Introduction to the Didache (Full Script)

Too lazy to read this?  Watch the video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=63TZb0_syH8 

The Didache means "The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles."  It was written between AD 80-100.  Of all the Pre-Nicene works, this is the earliest.

Because it dates after AD 80--a time when only the apostle John was still alive--, it is not believed that the apostles themselves wrote the Didache.  So the actual author is unknown.  Therefore, the title probably does not imply that the apostles authored this work, but rather, that this work contains the same teachings the apostles taught.

This is the earliest collection of writings we have concerning what Christians should believe.  The first half of the work is instruction on Christian living which includes love, possessions, sins, and what a Christian looks like as well as what a non-Christian looks like.  The second half is instruction on the orthodoxy of the church, that is, the structure of the church and what the church approves.

Because of the Didache's very early date, this is an extremely valuable work.  It was written during the time when the church was primarily overseen by traveling prophets and teachers such as Timothy and Titus.  It speaks of the transitions from this structure of leadership to the oversight of local elders and deacons.

The Pre-Nicene Christians did not consider the Didache to be inspired, but they used it as a quick reference.  It was probably used primarily as a tool to teach catechumens, that is, people who were seeking to become a Christian.  Most of the Didache is comprised of quotations from the Sermon on the Mount.

Finally, there are a few doctrinal problems in the Didache.  First, the person to be baptized was instructed to fast one or two days before his baptism.  Second, the baptizer is also instructed to fast.  Third, the person who is baptized is baptized three times, once for each Person of the Trinity.

The reason why instructing fasting before baptism is a problem is because this is very unlike the conversion accounts in Acts when people were baptized in a matter of hours after believing.  After Peter gave his sermon on Pentecost,

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.  (Acts 2:41)

After Paul and Silas were freed from prison in Philippi,

They spoke the message of the Lord to him [the Philippian jailor] along with everyone in his house.  He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds.  Right away he and all his family were baptized.  (Acts 16:32-33)

When Paul found some disciples of John the baptist who were not familiar with Jesus,

Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One who would come after him, that is, Jesus."  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  (Acts 19:4-5)

When Paul was recounting his conversion to the people of Jerusalem,

[Ananias had said to Paul,] "And now, why delay?  Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name."  (Acts 22:16)

The reason why instructing baptism three times into each Person of the Trinity is a problem is because Jesus said,

Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.   (Matt 28:19)

Though Jesus says one is baptized into all three Persons of the Trinity, Jesus doesn't say to be baptized into the names (plural) of the Trinity.  Jesus says one is baptized into the name (singular) of the Trinity.  Therefore, a person is baptized into the one name of God though he is baptized into the three Persons of God.  This may seem like splitting hairs.  Yet there is no instruction in the New Testament to baptize three times.  From the New Testament examples of Jesus and all those who were baptized in Acts, it is safest to infer that they were baptized once.