1 Corinthians 11:2 – Traditions of value

Now I am applauding you that you remember all of mine, and are retaining the traditions according as I give them over to you.

Sometimes “hard nuts are cracked” in this letter. Because Paul likes to be clear. But he also praises his readers. Like here about the way in which the Corinthians have received his message and have since remembered it. In fact, they have stuck to what he had handed them over.

The word ‘tradition’ is often used in a negative sense in Scripture. Jesus, for example, who blames the religious leaders of his days for invalidating the word of God for the sake of their tradition (Mat.15: 6). Or Paul who warns of vain deception in accordance with the tradition of people (Col. 2:8). The question is always: what is being given over and from which source? Is it based on Scripture or on what people mean and say?

What Paul reported were the words of God. In 15:3 he writes that he first and foremost reported to the Corinthians that Christ died, was buried, and was raised “according to the scriptures.” That was the ABC of Paul’s traditions. No rituals but a living person. The Christ raised from the dead!

Delen: