08 - The Didache

OK, we are studying church history. And I wanted to at least get to the

Didache before I leave for three weeks.

I will be up in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. And I've got dialogues with a

Mormon, with a Muslim imam, speaking in a number of different places.

But basically, I speak at night, and I ride during the day. So I'll be doing 40 ,000, 50 ,000 feet of climbing, as high as 14 ,000 feet above sea level.

If you've ever tried to ride a bike as high as you can at 14 ,000 feet above sea level, it feels like they fill your tires with lead.

That's pretty much the only way I could describe it. It's only half the oxygen at that altitude there is at sea level.

So it gives you an idea of what that's like. But anyway, I wanted to get into the Didache before we left.

Part of the reason being that I think I mentioned to you a few weeks ago, a couple months ago,

I was in South Africa. I was debating the University of Johannesburg. And the two Muslims that we were debating, one of them raised or played a clip from what

I discovered later was a James Tabor video. Now, Tabor is an American, but he's an opponent of Christianity.

And he is into all sorts of conspiracy theories and stuff like that. And this was a clip on the

BBC. Basically, spooky music and use of videography to go, then there was this book called

The Didache. And it didn't make it into the Bible. And here's the one manuscript that no one's ever looked at before.

And you're going to this Eastern Orthodox monastery -type place in Jerusalem.

And they bring out this book. And there's nothing about the deity of Christ here, and blah, blah. And it's all hyped up to make it sound like this is the original

Christianity. And all this other stuff was development later on, blah, blah, blah. And unfortunately, the vast majority of our fellow citizens see this kind of stuff, if they even bother watching anything like that.

Sometimes, I think, for the younger generation, if it doesn't show up in South Park, they're not going to ever hear of it, or on the

Colbert Report, or whatever else it is. And they don't have a context to put it in.

And so it sounds like, oh, yeah, there's another one of those, the lost books of the Bible thing.

And when they're playing this, I'm literally doing a triple -face palm. If I had a third hand, this is just so bad.

Because the Didache was really discovered in full in the late 1870s.

It was published in 1883, as I recall. So it has been, if you buy the 38 -volume

Erdmann's Early Church Fathers set, which looks really good on your shelf, by the way, it's a whole lot cheaper to put on your phone.

But it looks better on the shelf. It's in there. It's in volume 7 of the Antonicing Fathers.

If you buy the Apostolic Fathers volume, Life at Harmer, it's right here.

It's not hidden. I was introduced to the Didache in church history.

And we talked about what it contained, and blah, blah, blah, blah. The idea that it's some kind of hidden thing.

And of course, the whole idea that, well, it doesn't talk about the deity of Christ, it's a discipline manual.

I mean, the assumption that is made is that every book written in antiquity has to be an entire systematic theology.

You can find entire books on, if you're going to write a book on the relationship of 1 and 2

Chronicles and 1 and 2 Kings, because there's a lot of overlap. But you don't mention the deity of Christ there.

Does that mean you don't believe in the deity of Christ? Of course not. It's not your subject. It's not what you're talking about. So people get away with murder, literally, when it comes to history on the used -to -be -but -isn't -anymore history channel and so many other channels like that, where people say things that just demonstrate they don't have a clue.

They've never done any serious study of especially ancient history. I mean, there's obviously a difference between modern history, where you have much more data to work with, written records, and even things like photographs and stuff like that.

That's different than dealing with stuff from long before that time period, where so many records have disappeared, and there have been so many wars, and so many things have changed, that you're dealing with much less data.

Anyway, so in light of that, I wanted to make sure that we know what the

Didache is about. And I think I did I read all the Didache on The Dividing Line recently?

I don't remember if I did. I think you read it all. I think I did, yeah. I think I did read all the Didache. It's not that long.

Most people, it's called the Didache. Didache means teaching. And it's the teaching of the

Lord to the Gentiles by the 12 apostles is the traditional title to it.

It's similar to the Book of James, in the sense that it is a discipline manual. It is only intended as a brief summary, maybe for a new convert, maybe for a pagan, who has, remember, most of these pagans who were not

Jewish proselytes had never been instructed in standard, basic moral behavior based upon a monotheistic religious system.

And so I think it's good to be familiar with it. I could just read little sections of it.

But I might read the whole thing. We'll see. There are two ways, one of life and one of death.

And there is a great difference between the two ways. The way of life is this. First of all, thou shalt love the

God that made thee. Secondly, thy neighbor is thyself. And all things whatsoever thou would not befall thyself, ne 'er do them unto another.

Let me find the, yes. The progressive lenses would be very helpful at this point in time.

My eyes are actually getting better. My distance vision is returning. I am now legal without glasses during the daytime.

But all that means is everything close to me is disappearing. It's just vanishing. How many of you know what

I'm talking about? OK, thank you very much. All those above 40, just put their hands up. All right. Now, these words, the doctrine is this.

Bless them that curse you and pray for your enemies. And fast for them that persecute you. For what thank is it if you love them that love you?

Even the Gentiles, the same. You notice the author is obviously familiar with what? The Gospels.

The Gospel stories, immediately. But do you love them that hate you? And you shall not have an enemy.

Abstain from fleshly and bodily lusts. If any man give you a blow on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also, and thou shalt be perfect.

If a man force you to go with him one mile, go with him two. If a man take away your cloak, give him thy coat also.

If a man take away from you that which is your own, ask it not back. For neither art thou able.

To every man that asks of thee, give. And ask not back. For the Father desires that gifts be given to all from his own bounties.

Blessed is he that gives according to the commandment. For he is guiltless. Woe to him that receiveth. For if a man receives having need, he is guiltless.

But he that has no need shall give satisfaction. Why and wherefore he received. And being put in confinement, he shall be examined concerning the deeds that he has done.

And he shall not come out hence until he has given back the last farthing. Yes, as touching this also it is said, let your alms sweat into thine hands until thou shalt have learned to whom to give.

I'm not sure what that is a quote from. But I've never heard of alms sweating before. But anyway. And this is the second commandment of the teaching.

You shall do no murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not corrupt boys. You shall not commit fornication.

You shall not steal. You shall not deal in magic. You shall do no sorcery. You shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill them when born.

You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. You shall not perjure yourself. You shall not bear false witness.

You shall not speak evil. You shall not cherish a grudge. You shall not be double -minded nor double -tongued, for the double tongue is a snare of death.

Your word shall not be false or empty, but fulfilled by action. You shall not be avaricious, nor a plunderer, nor a hypocrite, nor ill -tempered, nor proud.

You shall not entertain an evil design against your neighbor. You shall not hate any man, but some you shall reprove, and for others you shall pray, and others you shall love more than life.

My child, flee from every evil and everything that resembles it. Be not angry, for anger leads to murder, nor jealous, nor contentious, nor wrathful.

For of all these things, murders are engendered.

My child, do not be lustful, for lust leads to fornication, neither foul speaking, neither with uplifted eyes.

For of all these things, adulteries are engendered. My child, be no dealer in omens, since it leads to idolatry, nor an enchanter, nor an astrologer, nor a magician."

The emphasis here seems to indicate probably that this was especially for converts who had no religious background outside of paganism.

So in other words, not Jewish converts who would have had the instruction of Judaism and its moral precepts already.

But these are a little bit more basic along those lines. My child, be not a liar, since lying leads to theft, neither avaricious, neither vainglorious.

For from all these things, thefts are engendered. My child, be not a murmurer, since it leads to blasphemy, neither self -willed, neither a thinker of evil thoughts.

For from all these things, blasphemies are engendered. But be meek, since the meek shall inherit the earth.

Again, very clearly, whatever the origin and source of this, it is post -gospel writing, because it draws from minimally the gospel tradition.

I suppose you could say there is just a broad gospel tradition. But it does seem to have direct dependence upon the gospels themselves.

Be long -suffering, and pitiful, and guileless, and quiet, and kindly, and always fearing the words which you have heard.

You shall not exalt yourself, neither shall you admit boldness into thy soul.

Thy soul shall not cleave together with the lofty, but with the righteous and humble you shall walk. The accidents that befall you, you shall receive as good, knowing that nothing is done without God.

I just thought I'd say that one slowly, see if it rings any bells.

My child, you shall remember him that speaks to you the word of God night and day, and shall honor him as the

Lord. For once ever the Lord speaks, there is the Lord. Moreover, thou shalt seek out day by day the persons of the saints, that thou mayest find rest in their words.

You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify them that contend. You shall judge righteously. Thou shalt not make a difference in a person to reprove him for transgressions.

You shall not doubt whether a thing shall be or shall not be. Do not be found holding out your hands to receive, but drawing them in as to giving.

If thou hast ought passing to thy hands, thou shalt give a ransom for thy sins.

Thou shalt not hesitate to give, neither shalt thou murder when giving.

Murdering when giving would be equally bad, I suppose. But for thou shalt know who is the good paymaster of your reward.

You shall not turn away from him that is in want, but shall make thy brother partaker in all things and shall not say that anything is your own.

If you are fellow partakers in that which is imperishable, how much rather in the things that which are perishable.

You shall not withhold your hand from your son or from your daughter, but from their youth you shall teach them the fear of God.

You shall not command your bond servant or your handmaid in your bitterness, who trust in the same

God as yourself, lest happily they should cease to fear the God who is over both of you. For he comes not to call men with respective persons, but he comes to those whom the spirit hath prepared.

But you servants shall be subject unto your masters as to a type of God in shame and fear."

Very much Paul's phraseology and recommendation regards to the situation as it existed at that time in regards and recognizing especially the situation when

Christian individuals within the fellowship, you ended up having both masters and slaves in the same congregation.

And so Paul addresses that here. The Didache addresses the same thing as well. You shall hate all hypocrisy and everything that is not pleasing to the

Lord. You shall never forsake the commandments of the Lord, but you shall keep those things which you have received, neither adding to them or taking away from them.

In church, you shall confess your transgressions and shall not betake yourself to prayer with an evil conscience.

This is the way of life. But the way of death is this. First of all, it is evil and full of a curse, murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessing, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness, persecutors of good men, hating truth, loving a lie.

Is this from the first century or from the newspaper yesterday? It's sort of hard to tell.

Seems to be about the same thing. Loving a lie, not perceiving the reward of righteousness, not cleaving to the good nor to righteous judgment, wakeful not for that which is good, but for that which is evil, from whom gentleness and forbearance stand aloof, loving vain things.

I could preach this section. Pursuing a recompense, not pitying the poor man, not toiling for him that is oppressed with toil, not recognizing him that made them.

That's like a book title for Western culture. Not recognizing him that made them.

Just sit down, turn on any news source, and hold that out in front of you. Yep, mm -hmm, yep, mm -hmm, yep, mm -hmm.

Murderers of children, mm -hmm. Corrupters of the creatures of God, turning away from him that is in want, oppressing him that is afflicted.

Advocates of the wealthy, unjust judges of the poor, altogether sinful. May you be delivered, my children, from all these things.

That is called a vice list. If you are not familiar with that phraseology, a number of them appear in the scriptures.

Paul includes a number of them, both in Romans, First Corinthians, places like that. But that's a long one, and that's a pretty good one.

See lest any man lead you astray from the way of righteousness, for he teaches you apart from God.

For if you are able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, you shall be perfect, but if you are not able, do that which thou art able.

Obviously, I'm trying to take some of the arts and these and thous out, but it's not always easy to do.

But concerning eating, bear that which you are able, yet abstain by all means from meat sacrifice to idols, for it is the worship of dead gods.

So again, even the context of the eating of meat and in many of the urban areas, such as Corinth, it would be very difficult to even obtain if you lived in the city, meat that had not gone through the process of being sacrificed to idols.

Just as Paul addressed it, if you don't know where it came from, then eat it with good conscience. If you do know where it came from, then it raises these issues of the weaker brethren, the stronger brethren.

Perhaps if I address some of these things in dealing with Romans 14, there's even more if you go into First Corinthians and the context in many of the urban areas of that particular point in time.

Now, this gets really important. Section seven, we're halfway through.

But concerning baptism, thus shalt you baptize, having first recited all these things, baptized in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living, parentheses, running, parentheses, water.

But if you do not have living water, then baptize in other water. And if you're not able to in cold, then in warm.

It seemed to be backwards, actually, when you think about it. But so, obviously, you know, immediately one of the things that caught scholars' attention was, you know, here you have what may be one of the earliest, well, it certainly is one of the earliest references to baptism outside the

New Testament, and it follows directly on the baptismal formula of Matthew 28, 19 through 20, which is so frequently attacked, especially by Oneness Pentecostals, which is why there are groups that not only theorize that Matthew 28, 19 through 20 is not original, even though there's absolutely no textual evidence to substantiate a deletion of that.

But many of the Oneness Pentecostals also wish to push the dating of the

Didache way back. So they're not gonna accept it as being in the 90s or something, some want to push it back into 250, 300, stuff like that, because it contains this text.

And the Oneness people are also Jesus -only, they're frequently called Jesus -only, and they baptize only in the name of Jesus, and not in the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But it's also rather obvious that this is baptism by immersion, and it is baptism of adults.

You have the recitation of these things, in other words, instruction, so on and so forth.

And yet, there is a recognition that, there are no church buildings this time in history.

So baptism, you have to make it work wherever you are.

So, sure, you get the third and fourth century, and we can find these beautiful baptismal fonts, which are big enough for adults to stand in and be baptized in, down in the ground, in Rome and places like that.

But they had running water in many places in Rome. The old aqueducts and stuff like that, it was quite an amazingly complex system.

But there were a lot of places in the ancient world where you would not have that kind of body of water. And so it recognizes living water, cold better than warm.

But if you have neither, then pour water on the head thrice in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But before the baptism, let him that baptizes and him that is baptized fast.

There's another obvious reality that these are adults, not children. And any others who are also able, and you shall order him that is baptized to fast a day or two before.

So there's the section on baptism. And it allows for pouring if you're living in the desert and you don't have a body of water to immerse in.

So it wasn't like, well, you're saved by doing it this way or something like that. The issue, again, notice twice the invocation of the name of the

Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. It is central to what is an appropriate profession of faith in baptism.

So that's section seven of the Didache. If you really want to impress somebody someday, you can write this down and go, well, are you referring to section seven of the

Didache where it discusses baptism? Who are you? Just be careful because they might go, yeah, but what's in section eight?

And then you go, I don't know, let's read that. And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week.

But do you keep your fast on the fourth and on the preparation sixth day, preparation day?

Now, that's interesting because if you, two things. Who are the hypocrites?

Well, there's discussion about that. Some people would theorize this had something to do with certain

Jewish festivals or feast days or things like that. There obviously was still a lot of that Judaizing tendency and stuff that was going on.

It may not have anything to do with them. It might have something to do with another group. This may have only been relevant in a particular area.

It's hard to say. But remember what we said when we talked about the day of the crucifixion.

Sometimes little details like this get lost that are actually sort of important. But our Greek brother isn't with us today.

But remember, I asked him what the word for Friday is in Greek even to this day.

And it is the Greek word preparation, preparation. And so if Saturday is the seventh day,

Sunday is the first day. So the preparation day is Friday. So this specifically says the sixth on the preparation day.

So they're still using, and of course, even to this day, the Greeks continue to use the New Testament categories of preparation day prior to the

Sabbath for the very name of Friday. And the gospels are very clear.

This is the day on which Jesus was crucified was on Friday. Neither pray you as hypocrites, but as the

Lord commanded in his gospel, thus pray you, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I think we all know the rest of that one.

For thine is the power and the glory forever and ever. Three times in the day pray you so. So they prescribe three times saying the

Lord's Prayer each day. And we don't have set prayers in that way.

A lot of you who are former Roman Catholics who had experience where that becomes like penance, you know, say how many

Our Fathers and stuff like that, you know how utilization of set prayers and acts like that can become very empty because it doesn't have a connection with the heart.

The problem is as a result, we very rarely have almost any discipline when it comes to times of prayer or anything like that along the lines.

And there needs to be a balance struck in there. On the one side, seeing what

Rome has done and how doing stuff just simply for the sake of doing it in times and seasons is irrelevant.

But at the same time, it's very easy for us to be very prejudiced. And when we read somebody and they talk about, you know, say the

Lord's Prayer three times a day. Ooh. Many things that we will see that end up being abused started off with all the right motivations.

The problem is it's the motivation that matters. And if you have the right motivation, something can be great.

But then when you force other people who don't have your motivation to do those things, then it becomes legalism. And unfortunately, church history is, if it's not anything else, it is this constant cycle over time of reformation movements and then decline and reformation movements and decline and reformation movements and decline where people become apathetic.

They become accustomed to something. And then later on, you know, it then becomes just rote religiosity.

And then someone rebels against it and comes up with something new because they have spiritual fervor and it just goes around and around like that all the time.

Section nine, I think I might be able to get through this if I read faster. But as touching the

Eucharistic Thanksgiving, now again, we've had the term eucharisteo stolen from us because Rome calls the mass the

Eucharist. Eucharist simply means to give thanks. It means Thanksgiving. I mean, the very word

Thanksgiving in Greek is eucharisteo. So for as touching the

Eucharistic Thanksgiving, so in other words, very early on, the Lord's Supper was a central part of Christian worship.

No question about it, no question about it. And in fact, the later term mass comes from the

Latin term missa, and it meant dismissal. And the funny thing is, we sort of do the same thing.

In other words, we ask, if you partake of the Lord's Supper, we ask you certain questions. And if you haven't been baptized, or if you're under church discipline or something like that, then you're free to leave before the

Lord's Supper or just not partake. But there was a dismissal of those, especially who were catechumens, who were studying the

Christian faith, maybe coming from paganism. They could attend, they could listen to the prayers, they could listen to the singing, they could hear the sermon.

But then when it came to the Lord's Supper, the church recognized from the beginning, this is only something for people who make that full profession of faith.

And so there was a dismissal. And from that, eventually over time came the subject of the mass.

But remember, and I've said this a couple times before, even once you have something called the mass, that doesn't mean that it's the same thing

Rome has today. The mass today is a Eucharistic sacrifice, you've got priests and you've got a sacramental theology, you've got a whole idea of the priest theology and the whole idea of transubstantiation, which nobody back then had any conception of.

And so what Rome does is Rome looks backwards with all this development as a lens, it goes, ah, see, they were doing this back then.

If you actually look at history, it is a development that gets bigger and bigger and bigger and more and more stuff develops over time and gets loaded into it.

So that if you look at it in the proper direction, you see something simple back here that becomes extremely complex and related to all sorts of other stuff that it wasn't related to back here.

And yet so many people just don't think of history with enough clarity to recognize those things.

Like purgatory, it develops over time, it is a evolutionary thing and certain developments that are absolutely definitional of the modern concept of purgatory just didn't exist back then.

It wasn't anybody at the Council of Nicaea that could have believed in the modern doctrine of purgatory because certain aspects of the theology just hadn't developed yet.

And so this idea of looking at history as it was, not looking backwards with the lenses in place that go, oh, that looks just like what we do today.

Well, but they didn't believe 90 % of what you believe. They said, it's really not the same thing, is it? That's sort of important.

Oh, go back to, yeah, go back to reading again. Got to get the glasses back on. First, as regards the cup, we give you thanks oh, our father, for the holy vine of thy son

David, which you has made known unto us through thy son Jesus. Thine is the glory forever and ever. Then as regards the broken bread, we give thanks oh, our father, for the life and knowledge which you did make known unto us through thy son

Jesus. Thine is the glory forever and ever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and being gathered together became one, so may thy church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into thy kingdom, for thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever and ever.

But let no one eat or drink of this Eucharistic Thanksgiving, but they that have been baptized into the name of the

Lord. For concerning this also, the Lord has said, give not that which is holy to the dogs."

That's a pretty basic prayer. It's pretty focused upon giving thanks to the

Father through the Son. There's nothing here about transubstantiation or any of these types of things.

It's very, very simplistic. And section 10, after you are satisfied, thus give thanks.

We give thanks, holy Father, for thy holy name, which you have made to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which you has made known unto us through thy son

Jesus. Thine is the glory forever and ever. You, almighty master, did create all things for your name's sake and did give food and drink unto men for enjoyment, that they might render thanks to thee.

But did bestow upon us spiritual food and drink and eternal life to thy son.

Notice the distinction that is made there. Yes, sir? You said earlier that he's the deity of Christ in that book, but maybe those last few lines definitely apply it.

Well, yeah, when they say that there's no reference, they want to say specific use of the term theos or something like that.

No, you would never associate a mere creature with the Father.

But yeah, they don't even treat the text they have in a fair fashion.

I mean, that's just James Tabor, that's just the way he is. And the internet is filled with books from folks that you're exactly right though.

Before all things, we give thee thanks that you are powerful. Yours is the glory forever and ever. Remember, Lord, your church to deliver it from all the evil and to perfect it in your love and gather it together from the four winds, even the church which has been sanctified.

Into your kingdom, which you have prepared for it. For thine is the power and the glory forever and ever.

May grace come and may this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any man is holy, let him come.

If any man is not, let him repent. Maranatha, or Maranatha, if you go to Maranatha Baptist Church, amen.

So some stuff sounds to me a little bit like revelation there. If any man is holy, let him come. If any man is not, let him repent.

But permit the prophets to offer thanksgiving as much as they desire. And call them prophets for preachers, proclaimers.

That's the terminology here. Now, this, whosoever therefore shall come and teach you all these things that have been said before, receive him.

But if the teacher himself be perverted and teach a different doctrine to the destruction thereof, hear him not. But if to the increase of righteousness and a knowledge of the

Lord, receive him as the Lord. So now a section comes in, at this period of time, there are still many traveling teachers.

Obviously, at a period of time, there was growth. Takes time to develop, having enough leaders.

You remember the Methodists back in the olden days here in the United States. Congregations were growing fast and they could train people to preach.

So what did you do? You have Methodist circus, circus writers, circus writers, who would go around to various congregations.

Well, seemingly there's a similar situation wherever this was written. There's not much in the way of Christian leadership and so you have traveling teachers.

But what's fascinating is there was a real concern about analyzing these teachers.

And I think you'll find fascinating what one of their main concerns was. But concerning the apostles and prophets, so do you according to the ordinance of the gospel.

Let every apostle, when he cometh to you, an apostle sent one, we can have a discussion as to how they understood whether there were 12 apostles or more than that.

I think they did believe there were only 12 apostles and these are our missionaries. But let every apostle, when he comes to you, be received as the

Lord, but he shall not abide more than a single day. Or if there be need, a second likewise.

But if he abides three days, he is a false prophet. When he departs, let the apostle receive nothing but bread until he finds shelter, but if he asks money, he is a false prophet.

Now you may understand why no one on TBN has ever heard of the didache. Or if they have, they immediately burned it.

Because no, no, no, no, no, no, this would not fit there at all. Any prophet speaking the spirit, you shall not, really should have brought my modern

English one. And any prophet speaking in the spirit, you shall not try neither discern, for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven, yet not everyone that speaketh in the spirit is a prophet, but only if he have the ways of the

Lord. From his ways, therefore, the false prophet and the prophet shall be recognized. So in other words, there needs to be discernment here.

And no prophet, when he orders a table in the spirit, shall eat of it, otherwise he is a false prophet.

So in other words, if someone speaking with the authority of the Lord says, provide me with X, Y, and Z, false prophet.

And every prophet teaching the truth, if he does not what he teaches, is a false prophet. Sometimes I think it'd be sort of funny to sneak onto the runway when

Benny Hinn's in town and paint that particular line on the fuselage of his jet, but that would probably get me in a lot of trouble.

Anyway, let me repeat it one more time. And every prophet teaching the truth, if he does not what he teaches, is a false prophet.

And every prophet approved and found true, if he doeth ought as an outward mystery typical of the church, and yet teaches you not to do all that he himself doeth, shall not be judged before you.

He hath his judgment in the presence of God. For in like manner also did the prophets of old time. And whoever shall say in the spirit, give me silver or anything else, you shall not listen to him.

But if he tell you to give on behalf of others that are in want, let no man judge him. But let everyone that cometh in the name of the

Lord be received, and then when you have tested him, sounds like the book of Revelation again, you shall know him, for you shall have understanding on the right hand and on the left.

If the comer is a traveler, assist him as far as you are able, but he shall not stay with you more than two or three days, if it be necessary.

But if he wishes to settle with you, being a craftsman, let him work for and eat his bread.

But if he has no craft, according to your wisdom, provide how he shall live as a Christian among you, but not in idleness.

If he will not do this, he is trafficking upon Christ, beware of such men.

Evidently from the start, there was a real problem with people going, this might be a way to get a free ride.

It's always been that way. But every true prophet desiring to settle among you is worthy of his food, and like manner a true teacher is also worthy like the workman of his food.

So now you've got actual local ministry in view here. Every first fruit then of the produce, the wine vat, and of the threshing floor, of thy oxen, of thy sheep, thou shalt take and give as the first fruits to the prophets, for they are your chief priests.

So in other words, now you're talking about elders in the local church, not just traveling people. So in other words, if there's enough of you around that someone settles amongst you and wants to have ministry amongst you, then this is talking about the provision for them.

But if you have not a prophet or minister, give them to the poor. If you make bread, take the first fruit and give according to the commandment.

In like manner, when you open a jar of wine or of oil, take the first fruit and give to the prophets. Yea, and of money and raiment and every possession, take the first fruit, as shall seem good to thee, and give according to the commandment.

And on the Lord's own day, that one has come up recently. I don't know if any of you have noticed, I've been, I'm now on a hit list of certain black

Hebrew Israelites who would like to see me rubbed out. One of the issues was the issue of the kudia kei hemera, the

Lord's day, the first day of the week. And Didache 14 .1 is one of the earliest references of this outside of the

New Testament in Revelation 1 .10. And on the Lord's own day, gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, your sacrifice may be pure.

Again, people will read back, I know I'm hurrying, I'm sorry, but people will read back into this idea of sacrifice as some kind of Eucharistic sacrifice, the categories that simply had not developed at this point.

This was a sacrifice of praise. Let no man having his dispute with his fellow join your assembly until they have been reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be defiled.

For the sacrifice that was spoken to the Lord in every place and every time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great king, sayeth the

Lord, my name is wonderful among the nations. That's from Micah, as I recall off the top of my head. Appoint for yourselves therefore bishops and deacons, now going again to the local assembly, worthy of the

Lord, men who are meek and not lovers of money and true and approved. For unto you they also perform the service of the prophets and teachers, therefore despise them not, for they are your honorable men along with the prophets and teachers.

So if you have enough people to have established elderships, so on and so forth, but obviously in some places in those days that simply wasn't a possibility in that very early primitive period.

And reprove one another not in anger but in peace, and you find, as you find the gospel, and let no one speak to any that has gone wrong towards his neighbor, neither let him hear a word from you until he repent, but your prayers and your almsgivings, all your deeds, so do you as you find it in the gospel of our

Lord. But be watchful for your life, let your lamps not be quenched and your loins not ungirded, but be you ready, for you know not the hour in which our

Lord comes. You shall gather yourselves together frequently, seeking that which is fitting for your souls.

The whole time of your faith shall not profit you if you be not perfected at the last season. For in the last days the false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied and the sheep be turned into wolves and love shall be turned into hate.

Sounds a little bit like the warnings of Paul in Acts chapter 20 and Timothy in, 2 Timothy chapter three.

For as lawlessness increase, they shall hate one another and shall persecute and betray, and then the world deceiver shall appear as a son of God and shall work signs and wonders.

It's got some eschatology here. And the earth shall be delivered into his hands and he shall do unholy things which have never been since the world began.

Sounds like 2 Thessalonians. Then all created mankind shall come to the fire of testing and many shall be offended and perish, but they that endure in their faith shall be saved by the curse himself.

I would assume that would mean the one who bore the curse. And then shall the signs of truth appear, first a sign of a rift in the heaven, then a sign of the voice of the trumpet, and thirdly a resurrection of the dead, yet not of all, but as it was said, the

Lord shall come and all his saints with him, and then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.

And that is the end of the diddicace. So there is no explanation as to exactly how it was understood in regards to all the eschatological theories that come about.

So what do you have in something like this? Well, obviously there is the person or persons, you know, we don't know who wrote this, we don't know when, we don't know where.

It would be nice because it would give us some information in regards to what the context of the local church was in a particular area at a particular time, but we just simply don't know.

Obviously they have, at minimum, the Old Testament and portions of the

New, whether that was in written form or not, not said. What we have is primitive

Christian worship, we have the gathering of the church together. If there were enough mature believers to have elders and deacons and a formal church in an area, then you were to do that.

But it was a primitive time, and sometimes you had people widely dispersed, or maybe you had just slaves in an area and could not access the scriptures, things like that, so you had people who would travel and seek to minister to the saints in that way as well.

Another sign that this was very, very early. Obviously the desired form was to have the formal local church as the apostles had set it up, and there was baptism, there was a simple

Lord's Supper, it was central to the worship of the early church, it was a

Eucharist, giving thanks. It wasn't some magical thing, there wasn't some priest and hocus pocus and transubstantiation and bleeding hosts and all the rest of that kind of stuff.

It was a simple Lord's Supper, and then there were concerns, and there's a whole big long section about false teachers and people trying to get money, and that's really nothing new, but it does remind us of its importance even to this day as well.

And then there was, can't ignore that last section, there is an eschatology, there is a looking for the coming of the

Lord, and an exhortation to be ready whenever that takes place. So there was a sense of imminency, there was no idea here of, well, we don't have to worry about it for a while because Jerusalem needs to be rebuilt and the

European Union hasn't formed yet so the beast can't arise from over there, and all the rest of that kind of stuff.

Nothing like that at all, there is a sense of imminency, keep your lamps burning, so on and so forth, and the idea that the

Lord will come upon the clouds of heaven, there will be a day of judgment and Christ will rule and reign upon this earth even though his people may be persecuted in our day.

So that was really fast, but you can now look anyone in the eye and say, yes,

I have actually heard all of the Didache read to me. If you haven't bought one of the books or something like that.

But there's the Didache, it is not some mystery, there's all sorts of things we could discuss in there that we didn't have time to, but we did manage to get to that point.

And so probably, well, I won't tell you where we're gonna be when I get back because so much will have happened between now and then that, who knows, but at least we have gotten through Clement and the

Didache. So we got through those two earliest sources, all right? All right, let's close the

Word of Prayer. Father, we do thank you once again for the fact you have been working with your people for such a long period of time.

We thank you that 2000 years later, we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we gather together, we sing, we pray, and Lord, we seek to hear from your words.

So we ask that you would be with us now as you go into worship, lift up our hearts and minds, give us guidance, that you'd be honored and glorified in all that takes place, we pray in Christ's name, amen.