Commenting on
the atoning effect of charity in the Didache,
Daniel Downs wrote:
Particularly striking is the Didachist’s
exhortation—“If you have [something] through [the work] of your hands, give a
redemption for your sins” (4.6)—for this statement reflects an early expression
of the concept of atoning almsgiving. In this case, the term “redemptive
almsgiving” would be appropriate because the metaphor suggests that sins are
redeemed through giving away the fruit of one’s manual labor. The verb διδωμι (“give”) is used four times in Did. 4.5-8, and the participle τον
ενδεομενον (“the one
who has need”) in verse 8 indicate that the object of one’s giving is a brother
or sister in material need. Thus, according to the logic of 4.6, the act of
giving to a disadvantaged brother or sister is “a redemption for your sins.”
The construction δωσεις λυτρωσιν αμαρτιων σου is unusual, however, since the noun λυτρωσις in redemption imagery typically
denote the experience or act of being released from bondage, not
the thing or price given to secure redemption. In the LXX and other early
Jewish literature, it is the noun λυτρον that that usually designates the price of
payment of the ransom, and thus it might be expected that the direct object of
the verb διδωμι would be λουτρον instead of λυτρωσις. The entire phrase δωσεις
λυτρωσιν αμαρτιων σου in Did. 4.6 is also
atypical because, depending on how the genitive αμαρτιων σου is understood, the passage
either implies that a redemption-price is to be given for the sake of one’s
sins, or perhaps more likely, that sins themselves are redeemed.
For these reasons, Th Dan 4:27 suggests
itself as an intriguing intertextual parallel to the phrase δωσεις
λυτρωσιν αμαρτιων σου in Did. 4.6. In Th Dan
4:27 the λυτρ-word is the
verb λυτροω, and the
dual objects of λυτροω are τας αμαρτιας
σου (“your sins”)
and τας αδικιας σου
(“your injustices”):
δια τουτο βασιλευ μου αρεσατω σοι και τας
αμαρτιας σου εν ελεημοσυναις λυτρωσαι και τας αδικιας σου εν οικτιρμοις
πενητων.
Therefore, O king, may my counsel be
acceptable to you, and redeem your sins with acts of mercy and your injustices
with compassion to the poor.
The phrasing in Th Dan 4:27 is itself unusual
because, according to the normal biblical image of redemption, the verb λυτροω typically refers to the
redemption of some person(s) or thing(s) in bondage, not to the redemption of
an abstract noun like “sin.” With the exception of Th Dan 4:27, when the
biblical image of redemption is used, as a soteriological metaphor in
connection with sins or transgressions, it is sinners who are redeemed, not
sins (cf. Isa 44;22; Col 1;14). This dynamic is nicely captured in LXX Ps
129:8: “[God] will redeem Israel from all his [i.e., Israel’s] iniquities” (αυτος
λυτρωσεται τον Ιραηλ εκ πασων των ανομιων αυτου). In fact, Th Dan 4:27, Did. 4.6, and Barn. 19.10
represent a rare combination of texts in early Jewish and/or Christian
literature in which αμαρτιαι (“sins”) are “redeemed.”
The language and metaphors in Th Dan 4:27 and
Did. 4.6 are, therefore, distinctly
similar: in Th Dan 4:27, Nebuchadnezzar is instructed to redeem his sins by
mean of merciful acts, and in Did.
4.6 giving to the needy is a redemption payment for sins. In both passages it
is sins themselves that are redeemed by merciful practice on behalf of the
needy and not, as the image of redemption would typically be used, sinners. In
neither passage is there any indication of what might be holding sins in
bondage and in need of redemption, but the image of redeeming sins (as opposed
to sinners) is so unusual that it is highly likely that Th Dan 4:27 underlies
the tradition preserves in Did. 4.6. (David
J. Downs, Alms: Charity, Reward, and
Atonement in Early Christianity [Waco, Tex: Baylor University Press, 2016],
237-39)
