Question
What traditions did Paul teach?
Response
The word “tradition(s)” simply refers to ‘the handing over, or delivery, of something from one person to another, or from one person to others’; and as such it is most often used to refer to the handing down of oral teachings, stories, legends, and the like among the people of a certain culture, etc. However, it is certainly not limited to this application, even though it is the most common use of the word today. Moreover, in view of the fact that its simple meaning does not describe whether the thing that has been handed over or delivered is good or bad, or right or wrong, or profitable or harmful, “tradition(s)” is one of those words that completely relies upon the context in which it is used to determine whether what it is referring to is to be taken in a good sense or a bad sense. For this reason, a dictionary will usually say something like, ‘a tradition can be either good or bad, right or wrong, depending upon the nature of what is delivered’.
So the word “tradition(s)” certainly can be used in a good sense. It is not limited to the way that it is most often used today. Nor does it have to bear the negative connotation that it frequently bears when it is used in contexts that are dealing with teachings that have no real authority, but have been given authority by men and are handed down as such. (And, of course, this is the way the word is used in places like Matthew 15, Mark 7, Galatians 1 and Colossians 2.) Instead, “tradition(s)” can definitely refer to something that is good and proper, and that has genuine authority and authenticity to it; which is the use of the word that we need to understand and appreciate. And when it is so used it naturally would be perfectly descriptive of what God gave to the apostle Paul to be authoritatively delivered to us in this present dispensation of grace; which is both why and how God has Paul use the word in II Thessalonians 3:6.
When “tradition(s)” is used to refer to the good and proper and authoritative delivering over of something to another, it is most often used to refer to what a father does with his sons when he gives them their sonship education. In connection with sonship a father puts together a specific curriculum for his sons’ education. Then at the time when he actually begins to deal with his children as “sons” he delivers the curriculum to them and he begins to educate them with it and in it. The curriculum, therefore, is the “tradition” that the sons receive from their father. The father delivers it, or hands it over, to his sons, and in view of this the word is used to refer to what they have authoritatively received from their father for their specific sonship education.
Now this is why and how Paul is using the word in II Thessalonians. In view of the fact that we have received “the adoption of sons” (just as we are taught in Romans 8) God our Father is now treating us as His “sons”. And in accordance with this we as “sons” should naturally expect to receive a “tradition” from Him for our specific sonship education in this present dispensation of His grace. And indeed, we have received just such a “tradition”. Our Father has put together a specific curriculum for our sonship education and He has authentically and authoritatively given it to the apostle Paul, who in turn has authentically and authoritatively written it down in his epistles and delivered it over to us for our sonship education. And this is what Paul is referring to by the use of the word in II Thessalonians 2:15 and 3:6, where in each of these two contexts he emphasizes that the faulty teaching and conduct that he is correcting are not in line with, nor can they be found in, the specific curriculum for our sonship education in this present dispensation of God’s grace. Therefore, instead of being troubled by the faulty teaching, or followers of the faulty conduct, we need to stick with, and strictly go by, our specific “tradition” that we have received through Paul. For with it being our “tradition” which we have received from God our Father for us, it is what is authoritative and expressly about us, and therefore specifically applicable to us in this present dispensation of God’s grace.
This is the gist of my understanding on the good and proper sense that there is to the word “tradition(s),” and on the significance of its particular use in II Thessalonians. Hope this is of some help.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
20041110 B57 L S