Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles/The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles/Chapter XIII

by Anonymous

Chapter XIII.^[1]—Support of Prophets.

1. But every true prophet that willeth to abide among you^[2] is worthy of his support.^[3] 2. So also a true teacher is himself worthy, as the workman, of his support.^[4] 3. Every first-fruit, therefore, of the products of wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and of sheep, thou shalt take and give to the prophets, for they are your high priests.^[5] 4. But if ye have not a prophet, give it to the poor. 5. If thou makest a batch of dough, take the first-fruit and give according to the commandment. 6. So also when thou openest a jar of wine or of oil, take the first-fruit and give it to the prophets; 7. and of money (silver) and clothing and every possession, take the first-fruit, as it may seem good to thee, and give according to the commandment.  

Footnotes

1. A large part of this chapter is found in Apostolic Constitutions, vii. 28, 29, but with modifications and additions indicating a later date.  
2. “Who will settle among you” (Hitchcock and Brown). The itinerant prophets might become stationary, we infer. Chaps. xi.-xv. point to a movement from an itinerant and extraordinary ministry to a more settled one.  
3. Lit., “nourishment,” “food.”  
4. Matt. x. 10; comp. Luke x. 7.  
5. This phrase, indicating a sacerdotal view of the ministry, seems to point to a later date than that claimed for the Teaching. Some regard it as an interpolation: others take it in a figurative sense. In Apostolic Constitutions the sacerdotal view is more marked. [1 Pet. ii. 9. If the plebs = “priests,” prophets = “high priests.”] Here the term is restricted to the prophets: compare Schaff in loco.