ms.[29]

Words of Jesus and, in general, directions for the Christian life were
not, as a rule, admitted into the short formulated creed. In the
recently discovered "Teaching of the Apostles" ([Greek: Didache ton
apostolon]) we have no doubt a notable attempt to fix the rules of
Christian life as traced back to Jesus through the medium of the
Apostles, and to elevate them into the foundation of the confederation
of Christian Churches; but this undertaking, which could not but have
led the development of Christianity into other paths, did not succeed.
That the formulated creeds did not express the principles of conduct,
but the facts on which Christians based their faith, was an unavoidable
necessity. Besides, the universal agreement of all earnest and
thoughtful minds on the question of Christian morals was practically
assured.[30] Objection was not taken to the principles of morality--at
least this was not a primary consideration--for there were many Greeks
to whom they did not seem foolishness, but to the adoration of Christ as
he was represented in tradition and to the Church's worship of a God,
who, as creator of the world and as a speaking and visible being,
appeared to the Greeks, with their ideas of a purely spiritual deity, to
be interwoven with the world, and who, as the God worshipped by the Jews
also, seemed clearly distinct from the Supreme Being. This gave rise to
the mockery of the heathen, the theological art of the Gnostics, and the
radical reconstruction of tradition as attempted by Marcion. With the
freedom that still prevailed Christianity was in danger of being
resolved into a motley mass of philosophic speculations or of being
completely detached from its original conditions. "It was admitted on
all sides that Christianity had its starting-point in certain facts and
sayings; but if any and every interpretation of those facts and sayings
was possible, if any system of philosophy might be taught into which the
words that expressed them might be woven, it is clear that there could
be but little cohesion between the members of the Christian communities.
The problem arose and pressed for an answer: What should be the basis of
Christian union? But the problem was for a time insoluble. For there was
no standard and no court of appeal." From the very beginning, when the
differences in the various Churches began to threaten their unity,
appeal was probably made to the Apostles' doctrine, the words of the
Lor