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About this book

Didache

About this book

Avoid Evil and Be Humble

Chapter 3

1 My child, avoid every evil person and all those like him. 2 Don't be proud, as pride can lead to murder. Don't be jealous, argumentative, or overly passionate, as these can lead to acts of murder. 3 My child, don't be driven by lust, as lust leads to fornication. Avoid using vulgar language or suggestive glances, as these actions can lead to adultery. 4 My child, don't believe in omens, as this can lead to idol worship. Don't be a spell caster, astrologer, or magician, and don't seek to witness these acts, as they can lead to idolatry. 5 My child, don't lie, as lying leads to theft.⁠ Don't be obsessed with money or seek empty glory, as these things can lead to stealing. 6 My child, don't complain, as this can lead to disrespecting what is sacred. Don't be stubborn or think evil thoughts, as these can lead to blasphemy. 7 But be humble,⁠ for the humble will inherit the earth.⁠ 8 Be patient, merciful, honest, calm, and good, always mindful of the teachings you have heard. 9 Don't be arrogant or let yourself become presumptuous. Don't associate with arrogant people, but walk with those who are righteous and humble. 10 Accept whatever happens to you as good, knowing that nothing happens without God's involvement.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Didache 3:5 and Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.20.100

Early Christian

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Summary

In the Didache, an early church manual, readers are told that lying leads to theft. The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria quotes this saying as scripture, but without naming the book he is quoting.

Passages

Didache 3:5

Early Christian
3 My child, don't be driven by lust, as lust leads to fornication. Avoid using vulgar language or suggestive glances, as these actions can lead to adultery. 4 My child, don't believe in omens, as this can lead to idol worship. Don't be a spell caster, astrologer, or magician, and don't seek to witness these acts, as they can lead to idolatry. 5 My child, don't lie, as lying leads to theft. Don't be obsessed with money or seek empty glory, as these things can lead to stealing. 6 My child, don't complain, as this can lead to disrespecting what is sacred. Don't be stubborn or think evil thoughts, as these can lead to blasphemy.
90–120 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Didache

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.20.100

Early Christian
It is such an one that is by Scripture called a "thief." It is therefore said, "Son, be not a liar; for falsehood leads to theft." Nevertheless the thief possesses really, what he has possessed himself of dishonestly, whether it be gold, or silver, or speech, or dogma. The ideas, then, which they have stolen, and which are partially true, they know by conjecture and necessary logical deduction: on becoming disciples, therefore, they will know them with intelligent apprehension.
195–205 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Alexandria, Stromata Book 1

References

“... It is often claimed that Clement of Alexandria already knew (a version of) Didache, but he quotes Did. 3:5 as γραϕή without naming a specific title (Strom. 1 [20] 100.4). Strictly speaking, Clement only attests that the authority of the tradition he refers to was regarded as highly as that of Scripture itself, but it remains entirely hypothetical that Clement actually quotes from a work similar to what we now know as Didache. ...”
Jürgen K. Zangenberg, “Reconstructing the Social and Religious Milieu of the Didache: Observations and Possible Results,” in Matthew, James, and Didache: Three Related Documents in Their Jewish and Christian Settings, ed. Huub van de Sandt and Jürgen Zangenberg, SymS 45 (Atlanta: SBL, 2008), 47.

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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Didache 3:5 and Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.20.100

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