In Mark 7:8–9, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees saying, “You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. And he said unto them, Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”

Are we to keep the traditions or not? Second Thessalonians 2:15 says, “So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours” (cf. 2 Thess 3:6–15).

The verb form of tradition is also in Jude 3. Jude 3 states, “Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.”

The Scriptures above teach Christians to keep the traditions of God. Those things delivered by the Apostles and prophets. At the same time, there are many traditions that Christians should not keep.

If believers reject the commands of God because of the traditions of men including one’s own traditions, then these are like these Pharisees of which the Scriptures describe, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6).

Where is the heart of the believer? What traditions has the Christian made that keep that person from God? Have believers replaced assembling with the saints, prayer, and reading the Scriptures with other activities of men? Jesus observed in Mark 7:7, “But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.” Believers may practice the traditions of men that do not make void God’s commands, but they cannot teach any tradition of man as doctrine. The Christian’s foundation must remain Jesus Christ and His words.