How Important Is Tradition in Christianity?
Jack Radcliffe
2/5/2012

If you’ve ever participated in the life of a church, you’ve probably had an experience of “tradition.” You may have used the word to describe a particular kind of church (e.g., traditional versus contemporary worship style). Within a church, there is often a variety of traditions. Those traditions have their stewards—people who either are charged or take it upon themselves to ensure that the traditions they value are kept alive.

We seem to have a love-hate relationship with tradition. Some love it, some hate it. Many of us have based our love or hate for it on misconceptions of what it is. The word comes to us from French and Latin words that denote the action of handing over or passing on. In English, it is also defined in a couple of ways. First, it is an inherited or customary pattern of thought, action, story, or beliefs commonly accepted as true. Our religious practices, denominational and theological forms, and social customs fall under this definition. The gospel story itself is considered tradition. Second, tradition is the practice of handing down a set of beliefs by word of mouth from one generation to another.

This past Christmas, my children, now teenagers and young adults, decided that our family needed more adult traditions for the holiday. As the steward of our family traditions, my wife went to work developing them—with our children’s input, of course. Together, we have decided which of our older traditions to keep and what new ones to create. For us, these new traditions must do two things. First, they must be vehicles through which important values are learned and passed on. Second, they must tell and further develop our family story.

Tradition serves similar purposes in the Christian community. It is a lens through which we interpret the Bible and develop our theology and understanding of how to live Christianly. There are many Christian traditions (denominational and theological forms and lenses) to choose from. Each claims that its interpretation is rooted in historical and biblical Christianity. How can we know for sure which one is right?

Fortunately for us, Paul spent a good amount of time addressing this question. In Colossians 2:8, he tells his audience, “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ” (NLT). Writing to the Corinthians and Thessalonians, Paul identifies the “teachings I passed on to you” in both verbal and written form as tradition worth following (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6).

The value and use of tradition continued to grow throughout the early Christian era. Its writers saw the scriptural tradition (that which Christians commonly accepted as true) and the ongoing development of religious tradition (that which serves as the vehicle to pass on that truth) as compatible. The church today both relies on and shapes tradition as it continues to discover effective ways to pass on the truth of the gospel.

Which Christian traditions have you struggled with?
Which Christian traditions have you found meaningful?

Jack Radcliffe is a husband and father of four, coach (www.redwoodcoach.com), ministry trainer and speaker, dean of the Youth Ministry Institute of the Tennessee Conference UMC, and adjunct professor at Martin Methodist College. He has an M.Div. from Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio and a D.Min. in Practical Theology, Adolescent Development and Culture from Fuller Theological Seminary.