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The New Testament Traditions of God's Church

What are traditions?  In “Strong’s Concordance”, the Greek word, Paradosis means; teachings.

Mark 7:6-13

6  He answered and said unto them, well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honored me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8  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.
9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10  For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso cursed father or mother, let him die the death:
11  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 mightiest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

 In Mark 7:7, 13 the Amplified version says;

In vain (fruitlessly and without profit) do they worship me, 
ordering and teaching [to be obeyed] as doctrines the commandments and precepts of men.

Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the word of God through your tradition, which you in turn hand on, and many things of this kind are you doing.

See also the following scriptures; Col. 2:6-8, 2 Thess. 3:6, concerning the traditions of men, and see, 2 Thess. 2:13-17 concerning the “Apostles Traditions”.

For additional Reading; read Galatians 1^st chapter.

(1) The Place of Worship

The Traditional Church, build large and huge worship houses, for public spectacular and display.

The New Testament Church met primarily in homes, temple, upperoom, chambers and houses (Acts 2:46,47; 5:42; 8:3; 12:12; 16:40;  20:7,8; 20:20; Rom. 16:3-5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philemon 2; 2 John 9-11).

The Traditional Church, for the most part meets a couple days a week.

The New Testament Church, met daily, and taught (preaching and teaching) daily in their homes. (Acts 2:46, 47; 5:42)

We as the people of God has fallen in such a tradition mode, that it is very hard to shake ourselves out of it.  It is hard to brake traditions that have been carried on the same way for decades.

Some say that it doesn’t take all of that.  Some say that you are fanatical if you try to do anything from the norm.  There is a sense of a great pressure, or the feeling like some things has it thumb down on you, when you try to stand for what the bible teaches.  The bible not only teaches sound doctrine, but it gives us sound traditions as well.

The New Testament gives us the example of the church meeting daily, and they were taught on a daily basis.  There was teaching and preaching going on daily in the Christian homes of that era.  Today everyone is waiting to get into the pulpit, or some large auditorium to be seen and heard by man.   Worship services are held two or three times a week in some cases.  When I read the Bible I see the saints of the morning time age living the gospel full time and the saints in this age living the gospel part time.

Christianity has become a hobby to many or a form of entertainment.  My prayer is Lord how can I get back to my Father’s Praying Ground.  The song says too far away we have strayed, just now and then a soul is saved, Let’s go back to our Father’s praying ground.

(2) There was one Church to a city

The Traditional Church is fractured into hundreds of different denominations and group or movements,

There were no denominations; instead there was one church in each city, meeting in various homes. (Acts 8:1; 11:26; 18:22; Rom 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Rev. 2:1; 2:8; 2:12; 2:18; 3:1; 3:7; 3:14; Col. 4:16; 1 Thess. 1:1)

The Church of God is the present day representation of the church as portrayed in the New Testament. The Church was built by Jesus Christ, not a reformer or group of reformers (Matt 16:18). One becomes a member of the church by virtue of salvation (Acts 2:47), not by any act of joining (Acts 5:12-14). The church is very visible (Matt 5:14; John 17:21). The church of the New Testament is called "the church of God" (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:13; 1 Tim 3:5). The Church of God acknowledges no other head than Jesus Christ (Eph 1:22; 4:15; Col 1:18; Col 2:19). Consequently, there can be no earthly headquarters or "general offices." Each congregation is a local representation of the universal Church of God, which includes all the saints in heaven and on earth (Eph 3:15; Heb 12:22-23).

Final Rewards (Rev. 20:12-15, 21:3-4, 22:14)

The Traditional Church, adds new members to make it bigger.

The New Testament Church members are added by the Lord, and when the number of believers outgrew a home, a new congregation was formed. (Rom. 16:3-5; 5:14,15; Acts 2:41-47).

(3) Pastoral Pre-eminence

The Traditional Church, is led by the Pastor (or Senior Pastor in a large congregation).

The New Testament Church was led by a plurality of co-equal Elders (Acts 14:23; 20:28; Phil 1:1; James 5:14; 1 Pet. 5:1,2).

Beware of the spirit of Pastoral Pre-eminence!

The Traditional Church, Senior Pastor is seen as set apart from and over the other pastors and elders.

The Church was cared for by a team of Elders, who were accountable to each other and the church; they were also known as elders or overseers.  No one Elder functioned as the head of the church. (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-7; 1 Pet. 5:1,2).

The Traditional Church, the Pastor is paid a salary by the church.

Some of the Elders were financially supported, but they were usually bi-vocational. (1 Tim. 5:17, 18; Acts 20:33-35).

In most cases only the Pastor is paid, and the other elders are left to fend for themselves.

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.”

Rom. 15:4

(Daniel Webster Kurtz’s History “Nineteen Centuries of Church History.” Page 46)

“The heresies within the church forced the Christians to a rule of authority.  They sought for the true writings of the Apostles.  A great flood of literature was read in the church attributed to the apostles.  The process determining which was the true, and false work, lasted from A.D. 140 to A.D. 325.  by the end of that year the agreement upon the matter was practically determined.

As the church entered the Greek and Roman territory and prevailed in conflict with Paganism, this heathenistic religion became more and more a matter of creeds.

During the apostolic age, elders and bishops, were of equal rank, or were the same persons, and there were several of these in each congregation.  But now, bishops were exercising authority over others.  This change was ordered by the Roman government which as they though was a model, to all Gentile converts.

This was generally accepted all over, which developed the powers of popery.

According to historical facts and prophecy popery began to be promoted in a small measure as far back as 270 A. D., but was not fully developed in its complete working power until around 530 A.D.

What followed the Dragon in John’s vision was the Beast in Rev. 13:1, “the papal beast”.  This represents popery, or papal Rome.  He resembles his father the dragon, in that he also has seven heads and ten horns.  The only difference is this, the dragon had his crowns on his heads, (Rev. 12:3), while the beast had his crowns on his horns.

(4) Concerning the education of Elders

The Traditional Church, pastors are trained in seminaries and sent out to serve in a congregation which has no real knowledge of his life and character.

Elders were local brothers who arose from within a local church where their life and character were known in the community (Acts 14; 23; Titus 1:5).

(5) The Order of Worship

The Traditional Church, Sunday “worship service” is characterized by passivity among  the laity with the Pastor or a select person or group of leaders doing nearly all the ministry.

Church meetings were participatory and interactive every member had a function and contribution to make. (1 Cor. 12:4-27; 14:26; Eph. 4:15-16; Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Pet. 4:10, 11; Heb. 10:23-25; Rom. 12:15; 1 Cor. 12:26).

The Traditional Church, Sunday morning “worship service” is characterized by a rigid and inflexible order of service.

The Church of God of the New Testament was characterized by informality, flexibility, and spontaneity.  (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 14:26-31).

The Traditional Church, goal of meeting is worship, listening to a sermon or evangelism.

The goal of the meeting was mutual edification.  (1 Cor 14:3-5,12,17,26; Eph. 4:11,12,16; Heb. 10:24,

(6) The New Testament Church means of support

The Traditional Church instituted the Old Testament Law of Tithing to support their church

 The New Testament supports itself by the freewill offering of its members.

(7) Concerning the observance of the Lord’s Supper

The Traditional Church, The Lord’s Supper is observed monthly, quarterly, or annually.

In the New Testament Church, the Lord’s Supper was observed as often as the church regularly gathered, and was the stated purpose for their meetings.  (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:18-20, 33)

The Traditional Church, observed the Lord’s Supper with a piece of cracker and a sip of juice.

In the New Testament Church, the Lord’s Supper was observed as a full meal.  (Acts 2:42, 46;  1 Cor. 11:20, 21).

The Traditional Church, observance of the Lord’s Supper is like a solemn funeral atmosphere as the worshippers reflect on Christ’s sufferings and death.  The believer’s vertical relationship with Christ is emphasized.  And public confession of sins are made.

In the New Testament Church, The Lord’s Supper was observed with  glad and sincere hearts as the church not only reflected on Christ’s death, but also on the future marriage supper of the Lamb which it depicted.  The believer’s horizontal relationship with other believers was emphasized. (Acts 2:46; Luke 22:15-18, 30; 1 Corinthian 11:26; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthian 10:16).

(8) Concerning Baptism

The Traditional Church, for the most part will have a new believer go membership or instructional classes before he can be baptized.

New believers were baptized as soon as it was humanly possible.  (Acts 2:37-41; 8:12; 8:36-38; 9:17,18; 10:45-48; 16:31-34; 19:5).

The Tradition Church will teach that the church must be present when someone is baptized.

The church was not always present when someone was baptized.  (Acts 8:12; 8:36-39; 16:31)

The Traditional Church teaches that baptism is performed by the clergy.

Baptism was performed by any Christian. (John 4:2; Acts 8:12; 8:36-39; 9:18; 22:16; 1 Cor. 1:17)

(9) Concerning Feet Washing

The Traditional Church will leave off the New Testament ordinance of “feet washing”

The New Testament teaches, washing the saints feet is commanded to be practiced literally (John 13:14-17). This is not a Jewish custom, for the Jews each washed their own feet, or had a servant do so (Gen 18:4; I Sam 25:41; II Sam 11:8). The early church practiced it among themselves (I Tim 5:10) and our Lord has said that "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:16).