SERIES IV.4: THE LANGUAGE OF LINEAGE โ DIDACHE
Brother โข Kinship โข Adelphos
The Didache gives us another small phrase that becomes much more significant when read within the language of Scripture. In its instructions concerning generosity, the writer does not merely speak of helping another Christian or foreign body. He calls that person โyour brother.โ
You shall not turn away from him that is in want, but shall share all things with your brother, and shall not say that they are your own.
โ Didache 4.8
The Greek word is แผฮดฮตฮปฯฯฯ (adelphos), literally โbrother.โ It is the ordinary Greek word for a brother, but throughout the Scriptures it can also carry the broader sense of kinsman, fellow member of a people, or one belonging to the same household. Not of a member of the same community or faith as our modern church has adapted from their Catholic counterparts. You can read about the word broken down in series I.4. This is especially important in the biblical language concerning Israel, no other nation, tribe or race.
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heartโฆ
โ Leviticus 19:17
And again:
If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve himโฆ
โ Leviticus 25:35
The language of the โbrotherโ is therefore not merely sentimental. It only describes obligation between members of the same covenantal people, but yet our modern interpretations deny the very origin of the word our apostolic fathers wrote it in; creating a new definition to fit their heretical interpretation of universalism.
The Didacheโs instruction follows the the opposite pattern. The brother is not described merely as an alien who happens to share the same religion. He is addressed through kinship language, and that kinship creates an obligation to share what one possesses. This becomes even more profound when we remember the Didacheโs surrounding language.
The same work speaksthe holy vine of David
the Church scattered upon the mountains
the Church gathered from the ends of the earth
โusโ receiving spiritual food and eternal life
The writer never pauses to explain why the members of this community are called brothers. The relationship is already assumed and the clues are scattered throughout the work as presented in this study. That is precisely what makes the work worth examining. The Didache is not presenting its readers with a completely undefined religious population. It speaks to them as members of an already-existing household, using the same familial vocabulary found throughout the Scriptures.
And when the apostles themselves describe the covenant people as brethren, while simultaneously speaking of Israel as scattered among the nations, the Didacheโs language becomes part of a much larger pattern.
This particular community is already being addressed as brothers, while the same document speaks of David, dispersion, gathering, and the kingdom without explaining the identity of the people being gathered. The Didache already assumes that its readers already understand the story of our ancestors.
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
โ Paul the Apostle, 1 Timothy 5:8
Ad fontes.
IV.3
