Test the Prophets

And any prophet who teaches the truth, but does not live according to his teaching is to be considered a false prophet.  (Didache 11.10)

The final note is interesting in that it sets the actual walking of the Way as a test for anyone who acts as a prophet.  The correct teaching is not enough in itself, it must be backed up by the correct form of life.  The Didache has a bald statement intended as a test for the community to use to distinguish visitors in two groups: false and genuine. *

Visitors are not the only people who need to be examined: wolves, goatherds, and other self-promoters are a "dime-a-dozen."  Fellow believers, do the hard work of discernment.  Elders, do the hard work of guarding the flock.


* Thomas O'Laughlin, The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 118