The Didache and Christian Nonresistance

Yesterday my wife Alice and I decided to browse Rodney's used bookstore in Central Square. I immediately bee-lined it to the theology and "western religion" section and found myself quickly drawn into a little Penguin Classics book titled "Early Christian Writings". As someone with strong convictions regarding Christian nonviolence, the early church has always been dear to my heart. If you read through some of the first few hundred years of early church fathers you will discover just how strong the nonviolent ethic was early on and just how essential early Christians felt that it was to their practice of the Gospel life. As I skimmed through "Early Christian Writings" I stumbled upon an early Christian "rule" of faith and practice called the "Didache". The Didache is a manuscript of 1st century origin and anonymous authorship which provides instruction for Christian living and church order. It's importance to the church is illustrated by the fact that several of the early Church fathers gave the Didache high honor, strongly recommending it for reading (Athanasius, Eusebius) and some even suggesting its canonization (Rufinus of Aquileia, John of Damascus). I had read the Didache many years ago before my convictions about violence took shape, but reading it yesterday I found myself rediscovering it in light of the peace tradition of the church. What follows is the first four paragraphs of the Didache:

There are two ways, one of life and one of death, but a great difference between the two ways.

The way of life, then, is this: First, you shall love God who made you; second, love your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you.

And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. For what reward is there for loving those who love you? Do not the Gentiles do the same? But love those who hate you, and you shall not have an enemy.

Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If someone strikes your right cheek, turn to him the other also, and you shall be perfect.

The Didache goes on to provide a clear set of moral teaching which is then followed by instruction on baptism and the Lord's supper. What I found fascinating yesterday as I read through it was the emphasis placed on the "love of enemies" as the correct interpretation of the great commandment "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27). According to the Didache, the essential meaning and the key doctrine of the greatest commandment is the love of enemies. Early Christian tradition felt that this was so important that it stands to serve as the preface to this manuscript of apostolic instruction. Before everything else, this comes first.

Early Christian history is rich with instruction about faith in practice. Although the preservation of sound theological doctrine was important to the church in the earliest years, the teaching of the apostles in the New Testament epistles and in manuscripts such as the Didache remind us that the earliest Christians didn't isolate theological doctrine from ethics. For the earliest believers, instructions about how to live a life of holiness seem to be just as "doctrinal" as the churches teaching on the Trinity. Unfortunately for the church of today, Christian ethics are often brushed aside as secondary to theology. Theological claims are perceived as "doctrinal" while the realm of ethics is set aside as a kind of "best practices" study of the Church. In so doing, we neglect to provide our communities with the food that they need in order to grow into mature believers. In failing to provide clear instruction, church leadership fails to fulfill the great commission which clearly states that we should go out into the world making disciples and "teaching them to obey everything" Jesus has commanded.

For further study of the early church teaching, I would recommend browsing through Calvin College's Ethereal Christian Classics Library online at this link. The full text of the Didache can be accessed here.

On Fighting Fire with Fire

“For this reason Jesus has also added, 'But I say to you, do not resist the evil one.' He did not say 'do not resist your brother' but 'the evil one'! We are authorized to dare to act in the presence of evil through Christ’s influence. In this way he relaxes and secretly removes most of our anger against the aggressor by transferring the censure to another. 'What then?' one asks. 'Should we not resist the evil one at all?' Indeed we should, but not in this way. Rather, as Jesus has commanded, we resist by surrendering ourselves to suffer wrongfully. In this way you shall prevail over him. For one fire is not quenched by another, but fire by water. “

-John Chrysostom, c. 347–407

Lausanne

Today I had the opportunity to view some of the video clips from this past year's Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. Lausanne is an evangelical conference dedicated to world missions. While browsing through some of the lectures and sermons I found an interesting piece in the section titled "Reconciliaton" titled "Our Boys on the Border". The video is a dramatic piece which shows two men being called to arms by their general. Later on in the clip a woman is shown praying for Jesus peace and shortly afterwards the two men lower their weapons which are pointed at each other and cast their rifles aside. Although the piece was unquestionably powerful, I had hoped for more. I was hoping that someone from Lausanne would urge the church to renounce nationalism, militarism, and all forms of violence towards their fellow man. Unfortunately, it would seem that the church is still convinced that somehow we can use the means of the Pax Romana (the Roman way to peace through force and violence) to bring about the Pax Christi when Jesus makes it clear that the ends must be present in the means. Christ has clearly forbidden violence from among his disciples and, as the early church theologian Tertullian said, "in disarming Peter, Christ has disarmed all Christians." There are no excuses nor any justifications for Christians to bear arms against other men, Jesus has made it clear that Christians are to love their enemies. The Lausanne conference used the scripture found in Ephesians that says, "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..." but has forgotten that Jesus accomplished this through the cross as is said in v. 16 "and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility." He makes it clear that his followers will bring about peace in the same way, when he tells them, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23) The cross is not only the way of our salvation but it is the example which Christians are called to follow. This has been a deep conviction of the Tanks to Tractors group and it has been our desire to bring this message to the church in Boston.

I am not only concerned about this issue out of a desire for deeper Christian discipleship, but also because I believe it to be a critical matter in the area of evangelization. I consider it a conflict of interests that Christians continue to engage in warfare and capital punishment after their conversion. How can we claim to care for and proclaim the Gospel to sinners if we do so while seeking to kill them? This would be like a doctor claiming to care for and heal his patients while slipping them a lethal dose of morphine. Why should we, who have been guaranteed eternal life, protect our mortal lives by taking the lives of those who are at risk of eternal judgement? We would be wise to remember that the blood of the martyrs is a powerful witness not only because of their testimony to Jesus in words but because of their willingness to go peacefully to their deaths and suffer well, not cursing their enemies but blessing them. It is shameful that the church has not had the faith and the courage to do likewise in this age.

I believe that if Christians committed themselves to Jesus ethic of nonviolence, there would be a massive harvest of souls. People around the world would see that Christ's Gospel is not cheap and purely ideological, but that it is practical and costly. The world would see how seriously we take Jesus commandments and they would wonder what makes him worth dying for. I hope someday to see this taught at conferences like Lausanne.

If you're interested in seeing the Lausanne clip mentioned here, follow this link.

Prince of Peace - God of War Film Screening

Thursday, Novemeber 10th, at 7:00pm, Tanks To Tractors will be showing the documentary film Prince of Peace - God of War by John Campea at Gordon-Conwell's Boston Campus: The Center for Urban Ministerial Education (90 Warren Street, Roxbury, MA). After the screening, the T2T crew will be holding a Q&A on the Christian Nonviolence position.

To RSVP, go to: http://bit.ly/warpeacefilm

Waging Peace: Resources by Paul K. Chappell

Capt. Paul K. Chappell is an Iraq War veteran, a peace leader, and the author of several books including The End of War. Chappell also travels the world and speaks to groups about the power of peace.

Check out his website and these videos:

How to Start a Revolution (Film)

Christians Who Practiced What They Preached

During World War II, in and around one village in Nazi-occupied France, 5,000 Jews were sheltered—by 5,000 Christians! The astonishing story of a unique conspiracy of goodness.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was a tiny Protestant farming village in the mountains of south-central France. Defying the Nazis and the French government that was collaborating with the Nazis, the villagers of the area of Le Chambon provided a safe haven throughout the war for whoever knocked on their door. Most of the villagers were proud descendants of the Huguenots, first Protestants in Catholic France. They remembered their own history of persecution, and it mattered to them. They also read the Bible, and tried to heed the admonition to love your neighbor as yourself. Henri Héritier in "Weapons of the Spirit" "The responsibility of Christians," their pastor, André Trocmé, had reminded them the day after France surrendered to Nazi Germany, "is to resist the violence that will be brought to bear on their consciences through the weapons of the spirit." There were many other uncelebrated individual and collective acts of goodwill and righteousness throughout the dark war years. But nowhere else did a persistent and successful moral consensus develop on a scale approaching what happened in the area of Le Chambon.