indeed, what an excellent point, dear roamer_1!

The Pharisees and scribes had a thousand plus year old claim to teaching authority. But Jesus said:

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. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. - Mark 7:7-9

They probably had traditions which do not reject the commandments of God, but Christ continued with an example of one that does:

For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, [It is] Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; [he shall be free]. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. - Mark 7:10-13

So regardless of the label on the assembly of Christians, it is crucial to test all traditions against the words of God. His words come first and we must not add to them or take anything away from them.

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. – Deuteronomy 4:2

Thank God that His own words are active - Spirit and life - so that each Christian can discern between the words of men and the words of God.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. – John 10:3-5

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. - John 6:63

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:- Matt 13:14

Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. – John 8:43

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. - I Cor 2:13

He is our teacher.

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. - I John 2:27

God's Name is I AM.

Matthew 22:29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Mark 12:24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

Error comes in when people don't know Scripture, thus establishing it as the standard of truth by Jesus' own words.

1 John 2:27 18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

The Holy Spirit is given to all believers and leads them all into the truth. It isn't just for the church leaders or disciples to pass on to others in apostolic succession.

There is some teaching that Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit leading into truth and bringing to remembrance all things that He taught was just for the disciples, but it's obviously not.

The believer can depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit to teach him.

So regardless of the label on the assembly of Christians, it is crucial to test all traditions against the words of God. His words come first and we must not add to them or take anything away from them.

Thanks for your reply, Alamo-Girl, and for buttressing the argument with scripture. One of the primary problems of Replacement Theology, which held sway in all of Christendom for so very long, is the idea that we as Christians have been given authority to change that which was declared everlasting.

Quite to the contrary, those everlasting things are the throttle and the evidence against those who claim license in Yeshua.

It seems all to evident to me that the same reliance on oral law that the Pharisees laid their claim to power in has been repeated point-for-point in the traditions of Christianity.

Thanks for the great post!