The “Yoke of the Lord” and the Community of the Didache: The Debate Continues

What is it about?

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache), a composite text of which the sources, if not the work as a whole, are generally dated to the first or early second centuries, offers scholars a window into the life of a group of nascent Christian communities. Often characterized as a “church manual,” the work begins with a baptismal catechesis in the form of the Two Ways of life and death, it continues with instructions on performing the rites of baptism and eucharist, including the practices of prayer and fasting, it follows with guidance regarding leadership and other community matters, and it concludes with a description of the endtime. This focus on practical concerns makes the Didache of special importance for the historical reconstruction of the church because it not only supplements the contemporary, canonical texts, but complements them. Moreover, while certainly Jewish in nature, the work appears to be directed specifically to gentiles, evidenced not only by its full title—The Teaching of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles— but also by its content. One example of this is the fact that the Second Table of the Decalogue features prominently in the Two Ways catechesis, where it has been interpreted and supplemented with an eye toward gentile practices. Still, in its conclusion (6.1–2), the Two Ways declares, “If you are able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect,” a phrase that surely reflects the Jewish use of “yoke” as a metaphor for the Law of Moses (for examples in the New Testament, see Gal 5:1; Acts 15:10; and Jesus’s “yoke” in Matt 11:29–30). What is intended by the “whole yoke” in this context? Important and influential voices such as Jonathan Draper, Huub van de Sandt, and others, have argued that the Didachist ultimately requires of gentile converts full Torah compliance in order to achieve salvation (“perfection”) in the endtime, an interpretation that, over the last three decades, has become increasingly accepted. The purpose of this study is twofold: first to review and advance the minority position that the “yoke” in the context of the Didache is not the Torah but the interpretation of Torah presented by the Two Ways; second, to argue that both the Two Ways, a text originally created/adapted for the moral instruction of gentile converts, and the entire Didache, an expansion of the Two Ways into a more wide-ranging community instruction, were the products of a Jewish Christian community specifically for use by gentile Christian communities. The catechism’s final command regarding Jewish dietary laws—namely, that ”one is to “bear what you are able” but certainly to keep away from meat sacrificed to idols (6.3)—is argued to be a later addition to the original text, likely due to an increase in interaction between Jewish and gentile Christians.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The basis on which gentiles could be accepted into the originally Jewish community of Christian believers was highly controversial. Some saw conversion to Christianity as simultaneously a conversion to Judaism and thus requiring full observance of the Law of Moses (e.g., Acts 15:5). The apostle Paul argued vehemently that it was solely faith in Christ that rendered gentiles acceptable to God and members of the body of believers (Galatians). Acts 15 attests yet a third, compromise position on the controversy. The author/editor of the Didache, a noncanonical but early text, adds additional information to the development and resolution of this problem, but the prevailing interpretation of the stance presented needs to be rethought.

Perspectives