Discovered: Lost Teaching of the Apostles - Vital for Today!

It was like the plot of a mystery novel or gripping thriller. An ancient first-century manuscript, lost in the distant past, is stumbled upon by a young Greek Orthodox cleric who was browsing in a dimly lit library, tucked away in a far corner of the Middle East. The year was 1873. The cleric’s name was Philotheos Bryennios. The place was Istanbul, Turkey. (1)

The Jerusalem Monastery possesses, like most convents, a library. It is preserved in a small stone chamber, erected for that purpose. …It receives scanty light through two strongly barred windows. Its entrance is adorned with holy pictures. It contains about a thousand bound volumes. …Among the books of this library [was discovered] one of the rarest treasures of ancient Christian literature.(2)

Sandwiched between the pages of an unnoticed primitive book, or codex, (3) containing a total of seven manuscripts was a single, complete, bound copy of a long-lost text entitled The Teaching (Didache) of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles. The word didache (pronounced “did-ah-kay”) means “teaching” or “training.” The medieval scribe who created the copy signed it “Leon, scribe and sinner, 11 June 1056.”

Scholars and historians were at first enthralled. Then skeptical. Theories and speculations abounded. Who wrote it? When was it written? Was it based on other documents or did it stand alone? How could it have been overlooked? Was it a fake or could it be authentic? How could it have been lost so long? Was it one document or was it pieced together from several sources? Scholars studied it intensively and theories abounded. It was the subject of heated debate for many years. Finally, the dust began to settle and its true worth revealed.

What an astonishing discovery! Who would have ever thought such a significant first century document, that had disappeared for almost two thousand years, would resurface centuries later? It is as though a great prize was concealed by the hand of God for a generation yet to come. As the Lord announced to Daniel concerning his prophecies, it was concealed for our day: The “words…closed up and sealed until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9).

Few ancient documents can survive the ravages of time. Most early writings were inscribed on papyrus, a form of paper much like our paper today, which is fragile and easily destroyed by mold and water damage. Parchment, on the other hand, is much more durable and can survive intact for centuries. (4) This particular text of the Didache was written on parchment and bound together with several other documents in book form. It is the only intact copy of the Didache in existence.

Until Bryennios made his discovery, small fragments had been found in various locations such as Egypt and Syria, but this is the only intact version of the entire manuscript ever found. Both the short title, Didache, and expanded title, Teaching (Didache) of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles for the Nations, is referred to by name in texts written by early church fathers such as Origen, Athanasius, Clement of Rome, and others who held the Didache in high esteem. This important document is now preserved in the library of the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, where it is catalogued as Codex Hierosolymitanus 54. (5)

Almost overnight, everyone in Europe, England, and America was astonished that such an ancient and important work had gotten lost, but after nearly fifteen hundred [years] a single copy had surfaced. When the first English translation was released…on 20 March 1884 in the New York bookstores, five thousand copies were sold on the first day. (Sabatier:5) Nonetheless, during the first years after its publication, some scholars dismissed Bryennios’s find on the grounds that it was “a modern forgery.” It was almost as though a document (a) lost for nearly fifteen hundred years and (b) overlooked repeatedly by scholars cataloguing the library was not allowed to show up so unexpectedly. After a few years, however, the judgment of authenticity prevailed. (6)

Who Authored the Didache?

The Didache itself identifies the authors of the training as the apostles: The Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles for the Nations [Gentiles]. Although authorship is still a topic of scholarly debate, it is widely believed that the framers were indeed the twelve Jewish apostles. Moreover, it is clearly a Jewish document. “When one compares the teaching of the Didache to the New Testament, it seems certain that the essential thrust of the book follows the same path as the teachings of the apostles and breathes the spirit of our Master Yeshua.” (8)

What Is the Purpose of the Didache?

What if the first-century apostles appeared to us today with their own discipleship manual? In a sense, that is exactly what has happened.

The entire system of the Didache displays little taste for negotiating, defining, and defending the exalted titles and functions of Jesus. Rather, the Didache is taken up with the business of passing on the Way of Life revealed to its authors by the Father through His servant Jesus. (9)

What did this training program generate in the first centuries? The Didache produced believers who were full of purity, passion, and power the likes of which the world had never seen. They turned the world upside down!

Gospel of the kingdom

The most common way the gospel is presented today is that our sins are forgiven. It is indeed wonderful news that allows us to be reconciled with God. However, we are told in Ephesians 3:23 that Jesus has solved another great problem we face due to the fall in the Garden. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Adam and Eve sinned and were separated from God. They were also separated from the glory they once knew in the Garden.

Forgiveness of sin through the blood takes care of our sin dilemma: “All have sinned.” However, Jesus preached that we are not only rescued from something but also brought unto something. Our redemption includes restoration to a heavenly realm that is available to all who seek it. Because of Messiah, our heavenly Father has “delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13).

Jesus is a King with a kingdom. A “kingdom” is the territory ruled by a king. He has authority over the people, laws, and enterprises of the kingdom he rules. When we speak of the Lordship of Jesus, we are actually speaking of His authority over His kingdom. Under His lordship, we are ruled by Him. Unlike modern kingdoms in the earth today, in which individuals become subjects of a monarch because of physical birth, we must first be born again and then allow Jesus to reign over us as our Lord and Master. Although we once lost the glory, through the way opened by Jesus we can experience the glory again. Jesus came as our pioneer, or captain, leading us back into the presence and glory of God. Jesus is now “bringing many sons” and daughters “to glory” (see Heb. 2:10).

Revelation 2:7 tells us that Jesus has opened the glory-filled atmosphere once found in the Garden of Eden to the children of God: “To him who overcomes I will give permission to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” We can receive and appropriate the same promises and inheritance as the early church. “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).

A glorious Church

Members of the early church lived on earth but were truly citizens of heaven and representatives of God in heaven. They were children of another world. Acts 4:33: “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” The term “great grace” could be translated as mega-grace. Grace is not just unmerited favor, although that is included. Grace is also the personal presence of Jesus empowering us to live as sons and daughters of God.

Believers during the early centuries tapped into power that seems missing in our churches today. No wonder the early church is the gold standard to which we must look. We can rediscover the Way walked by the first believers in the Messiah—if we are willing to pay the price.

Total Commitment

What did it mean to become a believer in the Jewish Messiah? Even early on, believing in Jesus stirred up persecution—at first subtle, then blatant, and finally ferocious. Total commitment was required to enable believers to endure rejection, pain, suffering, and, sometimes, death. After all, the Messiah Himself had told them: “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be very glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:10-12). And: “They will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matt. 24:9).

At the time of His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples final instructions. He told them to train up other disciples. He didn’t say to lead people in a prayer of conversion and give them a booklet and a Bible. Rabbi Jesus told them to make true disciples by teaching others just as Jesus had taught them. Jesus had already demonstrated to them that a lengthy apprenticeship was required to transform novices into true disciples by the time and effort He had poured into them.

Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim [disciples], immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy Spirit], and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20 CJB).

In fact, the Didache is an extension of the Great Commission itself: “Go…and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19).

A Pagan Culture

The first converts to the new Jesus movement were Jewish, believed in one God, had been carefully trained from childhood about morality, and knew the Torah. Gentiles, however, came from a thoroughly pagan culture, worshiped many gods, and were ignorant of all that was written in the Scriptures. They needed a complete shift of worldview, a basic understanding of right and wrong, and a transformed Way of Life.

In the Gentile world of the first few centuries, sexual immorality, including pedophilia, was widely accepted, human life was expendable, the killing of infants by exposure was common, a multitude of gods were worshiped, and involvement with witchcraft and other forms of the occult was prevalent. Is our modern culture so very different from that of the early centuries as far as pagan influence in beliefs and lifestyle? Our culture today is surely just as corrupt as the pagan Greco-Roman culture of the ancient world.

Why Do We Need the Didache When We Have the Bible?

Are believers making a first-century impact on the world as we know it? Many don’t seem to be reading Scripture much, and those who do don’t seem to know it very well, much less apply it effectively to their lives. It is quite common for believers to gravitate toward only those teachings that fit their chosen lifestyle while disregarding the verses they dislike. Based on our personal experience, it seems that many young believers who grew up in the church rarely read their Bible, don’t know much beyond basic Bible stories (if that), and seldom incorporate biblical principles into their lives.

On the other hand, many believers have more faith in what they see on the news or read on social media than the Bible. Few seem to be changed enough by their faith to reflect Jesus more than the world. We must admit that most believers today bear little resemblance to Jesus as far as holiness, radical commitment, and selfless love. Question: Is the world turning to Jesus based on how believers live?

Perhaps we need something more.

Perhaps we should look back to the time when the fledgling church was pure, passionate, and powerful and learn the way of discipleship as taught by the apostles. Perhaps the Didache was hidden by God only to be released for an end-time generation: “Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 WEB).

What Does It Mean to Be a Believer?

If we are to properly understand the Didache and its purpose, we must reflect upon what it means to be a believer. When we look back to the early church, it is clear that being a believer in Jesus involved far more than knowing about Him, believing certain facts, agreeing to certain doctrinal points, or as behavior modification.

Jesus was an observant Jew, was a Jewish teacher and was called Rabbi by many, and had disciples who hung on His every word. The first-century church was a Jesus movement within the Jewish community. They were Jews who believed Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, the fulfillment of the promises of God to the Jewish people.

The disciples who became the twelve apostles lived as disciples in the fullest sense of the word. Moreover, they lived together in close relationship as did all the believers in the early church. “In a context like this ‘being a believer’ is more akin to seeking to join a community rather than simply giving assent to a set of teachings or expressing a personal preference.” (17)

And continuing daily with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart (Acts 2:46).

The Hebrew word for “disciple” is talmid (plural talmidim), meaning those who leave all they have known in the past to learn and practice the ways of their teacher. They endeavor to not only learn what their teacher knows but to become the same kind of man he is. That is what was practiced by the early disciples and should be practiced now. Men and women who look and love like Jesus should be the goal of all who follow Him.

This practice of rabbis choosing talmidim was not a rare practice among the Jews. What was uncommon was for certain rabbis to seek out followers and tell them, “Follow me.” “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). It was not the ordinary way things were done but not unheard of.

No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draws him (John 6:44).

The first disciples left their homes and spent three years immersed in the life and teaching of their Rabbi. They walked with Him, dined with Him, laughed with Him, were rebuked by Him, and sat at His feet to learn from Him. It was like total immersion when learning a new language.

How did Jesus train His followers to be talmidim? They became His apprentices during His three years on earth. Their Rabbi taught them to rejoice with Him at a wedding and they witnessed a great miracle in which water became wine. He taught them to have compassion on the multitudes. After teaching parables, He called His disciples aside for in-depth instruction. Rabbi Jesus sent the disciples out to minister with no money, no food, and no place to stay (see Mark 6:7-9). Their Master showed how to answer antagonists and how to love the sick, poor, outcasts, and children. And Rabbi Jesus taught them how to die.

That’s radical. Not only were Jesus’ first disciples radical, centuries later He still had radical disciples trained by the apostles’ teaching—the Didache!

The Challenge for Today

Based on our observations, few believers today seem to exhibit the passion, purity, and power of the early church.

• Pastors look the other way when unmarried believers live together.

• Killing babies through abortion is rampant.

• Killing the elderly through euthanasia is becoming commonplace.

• The worship of pagan gods through participating in new age and occult activity is glamorized and excused.

• The Bible is only selectively believed by church goers, especially those younger than forty.

• Far too many churches preach a watered-down gospel.

• As the late evangelist Steve Hill pointed out, we are being swamped with an avalanche of heretical teaching. (18)

The truth is, for the most part our churches are being changed by culture rather than influencing the culture for good. Something is clearly wrong with whatever we are doing now. More than ever, we need to equip believers to be powerhouses and lights in this dark world. Perhaps this is why the Didache has been restored to us.

Endnotes

1. Istanbul, Turkey was formerly known as “Constantinople.” After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, the new Republic of Turkey officially changed the name of Constantinople to Istanbul.

2. Philip Schaff, The Oldest Church Manual Called the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885), 2-4.

3. A codex is an ancient book made of stacked, hand-written pages stitched together along one side. At first used by early Christians primarily for the Scriptures and other revered texts, eventually it replaced the earlier scrolls and wax tablets. It had a number of advantages in that it could be opened to any page in the text, text could be written on both sides, and it could contain long texts that could not be contained on a single scroll. In the early centuries, it was frequent practice to bind the four Gospels and Book of Acts together, and complete Bibles were commonplace.

4. Parchment is an ancient writing material made from specially prepared animal skins.

5. Thomas O’Loughlin, The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 1-3.

6. Aaron Milavec, The Didache: Faith, Hope, and Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E. (Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press, 2003), 5.

8. Toby Janicki, The Way of Life: The Rediscovered Teachings of the Twelve Jewish Apostles to the Gentiles (Jerusalem, Israel, US Distribution: Marshfield, MO: Vine of David Publishing, 2017), 13.

9. Aaron Milavec, The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Order of Saint Benedict, 2003), 40.

10. “The Kingdom of God,” Christian Bible Reference Site; retrieved April 27, 2020 from https://www.christianbiblereference.org/jkingdom.htm.

17. Milavec, The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary, 40.

18. Steve Hill, Spiritual Avalanche: The Threat of False Teachings that Could Destroy Millions (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2013).