1 John 4:1 (KJV)
Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world.
I heard, this week a
brief portion of a BBC documentary concerning an ancient Christian writing
known as the Didache.[1]
The Youtube page that
displays that documentary includes this description:
“The Didache - The earliest
Christian teachings of Jesus as a human prophet and servant of God. No mention
of the virgin birth; no mention of the resurrection; no mention of Jesus as
God; no suggestion that communion bread and wine were the body and blood of
Christ.”
The documentary gives
the impression that:
1. The Didache was written before the Gospels
2. The Didache was only recently discovered (so
its teachings have only been recently revealed)
3. The Didache proves that the early Christians
did not think of Jesus as God.
The facts are that:
· It was discovered and published in 1883
· No one knows when it was written, but has references to
portions of the New Testament (so was most likely written near or after 100 AD)
· That it does not mention Jesus being God does not mean that
they did not believe Jesus is God.
The Old Testament
contains two books that do not mention God at all:
· Esther and
· Song of Solomon
You of course know that
does not mean the Jews did not believe in God at the time of the writing of
these books.
In the past, whenever
someone would show me that,
“The US New and World Report claims that a
new, previously unknown gospel of the Bible had been found – I would simply
dismiss it.”
There are a number of
these sorts of books:
· The Gospel of Peter
· The Gospel of Thomas
· The Shepherd of Hermas
There are a few things
about them that I know off the top of my head:
· They are not part of the inspired Bible or else God would
have preserved them as a part of the Bible
· They are therefore not infallible
· They are of no surprise to me that something other than
inspired Bible was written about Jesus and about Christianity
I love to write and have
done so since before I was a Christian.
I began attempting to
write Christian material very shortly after I got saved (in the form of sermons
and poems)
I have now self
published well over 100 Christian books and booklets.
· None of them are inspired
· All of them are fallible and
· Some of them may not specifically say that Jesus is God
This week I actually got
a hold of a copy of the Didache and read it.
It is very short – you
can read it in way less than an hour.
And it is really good.[2]
It looks to sort of like
a church’s by-laws and covenant; it describe what Christians do.
And some of it is VERY
relevant to our day and age.
So I am going to provide
any of you who would like with a modern translation copy and
I want to point out a
few interesting things in it.
I. IT’S GOSPEL
DEPENDENT
The first three verses
read,
1:1
There
are two ways, one of life and one of death!
and there is a great difference
between the two ways.
1:2
The
way of life is this:
First, you shall love God who made you.
And second, love
your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want
done to you.
1:3
The
meaning of these sayings is this:
Bless those who curse you, and pray for your
enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. For what reward is there for
loving those who love you? Do not the heathens do the same? But you should love
those who hate you, and then you shall have no enemies.
Matthew 7:13-14 (KJV)
Enter ye in at the
strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the
gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it.
Matthew 22:37-39 (KJV)
Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind.
This is the first and
great commandment.
And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:37 (KJV)
Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind.
So you just barely get
started in it when you discover (if you know the Gospels at all) that it has a
very clear connection to the Gospels.
II. OUR
SUPREME COURT NEEDS TO READ THIS
2:1 The second commandment
of the teaching is this:
2:2 Do not commit murder; do
not commit adultery; do not corrupt boys;
do
not have illicit sex; do not steal; do not practice magic;
do not practice
witchcraft;
you shall not murder a
child,
whether it be born or unborn.
Do not covet the things of your
neighbor.
Beside the obvious
references to the Ten Commandments, this tells me that Christians have always
preached against two of America’s most pronounced evils:
· Sodomy and
· Abortion
III. HINTS OF PAUL
The BBC documentary
implied that the Didache might have been written even before the Gospels.
But there are teachings
in the Didache that sound more like they came after hearing Paul teach on
church ethics.
4:1 My child, remember day
and night him who speaks
the word of God to you,
and honor him as the Lord.
For wherever his
lordship is spoken of, there he is.]
Hebrews 13:7 (KJV)
Remember them which have
the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation.
1 Timothy 5:17 (KJV)
Let the elders that rule
well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word
and doctrine.
4:11
And
you, servants, be subject to your masters as to God’s image, in modesty and
fear.
Colossians 3:22 (KJV)
Servants, obey in all
things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as
menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
IV. BAPTISM;
ERROR AND INTERESTING
7:1
Concerning
baptism, you should baptize this way:
After
first explaining all things, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, in flowing water.
. 7:2 But if you have no
running water, baptize in other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water,
then in warm.
. 7:3 If you have very little,
pour water three times on the head in the name of Father and Son and Holy
Spirit.
. 7:4 Before the baptism, both
the baptizer and the candidate for baptism, plus any others who can, should
fast. The candidate should fast for one or two days beforehand.
I am of course not
advocating we practice the way this suggests but there are some interesting
things
A. Baptize after explaining.
This would at least
suggest that baptism come AFTER salvation
B. Baptize in flowing water
The rule was to baptize
by immersion.
There is error already
present in that they made provision for another kind of baptism, but the
primary mode of baptism was by immersion.
Interestingly:
· It should be flowing rather than still and
· It should be cold rather than warm
I am guessing that this
was to teach that baptism should be done publically so that lost people would
see.
C. Baptize after fasting
Which in my mind simply
suggests that the candidate for baptism ought to be sincere, and have some
“fruits meet for repentance.”
V. THE LORD’S SUPPER – CLOSED
9:1 Concerning the
Eucharist, give thanks this way.
9:2
First,
concerning the cup:
We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your
servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be the
glory forever.
.
9:3 Next, concerning the broken bread:
We thank you,
our Father, for the life and knowledge which you made known to us through Jesus
your servant. To you be the glory forever.
.
9:4 Even as this broken bread was scattered over the
hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let your church be gathered
together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. To you is the glory and
the power through Jesus Christ forever.
.
9:5 Allow no one to eat or drink of your Eucharist,
unless they have been baptized in the name of the Lord. For concerning this,
the Lord has said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs.”
They were teaching that
a person ought to be saved and baptized before they receive the Lord’s Supper.
VI.
PROPHETICAL PONDERINGS
Remember that the
Didache is neither prophetical of perfect. It is meant as an early tool for
teaching Christian conduct.
But it ends with words
that sound like they have come from 1 and 2 Thessalonians and from Revelation
(which was written around 90 AD)
16:4 When lawlessness
increases, they will hate and persecute and betray one another, and then the
world- deceiver will appear claiming to be the Son of God, and he will do signs
and wonders, and the earth will be delivered into his hands, and he will do
iniquitous things that have not been seen since the beginning of
the world.
.
16:5 Then humankind will enter into the fire of trial,
and
many will be made to stumble and many will perish; but those who endure in
their faith will be saved from under the curse itself.
.
16:6 And then the signs of the truth will appear:the first
sign, an opening of the heavens; the second sign, the sounding of the trumpet;
and the third sign, the resurrection of the dead—
16:7 not of everyone,but as it
is said:“Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”
16:8
Finally, “Then the sign
of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth
will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with
power and great glory.”
A. They were teaching about the Antichrist
B. They had a rapture/resurrection doctrine
It appears in this that
they believed the rapture took place after the appearing of the Antichrist but
that isn’t necessarily so –
· This isn’t a perfect book
· We may not be reading it perfectly
· We may not have an unbiased translation of it
Conclusion
My conclusion after
reading this and contrasting it with what the BBC documentary said was-
1. We shouldn’t let unsaved, liberal media
scholars tell us what history is. We ought to learn it ourselves.
2. We shouldn’t be afraid of things people who
lived a long time before us said. They were no more inspired than any preacher
that is alive today. You read them, you can learn from them, but you can
disagree with them when they are wrong.
3. We should never put ancient writings on the
same level as the Bible. It is the only inspired Word of God. Everything else
is, at best, somebody else’s study of the Bible.
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