Receiving the Didaché
This was the catechetical foundation. It was not exhaustive, but it was essential. The apostles' teaching was both kerygmatic and didactic. The kerygma was the proclamation of Christ's saving work. The didaché was the instruction in how the redeemed now live. The two were inseparable.
3. The Didaché Was Public and Authoritative The apostles' teaching was not esoteric. It was public, spoken in synagogues, marketplaces, and homes. When the high priest charged Peter and the apostles in Acts 5, he said, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching."
"We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us."
Acts 5:28
The authorities recognized its scope and its authority. The word "filled" indicates saturation. The didaché was not a whisper. It was a city-wide phenomenon. And it carried weight. Even opponents called it "your teaching." They knew it had a source and a substance. Likewise, when Paul reasoned in the Areopagus, the Athenians said, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?"
And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean."
Acts 17:19-20 The term again is didaché . To the intellectuals of Athens, Paul's message was not a feeling. It was a didaché , a teaching with structure, claims, and implications. The apostolic doctrine could be examined, discussed, and either embraced or rejected. But it could not be ignored as vague.
Receiving the Didaché The first act of transmission is reception. Before the apostles could guard or pass on the teaching, they had to receive it themselves. Christ had prepared