Sunday, July 14, 2019

The Didache vs. Sola Fide


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)

Clearly, the Didache clearly shows us that Sola Fide was unknown in early Christianity, being a late first-century document.