How do catholics explain these Old testament verses speaking of the Roman Catholic Church?

Question

Mar 7:6-9 ISV
(6) He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
(7) Their worship of me is empty, because they teach human rules as doctrines.'
(8) You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
(9) Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition!

Why do I say these verses speak of the Catholic church?Because the Catholics value their traditions so highly they hold these above the Bible.Example:the tradition that only spiritual leaders may interpret the Bible.Clearly in these verses God is warning the Catholics against these Traditions--which are of course unBiblical,but seeing as Traditions are more important to Catholics than the Scriptures,they'll probably just ignore these verses or slide around them by saying they actually refer to the Protestant denominations.Just tell me,what traditions do you find in the Protestant church?We believe in Sola Scriptura(Bible alone)and the universal Priesthood of all Believers.Thre is no room for traditions amongst the Protestants!And don't attempt to explain the necessity of tradition and how Protestantism is unbiblical & blabla.Don't you see what God says here!

WHERE ELSE DO YOU THINK TRADITION IS FOUND BUT IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH!THESE VERSES CLEARLY REFER TO TRADITION!

Towelieban Barbie
And are not ALL these Bible readings interpreted by the Church leaders rather than the congregation?

Answer 1

You are so wrong. Jesus was referring to the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees not the tradition of Judaism. Let me clarify for you what Catholics mean by Sacred Tradition and why we give it the same importance as Sacred Scripture.

It is important to keep in mind what the Catholic Church means by tradition. The term does not refer to legends or mythological accounts, nor does it encompass transitory customs or practices which may change, as circumstances warrant, such as styles of priestly dress, particular forms of devotion to saints, or even liturgical rubrics. Sacred or apostolic tradition consists of the teachings that the apostles passed on orally through their preaching. These teachings largely (perhaps entirely) overlap with those contained in Scripture, but the mode of their transmission is different.

They have been handed down and entrusted to the Churchs. It is necessary that Christians believe in and follow this tradition as well as the Bible (Luke 10:16). The truth of the faith has been given primarily to the leaders of the Church (Eph. 3:5), who, with Christ, form the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20). The Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit, who protects this teaching from corruption (John 14:25-26, 16:13).


Handing on the faith



Paul illustrated what tradition is: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. . . . Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed" (1 Cor. 15:3,11). The apostle praised those who followed Tradition: "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (1 Cor. 11:2).

The first Christians "devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching" (Acts 2:42) long before there was a New Testament. From the very beginning, the fullness of Christian teaching was found in the Church as the living embodiment of Christ, not in a book. The teaching Church, with its oral, apostolic tradition, was authoritative. Paul himself gives a quotation from Jesus that was handed down orally to him: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

This saying is not recorded in the Gospels and must have been passed on to Paul. Indeed, even the Gospels themselves are oral tradition which has been written down (Luke 1:1–4). What’s more, Paul does not quote Jesus only. He also quotes from early Christian hymns, as in Ephesians 5:14. These and other things have been given to Christians "through the Lord Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:2).

Fundamentalists say Jesus condemned tradition. They note that Jesus said, "And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Matt. 15:3). Paul warned, "See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8). But these verses merely condemn erroneous human traditions, not truths which were handed down orally and entrusted to the Church by the apostles. These latter truths are part of what is known as apostolic tradition, which is to be distinguished from human traditions or customs.


"Commandments of men"



Consider Matthew 15:6–9, which Fundamentalists and Evangelicals often use to defend their position: "So by these traditions of yours you have made God’s laws ineffectual. You hypocrites, it was a true prophecy that Isaiah made of you, when he said, ‘This people does me honor with its lips, but its heart is far from me. Their worship is in vain, for the doctrines they teach are the commandments of men.’" Look closely at what Jesus said.

He was not condemning all traditions. He condemned only those that made God’s word void. In this case, it was a matter of the Pharisees feigning the dedication of their goods to the Temple so they could avoid using them to support their aged parents. By doing this, they dodged the commandment to "Honor your father and your mother" (Ex. 20:12).

Elsewhere, Jesus instructed his followers to abide by traditions that are not contrary to God’s commandments. "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice" (Matt. 23:2–3).

What Fundamentalists and Evangelicals often do, unfortunately, is see the word "tradition" in Matthew 15:3 or Colossians 2:8 or elsewhere and conclude that anything termed a "tradition" is to be rejected. They forget that the term is used in a different sense, as in 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15, to describe what should be believed. Jesus did not condemn all traditions; he condemned only erroneous traditions, whether doctrines or practices, that undermined Christian truths. The rest, as the apostles taught, were to be obeyed. Paul commanded the Thessalonians to adhere to all the traditions he had given them, whether oral or written.


The indefectible Church



The task is to determine what constitutes authentic tradition. How can we know which traditions are apostolic and which are merely human? The answer is the same as how we know which scriptures are apostolic and which are merely human—by listening to the magisterium or teaching authority of Christ’s Church. Without the Catholic Church’s teaching authority, we would not know with certainty which purported books of Scripture are authentic. If the Church revealed to us the canon of Scripture, it can also reveal to us the "canon of Tradition" by establishing which traditions have been passed down from the apostles. After all, Christ promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church (Matt. 16:18) and the New Testament itself declares the Church to be "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).

I hope this material has clarified things for you. Divine revelation did not stop after the Bible was published. In fact, the Bible itself says divine revelation is transmitted in three ways. Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the teaching authority of the Church. If you still have questions about this topic, please post it and we will answer it.

Peace and blessings!

Answer 2

It is you who are inserting the Catholic Church into these verses not God.

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It could not. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

There were hundreds of Christian writings during the first and second centuries. Which New Testament writings would become official was not fully decided until about 400 AD.

Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like:
+ The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
+ Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the Ten Commandments)
+ The Communion of Saints
+ Which writings include in the New Testament?

Things that are even more modern like
+ Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This was one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
+ Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

Holy Apostolic Tradition is not held above Holy Scripture but side by side.

Do Christians who do not allow the continuing guiding force of the Holy Spirit to make their beliefs more and more perfect, still endorse slavery as Colossians 3:22 commands, "Slaves, obey your human masters in everything"?

We instruct you, brothers, in the name of (our) Lord Jesus Christ,to shun any brother who conducts himself in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)

I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Thomas Paine,

So glad you see the value in our Tradition. No protestant denomination can stand up to the early Church Fathers and their writings. Even if Augustine said that (you provided no reference material so i will neither affirm nor deny) then Jesus is still commissioning Peter to built the Church. As the one commissioned by Christ, Peter is still the head and is still, therefore, the first Pope.

As for Tradition, I like what G.K. Chesterton wrote:
"Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about."

Answer 4

Leviticus 17:10-11 says: "And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." A Jewish person is more likely to explain things, since they observe Kosher. But it looks to me like blood was believed to be equivalent to life, and so was sacred. The second quotation seems to confirm what is already in the Ten Commandments. Yahweh is saying that He is the only God that the Israelites were to worship. They looked down on the neighbouring nations who worshipped idols; some protestants have a problem with the Catholic and Orthodox traditions of icons, no doubt because of passages like this.

Answer 5

Actually those verses could be applied to ANY church that uses any form of creed, papal decree or any other teaching that is not found in the Bible.

The Bible is the ONLY authority and is the ONLY book we are to follow. Man does not have the right to change what the Bible says nor add or remove anything from the Holy Scriptures.

"Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent."

Answer 6

First, these are your interpretations. Care to show me on what authority you make these interpretations?

Additionally, do you realize that the bible you use to condemn the Catholic Church with CAME FROM the Catholic Church? Read your biblical history and you'll see that I'm right.

God bless.

Answer 7

True! How about 1 Timothy 4:3? Speaking about Catholic Priests and the lent thing. But read also Tim 4 1-4 for better context

Answer 8

I wouldn't say that this applies to only the Catholic church, if it really does. Some things are to be done certain ways. I believe the Lord's Prayer was given as an example as how to pray.

Answer 9

You have obviously never been to a Mass where they have usually 3 Bible readings? OT, NT, LESSON within the sermon.
If this, teaching the Bible, is a man made human tradition, then you are a devil, sir.
The words speak for themselves.

Answer 10

Jesus was speaking to the Jewish religious leaders, mainly the Pharisees but it can be applied to any church that exalts tradition over truth.

Answer 11

Listen the same passages can be applied to Protestantism if you want to push it, Jesus was not talking about the church that He would institute on St.Peter.
But you people love to strain at a gnat yet shallow a Camel.