Didache 12.5

Anonymous · Didache · ca. 50–150 (often ca. 100) · place unknown · Read in context

Summary: Those unwilling to work are exploiting Christ.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:328

εἰ δʼ οὐ θέλει οὕτω ποιεῖν, χριστέμπορός ἐστι· προσέχετε ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων.

But if he is not willing to do this, he is making a trade of Christ; beware of such people.

Source: Lake, LCL 24:328 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 308–333 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Topics: Ethics

“Making a trade of Christ” (χριστέμπορος): literally “a Christ-merchant,” a word apparently coined here.

Did. 12.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/12/5/).

Plain text

Did. 12.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/didache/12/5/).