Is the Oral Torah "Biblical"? pt. 1
One of the biggest hurdles for western Christians to overcome, if they begin studying the Jewishness of the New Testament, is the idea of the Oral Torah.
A common question I have received over the years has been, "Is the oral Torah biblical?" The answer to this is difficult as it causes us to redefine what we consider to be "Biblical."
In this two-part series, we will look at the validity of an Oral tradition, particularly Jewish tradition, and how it undergirds the New Testament. We will also explore why some have resisted such an idea over time.
Oral Traditions
In my experience, the validity of the oral tradition is one of the biggest hurdles for Western Christians to overcome when they begin studying the Jewishness of the New Testament. This can be even more difficult if they live in non-traditional cultures like some parts of America.
Catholicism and Eastern forms of Christianity have maintained some form of tradition, whereas Protestantism has adopted the concept of Sola Scriptura¹. As a result, Western Protestants may be slightly more averse to exploring this idea than others.
However, Judaism's reliance upon tradition marks a significant departure between the way Jews and Christians read, understand, interpret, and apply the wisdom of Scripture².
Differing Canons
Ok, so let's assume the Bible necessarily needs an oral tradition to fill some practical gaps that are not apparent. A follow-up question could be, "Is the oral Tradition authoritative?".
It is not often people question the canonical layout of their Bible. When I grew up in the Catholic church, I had no idea Protestants had a different Bible than I did.
This, of course, creates more questions to explore. Who decided to keep or remove certain books? What was the context of that decision? How many "canons" are there? How late in history were these decisions made?
For instance, the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) contains 24 books. The Protestant Bible, 66 books; The Catholic Bible, 73 books; Eastern Orthodox, 79 books; and the Ethiopian contains 81 books. What is defined as "Scripture" for one is different for another.
Immediately, we realize that the canon itself is contained within the boundaries of tradition.
The Jewish Oral Tradition
For Judaism, an oral tradition has always been vital to ensuring and preserving scripture from generation to generation. This has been the case since at least Mount Sinai, where we see a precedent set from within the text of the Torah itself.
Consider, when Paul wrote about the validity of Scripture³, the canon in his time only included the Hebrew Bible.
