The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (a.k.a The Didache)--An Early Christian Manual

My rendering from the Greek of the Didache, and early Christian manual, dated somewhere between AD 70 to AD 150

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
(a.k.a The Didache)

There are two ways: one of life and one of death"and there is a big difference between the two. 

This is the way of life:

1.    Love God, who made you.

2.    Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

3.    Don’t do anything to another person that you don’t want to happen to you.
        

This is the teaching about how to do those things listed above:

1.    Speak well of those who speak badly about you.

2.    Pray for your enemies.

3.    Fast for those who harass you

4.    Because what credit do you deserve if you love those who love you. Doesn’t everyone do that?

5.    Love those who hate you and you won’t have an enemy.

6.    Abstain from physical and bodily cravings.

7.    If someone hits you on your right cheek, offer him your left cheek too and you will be perfect.

8.    If someone forces you to go one mile, then go two miles.

9.    If someone takes your coat, give him the shirt off your back too.

10.    If someone takes something that belongs to you, don’t ask for it back, because you can’t do that.

11.    Give to everyone who asks something from you and don’t demand it back because the Father wants his gifts to be distributed to everyone.

12.    Anyone who can give like this is blessed and is not guilty. 

13.    It’s bad for the one who receives. That is, anyone who receives while in need is not guilty. But anyone who is not in need who receives is like a thief who has been locked up until he confesses and pays back for what he has stolen. He won’t be freed until he has paid the last penny. Nevertheless, it has been said, “Let your gift sweat in your hand until you know to whom you are to give it.”


The second commandment of the Teaching:

1.    Don’t murder.

2.    Don’t commit adultery.

3.    Don’t have sex with children.

4.    Don’t be sexually promiscuous.

5.    Don’t steal.

6.    Don’t practice magic.

7.    Don’t use drugs.

8.    Don’t abort a child or kill babies.

9.    Don’t yearn to possess things that belong to your neighbor.

10.    Don’t commit perjury.

11.    Don’t give false testimony.

12.    Don’t speak evil.

13.    Don’t hold a grudge.

14.    Don’t be two-faced because this is a deadly snare.

15.    Don’t let your words be meaningless, but back them up by what you do.

16.    Don’t be greedy.

17.    Don’t be materialistic.

18.    Don’t be a hypocrite.

19.    Don’t be malicious.

20.    Don’t be arrogant.

21.    Don’t hatch evil plots against your neighbor.

22.    Don’t hate anyone. Rather, you will correct some, you will pray for others, and others you will love even more than your own life.


My child, flee from every kind of evil and from everything that looks evil.

1.    Don’t get angry because anger leads to murder.

2.    Don’t be jealous, argumentative, or hot-tempered because all these things breed murders.

3.    Don’t be lustful because that leads to being sexually promiscuous.

4.    Don’t be foul-mouthed and don’t let your eyes wander because these breeds adultery.

5.    Don’t be a fortune-teller because that leads to idolatry.

6.    Don’t cast spells. Don’t be an astrologer. Don’t make magic charms or amulets to ward off illnesses. Don’t even want to look at any of these things because they all breed idolatry.

7.    Don’t be a liar because lying leads to stealing.

8.    Don’t be greedy or conceited because these breed thefts.

9.    Don’t complain because it leads to blasphemy.

10.    Don’t be self-important or evil-minded because these breed blasphemies.

11.    Be meek because the meek will inherit the earth.

12.    Be slow to get angry.

13.    Be merciful.

14.    Be innocent.

15.    Be slow to speak

16.    Be good.

17.    Revere the words you have heard.

18.    Don’t exalt yourself.

19.    Don’t let your soul become over-confident.

20.    Don’t associate your soul with the lofty.

21.    Let your soul be joined to the just and the lowly.

22.    Accept whatever happens to you as good, knowing that nothing happens apart from God.


My child, never forget those who preach to you.

1.    Treat those who preach as if they were the Lord himself because the Lord is wherever his nature is preached.

2.    Look for saints everyday and find support in their words.

3.    Don’t cause divisions.

4.    Make peace between those who quarrel.

5.    Judge righteously.

6.    Don’t show partiality when correcting people for what they are doing wrong.

7.    Don’t waver or become indecisive because you are trying to live both in the world and in the church.

8.    Don’t be eager to get, but unwilling to give.

9.    If you worked hard and made money, give some of the money away as a ransom for your sins.

10.    Don’t hesitate to give.

11.    Don’t grumble about giving because you will know the one who is good and who pays out the wages and gives the reward.

12.    Don’t turn away from someone in need, but instead, share everything you have, not claiming anything as your own because if you can share what will perish, how much more will you share what is imperishable!

13.    Don’t neglect your responsibilities to your children, but teach your children to reverently fear God beginning when they are very young.

14.    Don’t boss around your servants while your angry or in a bad mood. They hope in the same God as you do and your behavior may cause them to lose their reverent fear of God. Because God doesn’t care about who are masters and who are slaves and doesn’t come to anyone because of their status, but God comes to those whom the Spirit has prepared. 

15.    Servants, be submissive and treat your masters with respect and fear. It is symbolic of how you would treat God.

16.    Hate every kind of hypocrisy.

17.    Hate everything that is not pleasing to the Lord.

18.    Don’t abandon the Lord’s commandments. 

19.    Guard what you have received without adding or take away anything from them.

20.    Confess all your transgressions in church.

21.    Don’t go near your prayer with a conscience filled with evil things.

This is the way of life.


But this is the way of death: 

First of all, it is evil and completely cursed. It is the way of:

1.    Murderers

2.    Adulterers

3.    People filled with lust

4.    The sexually promiscuous

5.    Thieves 

6.    People who worship idols 

7.    People who practice magic

8.    Drug addicts

9.    People who loot and plunder

10.    False witnesses

11.    Hypocrites

12.    Two-faced, double-dealing people

13.    Deceitful people

14.    The arrogant

15.    Malicious people

16.    The self-willed and stubborn
            
17.    Greedy people

18.    Foul-mouthed people

19.    People who are jealous of other people

20.    Insolent people

21.    The prideful

22.    Braggarts


This is the way of: 

23.    Those who persecute good people

24.    Those who hate truth

25.    Those who love a lie

26.    Those who don’t know what kind of reward those who are in a right relationship with God receive

27.    Those who don’t adhere to what is good

28.    Those who don’t judge righteously

29.    Those who are always looking out for what is evil instead of what is good

30.    Those from whom gentleness and patience are far away

31.    Those who love worthless things

32.    Those who pursue a reward

33.    Those who have no mercy for the poor

34.    Those who don’t work on behalf of the oppressed

35.    Those who don’t know the one who made them

36.    Those who murder children

37.    Those who corrupt God’s creation

38.    Those who turn away from someone in need

39.    Those who oppress the afflicted

40.    Those who advocate for the wealthy

41.    Those who are lawless judges of the poor

42.    Those who are utterly sinful


May all of you, children, be delivered from all of these things!

Make sure that no one leads you astray, away from this way of the teaching because anyone who does, teaches you without regard for God. One the one hand, if you are able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but on the other hand, if you are not able, then do whatever you can.


Concerning food: 

1.    Bear with what you are able to bear.

2.    Be on the lookout for meat sacrificed to idols because it involves the worship of dead gods.


Concerning baptism: 

Baptize this way:

After you have first gone over all these things that have been already said, 

1.    Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

2.    Baptize in running water, but if you have no running water, then baptize in some other water.

3.    Baptize in cold water, but if you don’t have cold water, then use warm water.

4.    If you don’t have a place with water, then pour water on the head three times in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

5.    Before the baptism, the one doing the baptizing and the one being baptized are to fast for one or two days beforehand.


Concerning Fasts:

1.    Don’t let your fasts coincide with those of the hypcrites. 

2.    They fast on Monday and Thursday, so you are to fast on Wednesday and Friday.


Concerning Prayer:

1.    Never pray like the hypocrites.

2.    Instead, just as the Lord commanded in his Gospel, pray like this:

    Our Father in heaven,
    Make your name holy,
    Establish your kingdom,
    Let your will happen,
    on the earth just like in heaven.
    Give us the bread we need for today,
    And forgive us our debt,
    Just as we forgive our debtors;
    And don’t lead us into temptation,
    But deliver us from the evil one;
    Because the power and the glory are yours forever.

3.    Pray like this three times a day.


Concerning the Eucharist

Give thanks like this:

1.    First, concerning the cup:

    We give you thanks, our Father,
    for the holy vine of David your servant,
    which you have made known to us
    through Jesus, your servant-child
    to you be the glory forever.

2.    Concerning the bread:

    We give you thanks, our Father,
    for the life and knowledge
    which you have made known to us
    through Jesus, your servant-child;
    to you be the glory forever.
    Just as this broken bread was scattered
    upon the mountain and then was 
    gathered together and became one,
    so may your church be gathered together
    from the ends of the earth into your kingdom;
    because the glory and the power are yours
    through Jesus Christ forever.

3.    Don’t ever let anyone eat or drink of your Eucharist who have not been baptized into the name of the Lord, because the Lord has also spoken about this: “Don’t give holy things to dogs.”

4.    After you have had enough, give thanks like this:

    We give you thanks, Holy Father,
    for your holy name which you
    have caused to dwell in our hearts,
    and for the knowledge and faith and immortality
    which you have made known to us
    through Jesus, your servant-child;
    to you be the glory forever.
    You, All-Governing Master, created all things for the sake of your name,
    and gave food and drink to people to enjoy,
    that they might give you thanks;
    but to us you have graciously given spiritual food and drink,
    and eternal life through your servant-child.
    Above all we give thanks because you are powerful;
    to you be the glory forever.
    Remember your church, Lord,
    to deliver it from all evil
    and to make it perfect in your love;
    and gather it, the one that has been sanctified,
    from the four winds into your kingdom,
    which you have prepared for it;
    because the power and the glory are yours forever.
    May grace come, and may this world pass away.
    Hosanna to the God of David
    if anyone is holy, let him come;
    if anyone is not, let him change the way he thinks.
    Maranatha! Amen.

5.    Let the prophets give thanks however they want.

6.    Welcome anyone who comes to all of you all of and teaches all these things that have already been said. 

7.    Don’t pay attention to any teacher who leads himself astray and teaches something different that undermines all these things.

8.    But welcome him as you would welcome the Lord if his teaching contributes in some way to being in a right relationship with God and knowledge of the Lord.


Concerning Apostles and Prophets:

Handle them like this in accordance with the tenets of the Gospel.

1.    Welcome every apostle who comes to you as if he were the Lord. 

2.    But he is not to stay for more than one day unless there is some need for him to do so. If this is the case, then he can stay another day.

3.    If he remains for three days, he is a false prophet.

4.    When the apostle leaves, he is not to take anything with him except bread until he finds a place to stay.

5.    If he asks for money, he is a false prophet.

6.    Don’t test or judge any prophet who speaks in the Spirit because every sin will be forgiven, but this sin will not be forgiven. 

7.    Not everyone speaking in the Spirit is a prophet"he is only a prophet if he conducts himself in the ways of the Lord.

8.    So it is by his conduct that the false prophet and the prophet will be revealed.

9.    Every prophet who orders a meal in the Spirit is not to eat any of it. If he does, he is a false prophet.

10.    Every prophet who teaches the truth, but does not do what he teaches, is a false prophet.

11.    Every prophet who is judged to be genuine, who does something that seems worldly to express some mystery of the church, who doesn’t teach others that they should do what he is doing, is not to be judged by any of you. His judgment is with God. Because the prophets of old behaved in the same way.

12.    Don’t listen to Anyone who says in the Spirit, “Give me money,” or something else, but never let anyone judge him if he tells you to give on behalf of others who are in need. 

13.    Receive everyone who comes in the name of the Lord. But then examine him. You will have the insight to know what is true and what is false.

14.    If the one who comes is just passing through, assist him in any way you can. But he is not to remain with you for more than two or three days.

15.    If he wants to settle down among you, and has some sort of skill or trade, then let him work and eat.

16.    If he doesn’t have some kind of skill or trade, judge among yourselves how he is to live among you as a Christian without being idle.

17.    If he doesn’t want to do what as you have determined, then he is a freeloader, using the name of Christ to let others support him. Watch out for people like that!


Things handed down by the Lord

1.    On the Lord’s Day, gather together and break bread and give thanks after you have confessed your failings, so that your sacrifice may be pure.

2.    Everyone who is engaged in a quarrel with a friend is not to be gathered with you until he is reconciled with his friend, so that your sacrifice may not be defiled.

3.    Because this is what the Lord spoke about when he said, “In every place and time, off me a pure sacrifice because I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is marvelous among the nations.”

4.     So appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons who are worthy of the Lord.

5.    They are to be meek.

6.    They are not to be greedy.

7.    They are to be truthful and proven because they are also carrying out for all of you the ministry of the prophets and teachers. 

8.    So don’t despise them because they are to be honored among you along with the prophets and teachers.

9.    Correct one another without anger, but do so peacefully, as you have it described in the Gospel.

10.    No one is to speak to anyone who wrongs his neighbor"don’t even let him hear a sound from you until he changed the way he thinks.

11.     Perform all your prayers and acts of charity and all your actions just as you have it described in the Gospel of our Lord.

12.    Be careful with your own lives"don’t let your lamps be extinguished and don’t be unprepared, because you don’t know when the Lord is coming.

13.    Gather together frequently, seeking the things that are good for your souls"because it doesn’t matter how long you have believed if you aren’t perfect in the final time. Because there will be plenty of false prophets and corrupters in the final days, and sheep will be turned into wolves and love will be turned into hate, because they will hate and betray one another as criminal behavior increases.

16.    And then the one who deceives the world will appear as Son of God and will perform signs and wonders. And the earth will be delivered into his hands and he will commit atrocities never seen before in the history of the world.

17.    Then entire human creation will come into the fiery test and many will be tripped up and be destroyed. 

18.    Those who patiently endure in their faith will be saved from the curse itself.

19.    Then the signs of truth shall appear: 1) the sign of the sky opening; 2) the sign of the sound of a trumpet; and 3) the sign of the resurrection of the dead. (Not everyone will be raised, but as it has been said: “The Lord will come and his saints with him").

21.     Then the world will see the Lord coming upon the clouds in the sky.

_____________________
 The Didache means “The Teaching” and is an early Christian manual. It is dated between AD 70 to AD 150. 

 The numbers that are inserted here in this rendering are not meant to be verses, but a logical numbering in a listing of items. I thought it was actually easier to see these as Christian “commandments” to have them listed, and in this translator’s opinion, they have more impact listed rather than being in a paragraph made up of long sentences.

Drug addict is an application of “sorcery” or “mix potions.” The word is pharmakeusis form which we get the word “pharmacy.”