Exploring the Didache: Early Church Faith and Practices

The following is a re-formatted academic paper for a seminary class in the history and theology of the early church.

INTRODUCTION

The Didache is a valuable document because it reveals the early church’s interpretation of genuine faith and practice according to the apostolic witness. While the Didache is straightforward, it also organizes its topical instructions into a coherent flow of thought. The scope of this paper is to summarize the main points of the Didache, evaluate those points against my church experience, and then reflect how the Didache can be of value in my own personal devotion and contemplation of God. My summary of the Didache’s main points will follow the proposed outline below:

The way of Life (1–4)
1. The First Commandment (1.1–6)
2. The Second Commandment (2.1–7)
3. Avoid Sin (3.1–10)
4. Appropriate Conduct (4.1–14)
Living Falsely (5–6)
1. The Way of Death (5.1–2)
2. False Teachers and False Sacrifices (6.1–3)
Christian Rhythms of Piety Within the Life of the Church (7–10)
1. Baptism (7.1–4)
2. Fasting and Prayer (8.1–3)
3. The Eucharist (9.1–5)
4. Post-Eucharist Prayer (10.1–7)
Congregational Care for Church leaders and Fellow Christians (11–13)
1. Discerning true teachers, Apostles, and Prophets (11.1–11)
2. Brotherly Hospitality (12.1–5)
3. Supporting the Prophets (13.1–7)
Faithful Practice (14–16)
1. How to Assemble on the Lord’s Day (14.1–3)
2. Bishops and Deacons (15.1–4)
3. Anticipate the Lord’s Return (16.1–8)

THE WAY OF LIFE

Sections I–II (chs. 1–6) address the opening topic of the Didache: “the two ways.”¹ The two ways are identified as “the way of life” and “the way of death” (Did. 1.1). This topic sharpens the contrast of what it means to be a Christian within the Roman world. The way of life is the heart of the moral requirement of Christianity and is summarized into three commandments: (1) love God; (2) love your neighbor as yourself; (3) don’t do to anyone what you would not have done to you (Did. 1.1–2). Each of these commandments are subsequently expounded upon in chs.1–3.

A few observations regarding these chapters is warranted. First, Section I (chs. 1–4) is the longest of all the sections within the above outline. This evidences the importance of moral teaching within the early church. It wasn’t understood to be optional. Morality was governed by the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments.

Second, morality was communicated through a tone of apostolic and pastoral authority. While much of Section I is the recitation of the biblical commandments, these commandments are not merely listed without pastoral undertones; the phrase “my child” is used throughout chs.3–4 to create an imploring tone to the reader.

Third, morality and repentance function as a foundation for the life of the church. The “way of life” is concluded with the following statement: In the church thou shalt acknowledge thy transgressions, and thou shalt not come near for they prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life” (Did. 4.14). The spirit of faith embraces the spirit of biblical instruction, which produces the spirit of participating in the tradition of the apostolic teaching. This is not the integration of three distinct spirits; rather it is the work of the one unified Spirit. This is the way of life.

THE WAY OF DEATH

Section II (chs. 5–6) describes the antithesis of Christianity, which is called “the way of death.” As it did with the way of life, the Didache provides a summary statement for the way of death: it is evil and full of curse (Did. 5.1; cf. Did. 1:1–2). A few observations are warranted.

First, Section II is remarkably shorter than Section I. Section II has only two chapters compared to the four of Section I, and the chapters themselves are shorter. Again this points back to the emphasis of moral teaching and pastoral exhortation. Instead of detailing possible scenarios of the way of death, the Didache offers a list of vices and concludes by saying be delivered, children, from all these (Did. 5.2).

Second, readers are told to be aware of anyone who tries to steer them away from the Apostolic teaching because such people are false teachers (Did. 6.1).

Third, the Didache follows the instruction of the Jerusalem Council regarding food sacrificed to idols because it is the service of dead gods (Did. 6.3; Acts 15:28–29). Thus, the way of death is clear and, arguably, self-evident.

COMMUNAL PIETY

Sections III–V bring Apostolic and pastoral clarity to the topic of the life of the church from a different angle. If Sections I–II identify and contrast the moral life of the visible body of the Church, then Sections III–V define and clarify the ordered practice of the communal faith.

Section III (chs. 7–10) outlines faithful communal piety. There are instructions for baptism, fasting and prayer, the Eucharist, and the community’s post-Eucharist prayer. The fact that each of these topics receives such detailed instruction evidences their importance for the identity of the Church. Examples of this include baptism, fasting, and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Baptism has four tiers of instructions depending on one’s access to water (Did. 7.1–3). Additionally, the instruction for fasting distinguishes the Church from “the hypocrites;” the Church is to fast on different days than the hypocrites (Did. 8.1). Also, the Lord’s Prayer should be recited three times per day; again, this is in contrast to “the hypocrites” (Did. 8.2–3).

CONGREGATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Section IV clarifies appropriate congregational relationships in accordance with the apostolic tradition. Significant time is spent on how to identify true teachers from false teachers, which is summarized as therefore from their ways shall the false prophet and the prophet be known (Did. 11.8). Christians are then instructed how to extend hospitality and support to fellow Christians and prophets (Did. 12.1–13.7). Following the earlier pattern of corporate piety (cf. Section III), the instructions regarding hospitality and support are layered in accordance with the various scenarios Christians may encounter.²

GATHERING ON THE LORD’S DAY

Section V (chs. 14–16) concludes the document with instructions for the corporate practice of the apostolic faith. Discussed here are the topics of assembling on the Lord’s Day (ch. 14), the role of bishops and deacons within the church (ch.15), and anticipating Christ’s return (ch.16).

DIDACHE SUMMARY

Thus, the Didache provides a simple but coherent manual for faithfully practicing the apostolic faith. It begins by clearly identifying two ways an individual can live. One of those is the way of life, and the other is the way of death. It then moves into how one walks the way of life. This can be summarized as follows: one walks the way of life by believing the testimony of Scripture and submitting to its commands by adhering to and participating in the rhythms of the church as outlined in the instructions and tradition of the apostles. When done faithfully, the Spirit of the apostolic witness is evident in the faithful.

EVALUATING MY CHURCH EXPERIENCE AGAINST THE DIDACHE

Overall, my church experience has greater disagreement with the Didache’s tone of pastoral guidance than agreement. I have been part of many Protestant denominations: Wesleyan, Fundamental Baptist, Non-Denominational charismatic, and United Methodist. My current church comes from the United Methodist tradition, but our church disaffiliated from the UMC in 2022. Though there are many points of agreement and disagreement I could analyze, I will discuss the following three below: pastoral authority, baptism, and the Eucharist.

Pastoral Authority

The first way I describe the disagreement I’ve experienced is the authoritative tone of the Didache. In communicating Christian morality within Section I of my above outline, the Didache presents the moral commandments from Scripture as both commands for and the standard of the way of life. The way of life is summarized as three commandments (cf. Did. 1.1–2). As commandments, they are the goal to which we aspire; as the summary-statement of the way of life, they are the standard we must meet. I don’t often hear the commandments of Scripture presented this way in church. It is not that pastors today have stripped the Bible of its imperatives; rather, it is that Jesus’ commands are presented as an invitation to live an imperfect life modeled after Him. This difference in approach seems to stem from the modern church’s attempt to distance the process of following Jesus from legalism. In my experience, the moral commandments as the Christian-standard is softened compared to the tone of the Didache.³

One might respond that viewing the moral commandments as the Christian-standard is too intense or too demanding. However, the Didache does not assume humans will uphold the Christian-standard perfectly, hence its emphasis on coming to church with a clean conscience.⁴ To conclude this point, I have experienced overlap with the Didache in that pastors have presented the commandments of Scripture as commands. The disagreement exists in the manner or authoritative tone in which those commandments are presented.

Baptism

The second area of agreement and disagreement regards baptism. My church experience has had much agreement with the Didache: baptizing in the Threefold Name, immersion,⁵ and the pouring of water three times if immersion is inaccessible. One of the Wesleyan churches I attended in West Michigan even performed summer baptisms in Lake Michigan, matching the instruction to baptize in “living water” (cf. Did. 7.1). The disagreement is that I have never heard church leaders instruct baptismal candidates to fast prior to baptism (cf. Did. 7.4). This could be explained simply by me not being privy to such instruction to baptismal candidates.

The Eucharist

Third, my church experience of communion does not match the Didache’s instructions of the Eucharist. The churches I have attended range in their celebration of communion. Some partook of communion once per quarter, while others offered communion every week. My current church aligns with the corporate confession of sin prior to receiving the Eucharist in Did. 14.1.⁶ However, it does not align with the earlier instruction within that same verse that says But every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving. We celebrate our communion liturgy most Sundays, but our church did not offer communion or recite the liturgy on a recent Easter Sunday. Based on my reading of the Didache, it seems unlikely that the early church would have omitted the Eucharist from an Easter morning assembly.

EVALUATING THE DIDACHE AS A CHRISTIAN MANUAL FOR PRESERVING AND PRACTICING THE FAITH

In evaluating the Didache, there is much to commend. It accomplishes the task of providing a manual for an ordered practice of the apostolic faith. It allows for nuance in the church’s ability and access to living out the commandments of Christ and the apostolic instructions.⁷ It also communicates that making the commitment to follow Christ includes making a commitment to Christ. I would describe the authoritative pastoral guidance within the Didache as bringing a healthy intensity to the faith. The moral standards of “the way of life” matter because there is a great difference between it and the way of death (cf. Did. 1.1). The rhythms of piety in chs. 7–10 matter because they safeguard the apostolic tradition.

Admittedly, I do not see many weaknesses to the Didache as it pertains to church order in the early church. One possible weakness is the rigid practice of fasting, which instructs Christians to fast on Wednesday and Friday instead of Monday and Thursday (Did. 8.1). From our perspective, what is wrong with fasting the other days? I think it is important to remember that the Didache is historically contextualized as a manual for maintaining the apostolic order of the church, and the church was a visibly distinct body and not merely a movement of private spirituality. Another potential weakness is the weight of the moral commands (discussed above).

THE DIDACHE’S INFLUENCE ON MY FAITH AND PRACTICE

Finally, I will discuss how how the Didache will help my devotion and contemplation of God. The Didache brings an intensity to Christian faith and practice that I don’t often hear the modern church encourage us to embrace. I plan to embrace the mindset of viewing the commandments of Scripture as the goal and the standard. I don’t see this as legalism. Rather, I see it as the opportunity to ‘step up’ into the consistent practice of being a Christian. Three opportunities from the Didache stand out to me.

First is the instruction to fast on the fourth day and the day of Preparation (Wednesday and Friday). I have never consistently integrated fasting into my faith and practice, but I feel compelled to participate in the life of the early church by doing so now.

Second, I am learning to hold a higher view of communion. The importance of the Eucharist to the early church becomes more apparent the more I read documents from the ante-nicene era. I want to be more intentional in my preparation to receive communion. This includes forethought about any necessary reconciliation before receiving communion as well as confessing specific sins.

Third, I want to reinforce my submission to pastoral authority by viewing pastors as preserving and teaching the apostolic faith. I have always held pastors in high regard, but I want to reinforce my current attitude with more intentional submission. Pastors aren’t simply individuals who are passionate about Christianity and community; they continue the tradition of preserving and exhorting us to uphold the Apostolic faith.

Works Cited

Ferguson, Everett. “Didache.” In Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, 2nd ed. Edited by Everett Ferguson, 316. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1997.
Roberts, Alexander, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies. Vol. 7. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886.