“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time…But I say unto you…” Whenever the term “old times” is used, invariably we are referring to the most recent of past generations; to go back further would be speaking of “ancient times.” Every age had its “old times”, and in each of them most of the people felt the previous age was better than the one in which they lived. Nostalgia can be fine, if it doesn’t turn into nonsense. What woman wouldn’t trade a scrub board for a washing machine? And I doubt there is a farmer who would not prefer a tractor to a horse-drawn plow.
The people of Jesus’ day were quoting the “letter” of their father’s teachings about the Law, but left out the spirit. They emphasized only the externals, but our Lord went to the heart of the matter. Jesus exposed the expositors of His day. He was not correcting the Law, only their erroneous interpretation of it. They taught the mechanics, but mechanical things do not have life; hence, no growth. It’s the Spirit that gives life to the letter.
Let us be careful that we do not make the Word of God ineffective by the tradition of the “old timers.” Some people get more upset over me correcting them, than they are of them corrupting the Word. That kind of tradition is tripe!
God’s way is working from the inside out; the traditionalist, from the outside in. But the latter never seems to be able to get past the first layer.
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