Cs?. IlL] �?e?m??o.?. 97 gainsay. "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," Matt. xv. II. We shall first examine those traditions sanctioned by the word of God, and then those which it condemns. 1. To ucertain the Scriptural use of the word tradition, the follow- ing observations ire offered. The word trad/tion, from the Latin tra- ditio, mean8 something deUvered by m,'d of moutA without writte? m?norials; or it means any thing delivered orally from age to age. But the Greek word IIa/?oa?c, for which tradition is used as a translation, is of more extensive signification, and means precept, in#truction, ordi- nance, delivered either orally or in writin K. The compound root of this '?ord is ,ra?a?, to deliver from one to anotl?r, to deliver down, and is from, ?r?oa aleurn, and ?,?o,t,t , to give, e?tend, deliver from oat to anotlwr. It deserves notice, that the inspired writers received a knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel, not by the operation of reasoning, but by inr/?ration of God: and they were accordingly instructed to publish them, not as the conclusions of reason, but as a revelation from God. St. Paul, therefore, saith, that he received them and delivered them as he receiwd them. For these terms imply that he neither found them out by reasoning, nor established them by reasoning. Thus, "I have received of the Lord that which also I ngz, zvgagn (,rat?,?a) unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread,"1 Cor. xi, 23. "For I vgz. tvgagv unto you first of all that which I also zzzcgzvgo, how that Christ died for ou? sins according to the Scriptures," 1 Cot. xv, 3. Therefore, because the apostles received the doctrines of the gospel from Christ by revelation, and delivered them to the world as revelations from him, they are fitly called traditions, or tltings delivered, from a'apa,?u?,0/u, to deliver from one to anotlter, to de//ver aleurn. Wherefore, when Paul commended the Co- rinthians for holding fast the traditions as he delivered them, (1 Cot. xi, 2,)and commanded the Thessaionians to hold fast the traditions w/dd? t/rod/uu/been tau,,/u, whether by his word or his episfie, (2 These. ii, 15,) it is plain he did not mean doctrines which others delivered ver- bally as from him, which is the popish sense of traditions, but he meant those doctrines of revelation which he had himself delivered to them, whether by word or ,,?ting. The word tradition is, therefore, common to things written and unwritten, to things delivered by word and by epistle. And Ilamu?tc, tradition, is the same with ?ort?a, a doctrin?; and ?'apath?ovat, to definer doton, is the same with ?tda?,?,v, to teacA, say the grammarians. The ?rat,a?oOetaa ?ru, r,?, t?faitA delivered in Jude, is the same with the traditions wldctt yo were taug?, mentioned ?y St. Paul. 'I"aerefore, the whole Christian faith is a tradition. Jude 3. The doc- trine of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is a tradition, 7m,, for I delivered these doctrines, saith St. Paul, (1 Cot. xv, 3,) and certainly these doctrines are delivered in the New Testament. And Ireneus calls it a tradition that "Christ took the cup," and said, "It was his blood ;"and "to believe in one God, and in Christ who was horn of a virgin, was the old tradition."* 2. The traditions approved of in Scripture are such only as were
- "Vetatom Tnglitiouem 'ddigenter custodi?nta?, in unum Daum crodentm fabr/catomm
�sdi et tzrna at ontoism quas in ai? aunt, p?r Christuna J?una Dei .&/vo?. H?r?., lib. 'fii, c. 4, p. 24?1. Vet,. I.'--?
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