.JPG)
The Bible Breakdown
Bible reading plan and SOAP guide: www.experiencerlc.com/the-bible
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter: www.brandoncannon.com
The Bible Breakdown
BB Xtra: The Didache Part 1
Ask a Question
Send Encouragement
|||| Take a Next Step ||||
SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.
|||| Social ||||
Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.
The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today is one of those Bible Breakdown extras and I love these so very much because it gives us a chance to not work in it but work on it. So, like every other day, we are reading through the Bible one chapter at a time, and we love it. We love getting a chance to do that together and just experience God's Word together, and then we get to step out and do what we do today, and that is kind of cover other things that we wouldn't normally have a chance to cover in the day to day. So like, for instance, we went through this long journey through 12 different facts that prove Christianity is true, we're going to go through one pretty soon. It's about spiritual disciplines and just encountering God. But before we do that, I wanted to cover something that every time I mention this to people, they have no idea that it exists and find it wildly interesting, which I do too, and it is. There was a small book of the Bible not, excuse me, a small book that is not in the Bible, nor is it divinely inspired, but was written around the time the Bible was written, and is wildly interesting and I think very helpful. So for the next few months, we're going to read through something together called the Didache. Now, if you've never heard of this before, the Didache that is a Greek word that simply means the teaching. It has a longer title and the longer title is the teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles through the 12 disciples which, by the way, if you're looking at this, I misspelled the word through. This is kind of what I do, but that's a really long title. So most people just call it the Didache, and there's some really interesting reasons why we should read this and I would encourage you, when we're finished with this, to go and look and do some of your own research as to why this is so very intriguing.
Speaker 1:But to kind of give you a little bit of background, first of all, we don't know who wrote it. We have no idea who compiled these different things together, but we do know their goal, and their goal was a church manual, kind of a manual for living for the early church, and what I mean by early church. There were at the time this was written, which is most likely and we're going to see in just a second the end of the first century, first second century there were pockets of the body of Christ all over the place. We've been in Jerusalem and all the different places that got letters, such as Philippi, corinth, colossae, ephesus, all these places and there were just pockets of the body of Christ everywhere and they wanted to give them kind of a synthesized version of what was being taught, because this is, of course, 300 years before the Bible was finally fully compiled together, and that's an interesting topic all of itself. But the goal of it was to write it to the early church and it was likely written at the end of the first century or toward the first of the second century. So kind of some interesting facts about it is it may have been written during the time the New Testament was written. So the New Testament was written between about 45 to 50 AD to 97 AD, so within the first century, and so it's likely the Didache was written right about that time as well, which also means it is one of the oldest Christian documents outside of the New Testament itself.
Speaker 1:Now, this is important right here, and that is that it is not considered to be inspired by God. No one is saying this is inspired by God. What we are saying is it was a synthesis of the things that was being taught at the time for the wider church to know. It taught on Christian ethics, it taught on baptism and fasting. It taught about prayer and the Lord's Supper, how to treat others and how to live in the light of Jesus' return. So let me kind of explain to you what's going on, so hopefully it'll make sense. And that is what happened during the time of the early church, the very beginning.
Speaker 1:Acts 2 happens. The church starts to expand and explode, all the good things. And then at some point, matthew, mark, luke and John they all write down the narrative, the biography of Jesus' life. Well, as those are slowly and I mean slowly starting to make their way around, one of the really cool things that would happen is when somebody would get it, they would write out a copy of it so that they'd have one and then they'd pass it on, which ensures that it was going to survive, because now you'd have two, five, ten, twenty copies, which means if any number of those gets destroyed, you have a lot of extras, right? Well, also, you have people like Peter, you have Paul, you have the Apostle John, you have whoever wrote. Hebrews is going around and they're teaching and they're also writing letters and they are sending them around as well. So all these things are being sent around but they're not all collected in one place yet. It's going to be a little while before they're all collected in one place.
Speaker 1:And so what somebody did and it's awesome that they did this is they kind of synthesized the teaching of the church and they put it into this little booklet and it's not very long. But put it in this booklet so that the people could have it, because it was very strict rules that the church had for what was considered to be inspired and what wasn't, and it was things like it had to be written by someone who had seen or walked with Jesus and it had to fit with the orthodoxy of the early church and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. I mean, there was very strict things and the Didache was going around and it wasn't inspired. It was just synthesizing the things that were inspired so that people could have it. So the reason why we could and should read it today not for orthodoxy, in other words, not for doctrine, but to read it because it shows how some of the earliest Christians lived.
Speaker 1:Also, I love how it celebrates how the early church focused on the simplicity of following Jesus. Early church focused on the simplicity of following Jesus. I love how. Also, it's not scripture, but what's really cool is that you can just hear biblical truth all around it and it connects us to the earliest Christians of the church. And so what we're going to do is we're going to read the first three chapters and you're going to see they're very short chapters. But what's really cool I want you to watch out for is is number one is especially like in chapter one you hear the gist of the Beatitudes. You hear that what Jesus had said to them had been passed down into these people, to where they had written these things down. And it's just really cool to hear that while the Gospels are circulating, they wrote down and so, likely, when they didn't have anything else, they say okay, the Beatitudes are what we're going to live by. It's amazing to realize that for some people this may have been all they had. Maybe they had read one of the letters of Paul, they had read one of the Gospels, but they had this document and it was synthesizing the things that God's Word. So, once again, it is not inspired. The Holy Spirit did not inspire this. It is a collection of things that were inspired, that they wrote down so it could pass out to everybody.
Speaker 1:Now one disclaimer, and we'll jump in Now. When this was translated, it was translated into what we consider to be more Elizabethan English, shakespearean language. So if you've ever read the old King James, it's going to sound a little bit like that, and I'm sorry, but that is just the thing that they. So whoever translated it, did that. So we have to kind of get over that a little bit. But other than that, it's really really cool, and I just want to celebrate it with you and we're going to read it together.
Speaker 1:So let's read the Didache, chapter one, the teaching of the Lord through the 12 apostles to the Gentiles. Here we go, you ready? Chapter 1 says this there are two ways, one of life and one of death. There is much difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this Thou shalt love God, who hath made thee. Secondly, thy neighbor as thyself, and all things whatsoever thou wouldst should not be done unto thee. Do not do unto another. In other words, the golden rule do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Speaker 1:So what Jesus said, and these words. The teaching is this Bless them that curse you. Pray for your enemies, fast for those who persecute you. And for what? Thank have ye if you love them that love you. Do not even Gentiles do the same, but do you love them which hate you? You shall not have an enemy. Abstain from fleshly and bodily lusts. If any man give thee a blow on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, and thou shalt be perfect. And if any man shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him too. If any man shall take thy cloak, give him thy coat also. If any man take from thee that which is thine own, ask not again, for neither canst thou give to everyone that ask you and do and not ask again for the father wills that men give to all men out of what they have themselves received.
Speaker 1:Blessed is he who gives according to the commandment, for he is free of blame. But woe to him that receives for of being in need and receives. He shall be free of blame, but he receives not being in need. He shall be punished. In other words, if you receive someone and you don't need it, that's not a good thing. For whereforever receive he it? To what end. But, coming under constraint, he shall be examined concerning these things, which he did, and he shall not come out unless he has paid the uttermost penny. But about this also, it hath been said, and I love this little phrase. It says let thine alms sweat into thy hand until thou discernest unto whom thou givest.
Speaker 1:In other words, don't be so quick just to give money away, but think about it, plan on it and then give. And what a great lesson for us. What a great lesson because you have some people who just they don't want to give it all and say, just hold on to it. Then you have other people who just throw money, just I'm just going to give, just going to give, and that's wonderful, that's great. But what the Didache was warning the early Christians is like, hey, listen, I know that you want to give and I know you're excited about giving. That's great, but think about it first. Make sure you're giving to the right places. I think that's powerful, I think that's awesome. And did you not hear the Beatitudes all up in this mess? I mean, it was great. You can just hear that the words of Jesus had passed down so very well. And also, what a warning, right? It's a warning that said, if you receive and you don't really need it, you're in trouble. Isn't that great? I mean, that is just so good, because when you hear the words of Jesus and he talks about giving to people and being generous, that's wonderful and that's awesome. But what the Didache made sure to tell people is that on the other side, for those of you who are receiving, you better need it or you're going to be judged Wow, right, all right, here we go. Chapter two this one is edgy, get ready for it.
Speaker 1:Now the second commandment of this teaching Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not corrupt children. Thou shalt not commit fornication. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not use magic arts. Thou shalt not use sorcery. And here we go. Thou shalt not destroy a child by abortion. Neither shalt thou slay him that is born. So for some of us you need to settle with that one, because the early church you know what they taught? They taught thou shall not destroy a child by abortion.
Speaker 1:So say law, think on that. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. Thou shalt not forswear thyself. Thou shalt not bear false witness. That means don't lie. Thou shalt not speak evil. Thou shalt not be mindful of evil. In other words, don't dwell on evil. Thou shalt not bear false witness. That means don't lie. Thou shalt not speak evil. Thou shalt not be mindful of evil. In other words, don't dwell on evil. Thou shalt not be double-minded, nor double-tongued, for a double tongue is a snare of death. In other words, when you speak out of both sides of your mouth, you say yes, I know at the same time I'll get you in trouble. Thou shalt not speak avaricious I don't know what that means neither rapacious nor a hypocrite, nor malicious nor overweening. Thou shalt not take evil counsel against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not hate any man. But some thou shalt reprove and for some thou shalt pray and some thou shalt love more than thy own soul. In other words, love people a whole, whole lot.
Speaker 1:And I want to pause on that one, because we live in a world right now where the abortion debate, pro-life, pro-choice even among the church world is becoming very, very heated. And, to be fair, I think that one of the reasons why some people are pro-choice is because they have been. I'm just going to go ahead and say how I feel it, if that's okay. They have been deceived to think that life doesn't begin until after someone is born. Therefore, if you abort the baby before it's born, then it's not abortion, because it's not alive yet. There's other people who, because their heart is so good, they want to identify with the difficulty of the young lady. And here's the thing. Absolutely we should identify and sympathize with the young lady and hold the young man accountable and all that good stuff. But what about the baby? Someone's got to advocate for the child, right, and I think that if there's even a chance that that's a human life, we shouldn't.
Speaker 1:Two wrongs don't make a right. And so we have some people who say well, what if it was a bad situation? Well then we should prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. But two wrongs don't make a right. And I heard the greatest example I've ever heard of this was someone who said let's examine, imagine you were driving down the road in the middle of the night and just at the very edge of your headlights, you saw what looked like it could be a human or it could be a deer. You're not real sure. Well, what would you do? Would you just plow right on ahead and go ah, it's probably a deer and it's in my way. Or if there was a chance that it was a person, you would try to swerve and try to miss it. You would say, well, I want to hit it. You know why? Because it could be a person, and I don't want to kill a person, but yet that could be a baby, that could be a life, but we kill it, right.
Speaker 1:And the early church says don't destroy a child by abortion. And it says a whole lot else about not corrupting a child after it's born too. So we need to make room for that as well. Right. But God is pro-life, the early church was pro-life. All right, here we go, chapter three. Now I've made all of our pro-life people mad, our pro-choice people mad.
Speaker 1:Chapter three, my son, flee from all evil and from all that is like unto it. Do not incline to anger, for anger leads to murder. Neither be a zealot, nor quarrelsome, nor passionate, for all these things come murders, my son. Do not be lustful, for lust leads unto fornication. Neither be foul of speech nor lofty of eye Lovers. Don't think too highly of yourself, for all these things come adulteries, my son. Practice not augury inasmuch as it leadeth unto idolatry. Nor be a user of charms, nor an astrologer, nor a user of purifications, neither desire to look upon them. For all these things come idolatry, and I'll pause Now. So that means then, for all of you who either read it in the newspaper or you go other places and you read the daily astrology, you want to know what your sign is, all this kind of stuff. You know what the early church would say Stop it.
Speaker 1:Verse five my son, don't be a liar, and as much as lying leads unto theft. Neither be a money lover nor vain glory. For all these things come thefts, my son. Do not be a murmurer, in other words a gossip, in as much as it leads to blasphemies, in other words turning away from the Lord. Nor stubborn nor evil minded, for all these things come blasphemies. But be meek, in other words gentle. Meek shall inherit the earth. Be long-suffering, that means patient. Be merciful, be guileless, be peaceable, good, always in fear of the words which thou hast heard, for thou shalt not exalt thyself, neither shalt they give arrogance to thy soul. Thy soul shall not be joined with the lofty, but with just and lowly. Shalt thou converse, and the operations of God that befall thee, shalt thou accept as good, knowing that without God, nothing comes, comes to pass, oh Lord. And he just finishes with a bomb, doesn't he? Let me put that into modern language, okay, he says the operations of God that befall thee, shall thou accept as good, knowing that without God, nothing comes to pass. So you know what he just.
Speaker 1:You know what whoever wrote this just did. He just blew up a lot of people's theology, because a lot of people act like God is only in the good, that God has nothing to do with bad things. If something bad happens, if something else God's, you know he doesn't really control all that and if you think about it, that's a real dangerous place to be. If you think that God doesn't control everything, like think about where that leads, that actually takes away his ability to be God, because that takes away his omniscience, which means to know his omnipotence, which means the ability to do. That's not good, right.
Speaker 1:And so what the writer of the Didache is telling the early church is he is saying the operations of God that befall thee, in other words, whatever happens that God has willed, whatever happens, accept as good, knowing that without God, nothing happens, okay. So let's look at that, listen to that again. Except whatever happens, that's of God, the operations of God. And operations of God would be anything that happens in your life, except it is good. Why? Because nothing happens without God's willing it. Except it is good why? Because nothing happens without God's willing it.
Speaker 1:I messed with theology just a little bit, right, but it's good. You know why that's so good? It's because then I realize that if God has allowed anything into my life, that means he has a plan. That means none of it is surprising to him. That means he's good, he's got it, he's going to take care of it. So isn't that interesting? I mean, maybe you don't find this interesting. If not, it's okay. We'll get right back to the Bible breakdown regularly tomorrow.
Speaker 1:But what I love about this is this is what the early church lived with.
Speaker 1:This is what they had as the New Testament was either finishing up being written or was in the process of being circulating, and they synthesized the teachings of the early church and they gave it to them and they said that you live basically by the Beatitudes, you love God and you love people.
Speaker 1:You walk away from all these sins because they lead to bad things, and it's like be free, and in being free, you are free to do these things and to stay away from those things. And then he says abortion is wrong. He's saying don't lie, cheat or steal, and accept what's happening in your life as good. Even if it doesn't look good, it will be good. Why? Because God is in control. Wow, powerful and something worth looking at. So once again, this is us walking through the first three chapters of the book of Didache. It's not inspired by God, but it is a synthesis of what was going on in the early church that they lived by, and I think we could do with learning some lessons from the early church. So I hope you enjoyed it. Next time we will cover the next three chapters, but I will see you tomorrow for the next part of the bible breakdown.
