Didache - Chapter 4

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4 My Child, Remember

[4:1 My child, remember day and night him who speaks the word of God to you, and honor him as the Lord. For wherever his lordship is spoken of, there he is.]

4:2 Seek each day the faces of the saints, in order that you may be refreshed by their words.

4:3 Do not initiate divisions, but rather bring peace to those who contend against one another. Judge righteously, and do not take social status into account when reproving for transgressions.

4:4 Do not waver in your decisions.

4:5 Do not be one who opens his hands to receive, or closes them when it is time to give.

4:6 If you have anything, by your hands you should give ransom for your sins.

4:7 Do not hesitate to give, and do not complain about it. You will know in time who is the good Rewarder.

4:8 Do not turn away from one who is in want; rather, share all things with your brother, and do not say that they are your own. For if you are sharers in what is imperishable, how much more in things which perish!

4:9 Do not remove your hand from your son or daughter; teach them the fear of God from their youth.

4:10 Do not give orders to your servants when you are angry, for they hope in the same God, and they may lose the fear of God, who is over both of you. God is surely not coming to call on us according to our outward appearance or station in life, but to them whom the Spirit has prepared.

4:11 And you, servants, be subject to your masters as to God’s image, in modesty and fear.

4:12 You should hate all hypocrisy and everything which is not pleasing to the Lord.

4:13 Do not in any way neglect the commandments of the Lord, but keep what you have received, neither adding nor taking away anything.

4:14 In your gatherings, confess your transgressions, and do not come for prayer with a guilty conscience.

This is the way of life!

Comments

Br. Jack+, LC said…
Again, a lot of good, practical daily living stuff here. I like the second verse. How many of my protastant friends ever read about the saints? I know that I never did. That was deemed as 'Catholic', which, we in turn, deemed as 'not Christian'. How wrong I was! And worse yet, how wrong were all of the pastors I had! They meant well, certainly. But, they were wrong.

I learn a lot from the saints. Especially the Celtic Saints. For those interested, I highly recommend 'Wisdom of the Celtic Saints' by Sellner. Some great stuff in there.

The rest of this chapter is all about things that I think we miss out today - disciplining our children appropriately, giving, peaceful, honesty, etc. All very good things to be reminded of.

One thing that's hard is verse 8. In today's very hot political climate, that verse sounds very 'socialistic'. But, that is the way of the Bible. The idea of American individualism is so foreign to the Bible. It was much more community minded. We have forgotten that one. Big time.

What would it mean in our world if Christians thought of all of their 'stuff' as NOT being theirs? What if we really gave like we were just waiting to give it away? What if we saw all of our stuff like a homeless shelter? That is, everything is up for grabs. All someone had to do was ask for it. What if we lived like that? I think it would be a pretty powerful image.
30 October, 2010 09:16
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