Current lesson of the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. (Adobe Flash Player version.) A Youtube version of the Hope Sabbath School “Christ and Religious Tradition” is below. You can download the video, the MP3 audio, and the lesson outline from the HopeTV Sabbath School Site. You might want to bookmark the HopeSS Youtube channel.
Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 5:17-20, Luke 16:16, Matt. 5:21-32, Rom. 7:24, Matt. 5:33-37, 5:38-48.
Memory Text: Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot, or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18, NKJV).
When most people think about the Sermon on [...]
Informal discussion regarding this week’s Sabbath School lesson with author Dr. Keith Burton on Vimeo in less than 30 minutes:
You can view the same video on Youtube if you
When I was a child, my family lived near the Adventist church in our town in northern Namibia. Mother took us to church, though we weren’t Adventists. I liked church. On Sabbath afternoon, we’d go to Himba villages to sing and talk to them about God. Then when I was 8 years old, we moved away, and I couldn’t go to church anymore.
Willem HifikepunyeCourtesy of CG Adventist Mission
As I grew up I began bullying other kids at school. [...]
Further Study: For more information on this week’s topic, read Ellen G. White, Tradition, pp. 395-398, Woes on the Pharisees, pp. 610-620, in The Desire of Ages. Also read Matthew 23.
Let all who accept human authority, the customs of the church, or the traditions of the fathers, take heed to the warning conveyed in the words of Christ, In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. -Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 398.
Discussion [...]
Matt. 5:20
Read Matthew 5:17-20. In the context of the week’s lesson, what are some of the ways that Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 5:20 could be understood? See also Rom. 10:3.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
If read in isolation, Matthew 5:20 could be seen as an invitation to out-Pharisee the Pharisees; that is, do what they do, only do it more.
But is this what Jesus is saying? Fortunately, the answer to that question is within our reach. Yesterday’s lesson pointed out [...]
The substitution of the precepts of men for the commandments of God has not ceased. Even among Christians are found institutions and usages that have no better foundation than the traditions of the fathers. Such institutions, resting upon mere human authority, have supplanted those of divine appointment. Men cling to their traditions, and revere their customs, and cherish hatred against those who seek to show them their error. . . . In place of the authority of the so-called fathers [...]
Key Thought : While tradition has its place in the church, no human has the authority to create religious traditions and elevate them to the level of Divine law.
[Lesson plan for Christ and Religious Tradition April 14, 2014]
1. Have a volunteer read Matthew 15:8,9.
a. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
b. Why are traditions important, and what role do they have in our community?
c. Personal Application: What are [...]
As we saw, some of the rabbis paid so much attention to the rules and traditions created to assist in the keeping of the law of Moses that they failed to distinguish between the two. After a while, the words of the rabbis gained canonical status; people thought they were as binding as Scripture. In all probability, when the rabbis originally wrote their commentaries, they had no intention of adding to the pages of Scripture. However, their devoted disciples probably [...]
Although the scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses’ seat, their source of authority for religious instruction extended beyond the Old Testament. The law that the Pharisees utilized consisted of biblical interpretations of leading rabbis. These interpretations were not intended to replace the Scriptures but to complement them. At first they circulated orally; later the scribes began to assemble them into books.
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
The first official publication of rabbinic law did not appear until the end of [...]
