From the Bible we can see three possible states for "tradition"
1. It is in harmony with the Bible and conveys useful rules/doctrine valuable in our battle against sin.
2. It is useless and contains no practical value when it makes stuff up as if God endorsed it.
3. It teaches outright error and contradicts scripture.
for case #1 we have this
2 Thess 2:15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the
traditions which you were taught, whether by word
of mouth or by letter from us.
paradosis (traditions)
for case #2 useless and contains no practical value when it makes stuff up as if God endorsed it.
we have this
Mark 7:8 Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
Col 2:
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
"teaches outright error and contradicts scripture.
have Mark 7
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
13 thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down;
Mark 7:6-13
7 And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.’
8 Neglecting the
commandment of God, you hold to the
tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside
the commandment of God in order to
keep your tradition. 10 For
Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is certainly to be put to death’; 11
but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given
to God),’ 12 you no longer allow him to do anything for
his father or
his mother; 13
thereby invalidating the word of God by
your tradition which you have
handed down; and you do
many things such as that.”
Jesus' argument is "sola scriptura" and his target is the established tradition of the magesterium of the one-true nation church started by God at Sinai.
==================
Which makes the opposite point from " Scripture alone is hard to see, and we need tradition to keep us from having to reinvent the wheel".
The same is true in Acts 17:11 - there the magisterium and its traditions proclaimed that Paul's teaching was error. Tradition needed to be ignored to objectively and accurately compare Paul's teaching to scripture.
Not only was this "possible" but even non-Christians in Acts 17:11 were able to test Paul "sola scriptura" and decide against the teaching and traditions of their own magesterium in favor of Paul's teaching.
==========================
In real history there could never have been Catholic reformers contrasting scripture with tradition to find more of the "many such things as that" that Christ mentions in Mark 7 .. if their only option was "when you think tradition is in error just assume you don't know enough about the Bible or tradition to figure it out right, continue to believe whatever you were told".
