Originally Posted by
TER
A good soul retrieved my earlier edit and sent it to me, and I post it below. Thank you!
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I would disagree. Christ tells them to "practice the latter", referring to "justice, mercy, and faithfulness", WITHOUT neglecting the former, referring to the tradition of giving "a tenth of spices of mint, dill, and cumin". These are traditions based on the law.
Christ was reprimanding the Pharisees for not practicing mercy and justice. For being hypocrites. That is exactly what He was reprimanding them. It's not the tradition they proclaimed and personally did, but that they thought that by following these traditions that they could then ignore the greater parts of the law, which you nicely called it.
The traditions given by the Holy Spirit to the Prophets and holy men and women of the Old Covenant were never questioned. Indeed, in the Gospel we read:
"Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."" (Matthew 23)
The Lord told His disciples to obey the observances and traditions, for they "sit in Moses' seat", while avoiding their hypocrisy and evil sins.
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Christ proclaims the Pharisees to be the defenders of the seat of Moses, (that is, the teachings of Israel), graced with authority which comes from God. While the men themselves and the priests can be sinners and hypocritical, the office and seat they occupy is indeed venerable and God proscribed. And notice, it is so because they held onto the written Torah (the written Law) and the Oral Torah (which where the teachings, worship and other traditions passed down by the fathers before them). They had the process of ordination and holy orders, and the traditions of the Prophets and Righteous before them.
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Christ proclaims tthem the defenders of the seat of Moses, graced with authority which comes from God. While the men themselves and the priests can be sinners and hypocritical, the office and seat they occupy is indeed venerable and God proscribed. And notice, it is so because they held onto the written Torah (the written Law) and the Oral Torah (which where the teachings, worship and other traditions passed down by the fathers before them).
In contrast, the other group, the Saduucees, were waaaaay off.
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The Saduccess were a small but powerful group who denied the Oral Torah. They only appealed to the Written Torah. They denied the traditions of the Pharisees, and anything outside of it had no authority against the Written Torah.
These Saduccees are not once put in a good light in the entire NT. This is in contrast to the Pharisees, with whom many rise up and do what is right, when St. Paul was defended for example. For we read of Pharisees who came to Christ and become Apostles. St. Paul still professed to be one twenty years after his conversion on the Road to Damascus.
The Saduccees were despised by the majority of the citizens and the Jews, not only because of their wrong theology, but their renown for corruption and seeking governmental power. This too is in contrast with the Pharisees, who the majority of the laity and the common man held to be defenders of the faith of Abraham. For they held onto the Oral Torah as well, and so they held onto the wisdom which have been revealed by God through His Prophets. And that is why they believed in free will, taught synergism theology, awaited the coming of the Messiah, and expected the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. Meanwhile, the 'Sola Scripturists' Saduccees denied all those things. Having only held onto the Written Torah and ignored the Oral Torah, (that is, ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit within the men of those times whom we call Saints), their theology was one of deism, finality of death with no resurrection or after life, and no Messiah.
The Pharisees (which was started by the Prophet Ezra (if I recall correctly), held onto the fullness of the Judean faith and were the defenders of the faith and Christ commanded His disciples to listen to them and do what they teach.
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What He warned His disciples was to not do the works of evil which the leaders do, which is when they forget the greater parts of the law, and, instead , act unjustly and unmercifully. Christ commands us to not imitate their sinful actions, for "they teach but do not do".
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The Saduccess were a small but powerful group who denied the Oral Torah. They only appealed to the Written Torah. They denied the traditions of the Pharisees.
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Tradition does not end with the written books revered as the written Word of God, but also includes traditions of the Word of God acting within the world, in the lives of men and women who were faithful and sought reconciliation and eternal life.
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These Saduccees are not once put in a good light in the entire NT. This is in contrast to the Pharisees, with whom many rise up and do what is right, when St. Paul was defended. For we read of Pharisees who came to Christ and become Apostles.
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Otherwise, we can easily ignore the greatest parts of the law, as the Saduccees did, and by ignoring the works of God in His faithful (which include the Saints of every century), we can blind ourselves from the expectations, hopes and understandings of the true faith, and create false doctrines which may serve political intentions, but estranged us from God Himself. The truths proclaim the traditions, and the traditions preserve the truth. Both are God-willed and important. Rather, it is the traditions of men which are sinful, such as acting hypocritically, or unjustly, or unmercifully, which destroy the truth and the souls of men.
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The Saduccees, were despised by the majority of the citizens and the Jews, not only because of their wrong theology, but their renown for corruption and seeking governmental power. This too is in contrast the Pharisees, who the majority of the laity held to be defenders of the faith of Abraham. For they held onto the Oral Torah as well, and so they held onto the wisdom which have been revealed by God through His Prophets.%
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