In the Didache, as Trucker Frank points out (p. 63), the emphasis is on Orthopraxy-how you live- rather than on the orthodoxy (right thinking) that was the emphasis of later church councils and is often the sum of many sermons today...(just believe the proper things and you are "in"- don't believe all the right things and you are out!).
Does the Didache's emphasis on how to live "right" conflict with a belief in salvation by faith? It seems to me that this emphasis on orthopraxy is not for the purpose of achieving salvation. Rather, the emphasis on how to live was to foster a community among believers who believed in Jesus and to teach how they should treat others.
For what are we saved anyway? For a pleasant afterlife? Or, for a rich this-life as well? Do enough churches today teach their people how to live with one another in community, and how to treat others as we would want to be treated (and how to not treat people the way we wouldn't want to be treated)? Or, are they simply cutting the teaching off after telling them about salvation? Does the Gospel just include the Son of God who was crucified, died, buried and resurrected? Or does it also tell of the Son of God who lived among the people and told them how to live together? Is the kingdom somewhere we go when we die? Or is it a place that we are meant to inhabit while we are still alive? I have faith in my soul's eternal salvation. Now, teach me how to live until then.
Does the Didache's emphasis on how to live "right" conflict with a belief in salvation by faith? It seems to me that this emphasis on orthopraxy is not for the purpose of achieving salvation. Rather, the emphasis on how to live was to foster a community among believers who believed in Jesus and to teach how they should treat others.
For what are we saved anyway? For a pleasant afterlife? Or, for a rich this-life as well? Do enough churches today teach their people how to live with one another in community, and how to treat others as we would want to be treated (and how to not treat people the way we wouldn't want to be treated)? Or, are they simply cutting the teaching off after telling them about salvation? Does the Gospel just include the Son of God who was crucified, died, buried and resurrected? Or does it also tell of the Son of God who lived among the people and told them how to live together? Is the kingdom somewhere we go when we die? Or is it a place that we are meant to inhabit while we are still alive? I have faith in my soul's eternal salvation. Now, teach me how to live until then.
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