The Didache, chapter 3, instructs us in the “no” and the “yes” of the faith. For the “no,” the Didache teaches us to look deeper into the root causes of our many sins. Then, it beckons us to see “discretion as the better part of valor.”
The “No”
3:1 My child, flee from every form of evil
and from everything like it.
1 Thessalonians 5:22: “Avoid every appearance of evil.”
Here, the Didache simply affirms the truth of God. This doesn’t mean that applying this truth in our lives may not, at times, be complex.
– Consider the tension between Christ’s command to love one’s enemies and a father’s responsibility to protect his family.
– How does one apply the command to “flee from youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22) and not to “take the path of sinners” (Psalm 1:1) with Jesus’ words to “let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)?
– How does one balance the tension between showing love to widows and the poor, and yet also follow the injunction that children of widows are to “repay their parents” (1 Timothy 5:4) and not burden the church?
To this “tension,” we must see beyond the words that follow in the Didache to the underlying truths that lead to the conclusions in this chapter.
3:2 Don’t be prone to anger, for anger leads to murder;
- nor jealous,
- nor quarrelsome,
- nor hot-tempered,
- for these all give birth to murder.
Ephesians 4:25-26: “So then, throwing off falsehood, ‘let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,’ [Zechariah 8:16] for we are all members of one Body. ‘Be angry, yet do not sin.’ [Psalm 4:4]. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil a foothold.”
James 1:14-15: “Each person is tempted by his own desire, being lured and trapped by it. And when that desire becomes pregnant, it gives birth to sin, and when it is fully grown, it gives birth to death.”
– Make sense of these concepts.
- What kind of anger is Paul referring to in Ephesians 4?
- What kind of anger is being referred to in Didache 3?
- What point is the Didache is making?
3:3 My child, don’t be lustful,
- for lust leads to fornication.
Don’t speak obscenely or allow free reign to your eyes,
- for these all give birth to adultery.
3:4 My child, don’t practice divination,
- for this gives birth to idolatry.
Don’t be an enchanter,
an astrologer,
a magician,
or even willing to see such things,
- for these all give birth to idolatry.
– Here, the Didache is referring to practices that don’t take place in our culture (or if they do, they take place in a whimsical way). Yet, what is the point of avoiding such activities?
– Today, our idols may seem to be more sophisticated. Nonetheless, what in your life may lead you into idolatry (something that pushes God from being “number one” in your life)?
3:5 My child, don’t be a liar,
- for lying give birth to theft.
Don’t love money
or seek praise,
- for these all give birth to thievery.
– What does lying have to do with theft? What are you stealing from someone when you lie?
– Apply that to money and praise.
Underlying these injunctions is a certain view or inherent worth of the individual based on love.
1 John 4:15-20
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is Love, and the one who lives in Love lives in God, and God lives in him. This is how Love is made complete among us, so we may have confidence on the Day of Judgment; because as He [Jesus] is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in Love; instead, Love in its completeness drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The one who fears is not complete in Love. We love because He first loved us.
– If one could be complete in such love, how is this Love to be lived out in the areas of lying, loving money, and seeking praise.
– What would one who is complete in such Love rather do in these areas?
3:6 My child, don’t be grumbler,
- since that leads to blasphemy
Don’t be arrogant
or evil-minded,
- for these all give birth to blasphemy.
– If you have too high of a view of yourself (in its sinful state), eventually, that can even lead to speaking ill about whom?
In these injunctions, we see two reasons behind them:
- At worst, we don’t want to be led away from God.
- At best, we don’t want to be less than a “Christ” (or the image of Christ) to others in this world.
To go to Lesson 5, click here.
