Jesus questioned tradition. In Mark 7:8-9, Jesus questions tradition by saying, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites…’” This highlights His criticism of how traditions can sometimes override God’s commandments. The key is whether tradition overrides Scripture . . . or articulates its truth.

Some Christians affirm “no creed but the Bible.” Is this wise? Is this statement in Scripture? – “There is one God eternally existing in three persons who are coequal and coeternal.” Is it true? Of clurse it’s true. Why? Because it encapsulates and articulates the teaching of Scripture.

Tradition can set boundaries for interpretation. Thi is the view of church fathers (patristics) and early medieval period, especially Augustine. The traditional teaching of church serves as boundary, guide and guard. This is the view recovered by Reformers on Scripture which must be interpreted.

Earlier I commented on the value of creeds here. When we ignore the historical teaching of the church and the creeds, we have the potential to become a loose-canon-on-deck. See Figures 1 and 2 below.