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About this book

Didache

About this book

Welcoming Traveling Apostles and Prophets

Chapter 11

1 If anyone comes and teaches you everything mentioned above, accept him.⁠ 2 But if the teacher himself is corrupt and teaches a different doctrine that undermines these truths, do not listen to him. However, if his teaching promotes righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive him as you would the Lord. 3 Regarding the Apostles and Prophets, act in accordance with the guidelines of the Gospel. 4 Receive every Apostle who comes to you as if he were the Lord.⁠ 5 But do not let him stay more than one day, or two if necessary.⁠ If he stays three days, he is a false prophet. 6 When an Apostle departs, let him take only bread until he reaches his lodging for the night. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet. 7 Do not test or judge any prophet who is speaking under inspiration, for every sin may be forgiven, but this sin will not.⁠ 8 Not everyone who speaks under inspiration is a prophet, but only one who has the ways of the Lord. You can distinguish a false prophet from a true one by his actions.⁠ 9 No prophet who orders a meal while in a state of inspiration should eat from it; if he does, he is a false prophet. 10 Any prophet who teaches the truth but does not practice what he preaches is a false prophet. 11 But do not judge a tested and genuine prophet who may enact a symbolic ritual of the Church but doesn't teach others to do the same. He will be judged by God, just like the ancient prophets. 12 If anyone requests money or something else while claiming to be inspired, do not listen to him. But if he asks you to give to others in need, do not judge him.

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 10:40 and Didache 11:4

New Testament · Early Christian

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Summary

In Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples that whoever receives them receives him. In the Didache, an early church manual, readers are told to receive every visiting apostle as though receiving the one who sent him, a parallel in ideas more than in language.

Passages

Matthew 10:40

New Testament
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, I tell you the truth, he will never lose his reward.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Didache 11:4

Early Christian
1 If anyone comes and teaches you everything mentioned above, accept him. 2 But if the teacher himself is corrupt and teaches a different doctrine that undermines these truths, do not listen to him. However, if his teaching promotes righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive him as you would the Lord. 3 Regarding the Apostles and Prophets, act in accordance with the guidelines of the Gospel. 4 Receive every Apostle who comes to you as if he were the Lord. 5 But do not let him stay more than one day, or two if necessary. If he stays three days, he is a false prophet. 6 When an Apostle departs, let him take only bread until he reaches his lodging for the night. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet.
90–120 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Didache

References

“... The parallel noted here between Did. 11. 2–4 and Matt. 10. 40–1 is at best a parallel in ideas: the verbal agreement between the two passages is slight. ...”
Andrew Gregory and Christopher Tuckett, eds., The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 107.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Matthew 10:40 and Didache 11:4

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