Articles
TSAM (Too Short Added More)
Do you ever feel like you do not have enough time during a given day, so you take shortcuts in an attempt to get everything that you want done? When communicating over text or emails, this shortcut is often called “Too Long Didn’t Read” or TLDR for short. However, this can mean that when we finally get something simple, we decide that there needs to be more and make it complicated. Unfortunately, the Pharisees made a habit of convoluting God’s law and that even occurred during the early church.
Regarding the Pharisees, Mark 7:8-13 reads, “‘You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.’ And he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, ‘Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” When reviewing the old law the Pharisees differed from their peers. Unlike others who took a strict word-for-word interpretation of the old law, the Pharisees looked for traditions and precedents that had been established in addition to the law. By doing so, they eventually considered them as though they were part of the law itself, and in some cases, seemed to even consider them to be more important.
As Jews were being converted to Christianity in the early church, they struggled with giving up their former religious habits and traditions. Due to this, one of the biggest controversies amongst early Christians was circumcision. The first few verses of Acts 15 describe how men from Judea had been teaching that circumcision is the means of salvation. Soon after, a council was held by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem to discuss the topic because believers were still teaching salvation by the old law (Acts 15:5-6). At the conference, Peter eventually says, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
With the many different divisions of Christianity having their own traditions and teachings, it is ever more important to rely only on the Bible as the source of salvation. 1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Humans are diverse with a wide variety of opinions and beliefs. There is a temptation to add or subtract from God’s word as a way to justify ourselves. Do not take any individual’s word as absolute truth and always compare what they say to God’s word because only His word is righteous (2 Tim. 3:16). We must also do the same for ourselves. God’s word is consistent and clear. In John 17:17 Jesus prayed for us saying, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” When it comes to salvation, are you adding or subtracting from God’s already completed truth?
