One thing that I believe many people forget about Jesus is that He was a Jew, and an Old Testament Jew at that. He often quoted the Old Testament, normally to point out where people had gone wrong in their thinking. One example of this can be found in Matthew 15:1-9. The Pharisees and scribes ask Jesus why His “disciples break the tradition of the elders.” What is this tradition? It is the washing of hands when you eat. Now, washing your hands is a good thing, it keeps germs from entering your body. However, they would not have known that, it was simply a tradition of supposed righteousness.
Jesus does not answer their question. Instead, He rebukes them by asking why they “break God’s commandment because of” their traditions. He then quotes the Old Testament “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16) and “The one who speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death” (Exodus 21:17 and Leviticus 20:9). What tradition was Jesus referring to here? Verses 5 and 6 tell us that it was a tradition that a man could give a gift to the temple instead of taking care of his father and mother. Mark 7:11 calls this “Corban.” Corban was a legitimate offering to God; however, the Pharisees and scribes were using it in an illegitimate way. This was a way for the Pharisees and scribes to enrich themselves as well (see Got Questions – What does Corban mean in Mark 7:11? for more information). He then says that their tradition revokes the word of God, and He calls them hypocrites. Obviously, He was not very tolerant of their beliefs.
He then quotes from Isaiah 29:13, saying that Isaiah prophesied about them. They claimed to worship God, and did things that looked righteous and pious, but inside they were dead. They made up rules, and followed them. Worse than that, they got the people to follow them as well. This should be a warning to all of us to look into what our pastors and teachers are telling us. Do not be overly zealous on this, but assume they are innocent until you can prove otherwise. And do not forget to look and see if can be proven otherwise, lest you end up following a group that does not teach the word of God rightly, or throws it out altogether.
For example, the Jesus Seminar has given us some Criteria of Authenticity. They are: 1. Dissimilarity – that is does the statement or deed differ noticeably from what the first century Jews taught, and from what the early church emphasized. 2. Multiple attestation – that is, it appears more than once, or in more than one form. 3. Palestinian environment or Semitic language – are there details mentioned that sound like the life and times of first century Palestine, or sayings that appear to be literal translations of a Jewish saying into Greek. 4. Coherence – in the case of sayings and deed that do not pass the other criteria, but it does fit those other sayings and deed that do fit, then it at least has a change of being authentically Jesus. I am uncertain as to what the Seminar thinks of our main passage. It does have multiple attestation, it does mention Pharisees, scribes and their traditions, so that might cover Palestinian environment, and I believe it is coherent with other teachings. However, it does not seem to be dissimilar from that of the early church, because they put together a committee to take care widows and orphans ( Acts 6:1-7), though maybe the Seminar would not see this as the same.
In any case, I would be very careful with what other people tell you, even me. Take the time to look into these, and all other things, for yourself. Your very soul could depend on it.
