Didache chapter 14 and Sunday Observance
(Koot van Wyk, Kyungpook National University,
Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College. Australia)
Didache 14 is cardinal for Sunday keepers to
rationalize their switching from Saturday to Sunday as a day of worship. As we
will see below, famous scholars in Sunday keeping denominations of Christianity
has read "into the text" much of what is not supported in the Greek.
Below we will take a serious investigation into the translation of the
original. We will translate their translations back into Greek in order to
demonstrate what it should look like to be translated the way they prefer it.
Sunday keeping scholars' translation of this section of the Didache reveals
their preferential bias rather than the contours of the text.
Sunday keeping rationalization starts with a
movement of meaning in the second century after the Bible in the Gospel of
Peter 35,50 that is carried back in time into Irenaeus Letter to Magnesians 9:1
and subsequently carried further back into Didache 14:1 and bravely,
superimposed upon Revelation 1:10. All the other references are outside the
Bible and later. Didache is the closest after the time of the Bible, according
to scholars.
One must warn that the textual critical and
transmissional history of these texts, except the Bible, are cans of worms. The
texts are extremely late, sometimes centuries into the Middle Ages and even
after.
In this writing, we look literally and
fundamentally at Didache 14 and ask ourselves whether there is any intention to
talk about Sunday or the First day of the Weekkk in this section of the
"Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" = Didache.
The translation is our own and it will become
clear below why a retranslation was necessary. Greek as a language for the Didache, has
grammatical rules that has to be followed. What is surprising is to see famous
Greek scholars translating very "paraphrastic" of what is not
supported in the text.
Original reading:
Chapter 14 1 Κατὰ κυριακὴν δὲ κυρίου συναχθέντες But according to the Lordliness of the Lord come
you together
κλάσατε
ἄρτον καὶ εὐχαριστήσατε, break bread and give thanks,
προεξομολογησάμενοι τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν, first confessing your transgressions,
ὅπως καθαρὰ ἡ θυσία ὑμῶν ᾖ. so that pure your offering may be.
2 πᾶς δὲ ἔχων τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν But everyone that have a dispute
μετὰ τοῦ ἑταίρου αὐτοῦ with his fellow,
μὴ συνελθέτω ὑμῖν, let him not come together with you
ἕως οὗ διαλλαγῶσιν, until they be reconciled
ἵνα μὴ κοινωθῇ ἡ θυσία ὑμῶν. so that your offering may not be defiled.
3 αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ῥηθεῖσα ὑπὸ κυρίου· For this is what was spoken through the Lord:
Ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ καὶ χρόνῳ προσφέρειν μοι θυσίαν καθαράν. "In every place and time offer me a pure
offering.
ὅτι βασιλεὺς μέγας εἰμί, For I am a great king,"
λέγει
κύριος, says the Lord,
καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου θαυμαστὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι. "and my name is wonderful among the
nations".
van wyk notes: 1. Samuel Bacchiocchi listed five different
approaches by scholars to the expression Κατὰ
κυριακὴν δὲ κυρίου supra in 14:1: a. Weekly Sunday theory b. Yearly Annual Easter Sunday theory c. Resurrection Sunday theory d. Eschatological Day of the Lord theory e. The Lords Doctrine theory (S. Bacchiocchi and
J. B. Thibaut) (S. Bacchiocchi in From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical
Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity (Rome: The
Pontificial Gregorian University Press, 1977), 113-131.
2. Many Sunday keeping scholars want to
supermimpose Didache 14:1 over Revelation 1:10 to say that the "day of the
Lord" in Revelation 1:10 refers to Sunday.
3. The dates of the compilation and writings of
Revelation and Didache is different: Revelation was completed by John in 92-97
CE while Didache is after 150 CE although scholars are trying to push the date
down to close to 110 CE. Some even try to push it within the Biblical period.
4. Whether scholars are romantic or skeptical
about this work, the following facts are clear:
4.1. None of the early manuscripts dates before
the 4th century CE.
4.2. Not only is the content at variance with the
Old and New Testaments at times, but also the textcritical stance of the text
is difficult.
4.3. Textcritical issues of the Didache were
lamented by a number of scholars: