Apostolic Fathers: Didache
Chapter 4
1 My child, remember night and day those who speak God's Word to you. Honor him as the Lord. When one speaks of the Lord, there is the Lord. 2 Every day, seek out the presence of the saints, so that you may find rest in their words. 3 Do not make schisms but make peace in contention. Judge righteously. Do not favor one man's face in reproof. 4 Do not be double-minded, whether it will or won't.
The encouragement of remembering spiritual teachers is greatly needed today. We live in the age “when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the Truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). When a spiritual teacher teaches the Truth, people will turn away after something else that sounds more pleasing to them. There is little honor for solid Bible teachers in our world today. Spiritual teachers are now seen as dispensable and interchangeable.
The Teaching encourages the pursuit of good, solid Bible teachers. Not just on Sunday but “every day.” Good, solid Bible teaching gives the rest of Jesus' yoke and burden (Matthew 11:28-30). In this rest, peace is proclaimed instead of schism. Schisms may occur because of itching ears, but the Word should never be used to cause schisms in the Church. However, the Word must always be used to judge righteously.
5 Do not stretch out your hands to receive but draw them in to give. 6 If you have anything through your own hands, give redemption for your sins. 7 Do not doubt when you give nor grumble the gift, for you know the good Redeemer of the wages. 8 Do not turn away the one in need but be a joint partaker in everything that belongs to your brother. Do not speak of what is your own, for if you are a partaker in the immortal realm, how much greater in the mortal?
This paragraph can be used to answer the question, “Should a Christian accept welfare?” Especially when you take verse five's “Do not stretch out your hands to receive.” Don't beg, it seems to say. But are Christians truly not to accept handouts from others? Absolutely not. Christian charity and welfare must begin with the household of God. This is seen in the primitive Church: “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45). Those who received were also Christians. They stretched out their hands to receive help from their brothers and sisters in Christ. While the primitive Church had a welfare system, the Teaching encourages Christians to be more willing to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
Those who are puffed up by their own possessions are encouraged to pay for the redemption of their own sins. This, of course, cannot be done. No one can pay for their own sins. If this were so, Jesus would not have come into the world.
Again, the Teaching focuses the reader upon the thin line between the mortal and the immortal in Christianity. The encouragement to be willing to give walks this line. If Christians are partakers in Christ's spiritual blessings in Heaven, they should be willing to share and partake in each other's temporal blessings on earth. Those who grumble and refuse to share their temporal blessings may be refused the immortal blessings.
9 Do not withhold your hand from your son or your daughter, but from their youth teach them the fear of God. 10 Do not order your slave or maidservant, who hope in God, in your sharpness, lest they will not fear God who is over both. He does not call men with respect to person, but He calls those whom the Spirit has prepared. 11 But you slaves, be subordinate to your masters as being formed of God in shame and fear.
Parents are to raise their children in the fear of God (Deuteronomy 4:10; 31:13; Psalm 34:11). This upbringing is not to be done in sharpness but in mildness (Ephesians 6:4). Parents are to be the primary role models for their children, showing them the importance of their faith. One does not become a Christian because they have completed a certain plan of salvation. One becomes a Christian because the Holy Spirit has called them by the Gospel. The person's individual preparedness is not considered. It is strictly the Holy Spirit's work. A human cannot make themselves ready to become Christian. Everything is done by the Holy Spirit. The Christian merely submits to the Holy Spirit's call.
12 Hate all hypocrisy and everything that is not pleasing to the Lord. 13 Never forsake the Lord's commandments, but take heed of what you receive from another, neither adding nor subtracting. 14 Confess your transgressions in the assembly. Do not look upon your prayers with an evil conscience. This is the way of life.
In our assembling together as the Christian congregation, we must hate everything that is hypocritical. Hypocrites are the ultimate double-minded. They say one thing, but they believe another. This is not pleasing to the Lord. He wants every Christian to have the same mind (Philippians 2:5).
With this single mind, we can abide in the Lord's commandments (John 8:31). We can truly be His disciples by taking heed to what we have received from our pastors and other Christian friends. This Word has been given to us in the same way as John received at the end of Revelation: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (22:18-19; cf. Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32).
There are many times that we have a doubled mind and a doubled tongue. These things must be confessed in the congregation. Corporate confession brings life everlasting as the forgiveness of sins is pronounced. Private confession brings this forgiveness as well. These are God's gifts that should not be despised. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). These prayers are the Christian’s voice, which seeks the way of life as he or she follows Jesus.