Topical - The Eschatology of Didache 16

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Introduction

Appendix C

“The Eschatology of Didache 16”

     The Didache is not the first place, other than possibly chapter 16, where one turns to understand the eschatology of the Apostolic Fathers.  “It is striking that so little attention has been devoted to its eschatology inasmuch as nearly one tenth of the work is devoted entirely to eschatology, aside from the eschatological Eucharistic prayers.  Outside of our New Testament, this is the first ‘little apocalypse’ which is to be found in patristic literature.”[1]  This section will focus on the important features of Didache 16. 

A. The Exhortation in 16.1-2

     The word watch (grhgoreite) is often used in eschatological settings, such as in Matt 24:22; 25:13; Mark 13:35; I Th 5:6; Rev 3:2) and it “seems to have been a common word for spiritual vigilance in the earliest church circles.”[2]  The urgency to be on guard is further emphasized by the fact one has to be found perfect in the last time.  This section closely resembles Mark 13:35, 37; Luke 12:35-40 and Matt 24:42, 44 where the emphasis in on the need to be ready for the Lord’s return.[3]

 

B. The Four Stage of the Last Days[4]

     The main events of the last days will involve these four parts:  1) False prophets will arise (16.3). “The fact that the false prophets are expected to increase in number shows that these last day still lie in the future....for the Didachist the parousia of Christ is certainly no an imminent reality.”[5]  The false prophets were already mentioned in 11.4-12 as being active already during the time of the Didachist.  2) Then the deceiver of the world will appear (16.4).  3) There will be a testing by fire (16.6).

4) The Lord will return which will be preceded by three signs of truth: The opening in heaven[6], the sound of the trumpet and the resurrection of the dead (16.6).  After these four events, Christ will come on the clouds of heaven (16.8). 

    The chart[7] on the following page reveals some of the obvious parallels Matthew 24 and with Didache 16.[8] 

             Didache 16                                                                      Matthew 24

                                            I. Troubles before the End

v. 4 persecution, betrayal                                                    v. 5 false Christ’s

    3 false prophets;                                                                  6 wars

       corruptors                                                                         7 famines, earth quakes 

       sheep become wolves                                                       9 afflictions

    4 lawlessness                                                                       9 hatred, betrayal

    3 hatred                                                                              11 false prophets, many deceived

                                                                                               12 lawlessness, love cooled

                                                                                               13 salvation for those who endure

                                                                                               14 gospel preached in all the world

                                                         II. The Antichrist

v. 4 World deceiver, as Son of God                                             v. 15 abomination of desolation

 

                                                              III. Tribulation

v. 5 fiery trial, many offended and perish,                        v 21 great tribulation

salvation of those who endure

                                                         IV. Signs of the End

v. 6 an outstretching in heaven, sound of                           v. 29 signs in heaven

the trumpet, resurrection                                                         30 sign of the Son of Man

                                                                                                31 angels and trumpet gathering of elect

C. The Antichrist/World-Deceiver

     There are many interesting parallels with the figure mentioned in this text and with the personage described in the Ascension of Isaiah (4).[9]  The following five points can be seen: 

1) The world-deceiver (kosmos plaghs- a hapax legomenon) will appear (faghsetai) on the scene of human history at some point in the future.[10]  The Asc Is 4:7-8 reads, “And all the people in the world will believe in him.  And they will sacrifice to him, and they will serve him saying: This is God and beside him there is no other.”  This seems to be a parallel of 2 Th 2:11?  Some interpret this term to be a description of Satan himself.[11] 

2) He will appear as the ‘Son of God’ (ws uios  qeou)  The Asc Is 4.6-8 reads, “He will do and speak like the Beloved and he will say: I am God and before me there has been none.”  He will also set up an image of himself in very city to further promotes this blaspheme (Asc Is 4.11).[12]

3) He will do signs and wonders (16.4).  This is also mentioned in 2 Th 2:9, and in the Asc of Isaiah 4:5-6,10 he is even able by his word to cause the sun to rise and give light a night and is able to give this power to his servants to promote his deception. 

4) The world will be given over to his hands (16.4; Cf. Hermas Sim 9.20.4; 9.23.5, Asc Is 4.4, 7).

5) He will perform iniquities (aqemeta) unparalleled in evil.  This word places an emphasis on that which is contrary to “law.”  These are iniquities which have never been done before.  The general character of the Antichrist as described in 2 Thess 2 is in agreement with this description as is the Asc Is 4.2-13.  It is strange that Didache 16 says nothing about the destruction of the Antichrist.[13]

D. The Fiery Trial & The Accursed One

     There is the mention of a fiery trial but the wrath of God as mentioned as in the book of Revelation is entirely absent.  This time of testing is for all of humanity, including the Church.  Only those who endure the test will be saved and many will fall away 16.5 during this time period.  The end result is that those who remain faithful will be saved by the “accursed one.”  The “accursed one” has been interpreted in several different ways.[14]  Bryennios appears to be the first one to apply the term to Christ as early as 1883.[15]  Others have followed the variant reading apo (apo) rather than upo (upo) which lends a translation of “from the accursed one.”  Ladd reports in his time that “consensus of modern scholarship is that the curse is Jesus, who became a curse to effect salvation for men (Gal 3:13) or who is cursed by unbelievers.”[16]

Kraft translates it by the curse itself or by that which is accursed and then mentions the curse of the earth Gen 3:17.[17]  Audet take it to mean from the grave itself (Rev 21:4; 22:3).[18]  There are some Catholic theologians who want to see the fiery trial and the curse as preliminary remarks about purgatory.[19]

E. The Resurrection

     The Didache only mentions the resurrection in relation to the believers (16.5).  “Nowhere in the New Testament or in Jewish literature are the unrighteous so clearly excluded from the resurrection as here.”[20]  The resurrection of 16.6-7, in any case, is only for the ‘saints,’ as a reward for endurance and as a sign of triumph.”[21] 

F. The Millennium

There is no prima facie evidence that the Didachist held to a millennium.  Ladd offers some evidence as to its possibility since the text only mentions that the righteous are raised.  He writes, “What is the significance of this phenomenon?  Is it possible that the Didachist conceived of a temporal earthly kingdom ensuing upon the resurrection for the enjoyment of the righteous alone are to be raised?”[22]  O’Hagan finds support in the fact the believers’ resurrection itself: “A material reward was precisely the reason why the just would need their bodies back at all!”[23]  He then adds to his argument the concept that the Didachist was relying upon Jewish apocalyptic elements, in which the Messiah comes to rescue the righteous form an increasing evil age through the establishing of the kingdom.  He cites 4 Es 5.1; 12.20-33; Sib III 63-92; Asc Is 4.1-14; Apoc Pet Frag. to support this point.[24]  I prefer to agree with Dunn’s position is that there is “no hint of a millenarian concept.”[25]  The best one can offer is speculation[26] and their arguments are far from convincing. 


----

     [1] George. Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, Ph.D Dissertation (Harvard University, 1949), 15.

     [2] George. Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 54.

     [3] F. F. Bruce, “Eschatology in the Apostolic Fathers,” in The Heritage of the Early Church, ed. David Neiman, OCA 195 (Rome: Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium), 84.

     [4] For a detailed exposition of these four points see Peerbolte, The Antecedents of Antichrist, p. 176-79.

     [5] Peerbolte, The Antecedents of Antichrist, p. 177. 

     [6] There are three main suggestions as to the meaning of the “opening in heaven.”  It is a substitute for the sign of the Son of Man in heaven of Matt 24:30, heaven itself opening up or a cross as a sign in the heavens.  This last one possibly finds its origins in the Apocalypse of Peter, “With my cross going before my face I will come in my majesty.”  See Peerbolte, The Antecedents of Antichrist, p. 178-79 for discussion.  Note: The opening of heaven has been interpreted to mean the sign of the cross.  This position is based on the idea that the word for opening (ekpetasews) literally means to “spread out,” and the tradition associated with this concept.  The tradition appears to be based on the text in the Epistle of the Apostles 16 “and the sign of the Cross will go before me, and I shall come upon the earth to judge the quick and the dead,” and The Apocalypse of Peter, “with the cross going before my face will I come in my majesty with all my saints.”  This position is also held by F. F. Bruce, The Heritage of the Early Church,  p. 84. 

     [7] This chart was copied from  Ladd, It is taken from Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 25.

     [8] For documentary dependence upon Matthew see Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 19-27, where he shows the many similarities between that of Matt 24 and Didache 16.  He also supplies ample evidence that Didache 16 is much closer to Matt 24 than that of either Mark or Luke.  He then suggests that “the Didachist….must have been quite familiar with a documentary form of our Matthew rather than with Mark or with a hypothetical separate eschatological leaflet which underlay both Mark and Matthew” (p. 27).  See also his cahrt on page 21.

      Note: Justin Taylor, “The Love of Many will Grow Cold,” Revue Biblique 96 (1989): 352-357, where he makes a case that the phrase the love of many will grow cold and many will fall away and betray one another, he relates this to Didache 16.3-5 and I Clement 4-6 to that of the Neroain persecution.  His evidence is interesting but not convincing.  One must also accept an early date for both I Clement and the Didache, which is based primarily on Audet’s dating of the Didache between 50 to 70 (J. P. Audet, La Didache, Instructions des Aportes, (Ebib 43; Paris: Gabalda, 1958).

     [9]There are some major differences as well as in the fact in Didache 16.4 he appears (faghsetai), but in the Ascension of Isaiah he descends from the firmament (4.2).  The Asc of Isaiah goes beyond that of the Didache and Paul (Ladd, p. 89).

     [10] Cf. William Manson, ”Early Patristic Eschatology,” in Eschatology: Four Papers Read to The Society for the Study of Theology, (London: Oliver and Boyd, 1952), p. 29, “The strength of the Antichrist tradition in the Fathers is a powerful antidote to any optimistic theory of the perfectibility of the present order apart from a decisive act of God.”

     [11] Peerbolte, The Antecedent of Antichrist, p.181, “It is best to regard the title ‘deceiver of the world’ as a description of Satan...The deceiver is definitely not described as an envoy of Satan.”  See also K. Niederwimmer, Die Didache, (Reprint, KAV vol 1. Gottingen: Vendenhoeck & Reprecht, 1989), 262.  He bases this on the concept that Satan tries to hide his identity in Adam and Eve 9; 2 Cor 11:14; T. Job 6.4).

     Ignatius doesn’t refer to a last world ruler but he does emphasize the role of the Devil.  He refers to him as Satan (Eph 13.1), the Devil (Eph 10.3; Trall 8.1; Rom 5.3; Smyrn 9.1), and as the ruler of this world (Eph 17.1; 19.1; Mag 1.2; Trall 4.2; Rom 7.1; Phil 6.2).  The ruler of this world can be destroyed by gentleness (Trall 4.2).  The believer is warned to flee the “evil tricks and traps of the ruler of this age” (Phil 6.2) and to “endure all the abuses of the ruler of this age and escape and reach God” (Mag 1.2).  There is the need to gather together frequently to annul the powers of Satan (Eph 13.1).   

     [12] Matt 24:15 and 2 Th 2:4 refer to the something similar.

     [13] Ladd suggests that this due to the idea that the Didachist is following the outline of Matt 24.  He has noting to say ‘about the fat of the Antichrist because his source is silent on the subject” Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 89.  See also Peerbolte, The Antecedent of Antichrist, p. 174, “The author of Didache 16 adapted the Mattean material and fitted it into his own scheme.”  O’Hagan, Material Re-Creation in the Apostolic Fathers, p. 25, “A striking resemblance between chapter 16 and Mt. 24 is apparent even from a cursory reading of the two.”

     [14] Jefford mention four possibilities: Christ, the fiery trial, the world-deceiver and faith itself.  See Clayton Jefford, The Didache in Context: Essays on Its Text, History and Transmission, New York: E.J. Brill, 1995), 135-139 for an explanation of each position. 

     [15] As mentioned by Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 102.

     [16] Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 103.  There is no reason to change opinion today since Ladd’s statement.  Cf. Peerbolte, The Antecedent to Antichrist, p. 178, who applies it to Christ and references Gal 3:13 and 1 Cor 12:3!  See also J. Rendel Harris, The Teaching of the Apostles, (London: C. J. Clay, 1887), 62-69 for a convincing defense of this position.  

     [17] Kraft, Apostolic Fathers, vol 3, p. 176.

     [18]As mentioned by Robert Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of the Writings,  (Michigan: Baker Book House, 1992), 269 in footnote 45.

     [19] See Aaron Milavec, “The Saving Efficacy of the Burning Process in Didache 16.5,” in The Didache in Context, 131-155.

     [20] Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 145-46.

     [21] Robert Kraft,  Apostolic Fathers, vol 3, p. 176.

     [22] Ladd, The Eschatology of the Didache, p. 146.  For a defense of the possibility that the Didachist held to a millennium see Ladd pages 145-165.

     [23] O’Hagan, Material and Re-Creation of the Apostolic Fathers, p. 28.

     [24] Andrew Chester, Jews and Christians, p. 278-279, brings up a good question.  His argument “begs the question of whether the use of ‘kingdom’ here implies the whole Jewish tradition, in material form, or whether it has been qualified and redefined in terms of church, to give it a different sense.”

     [25] Andrew Chester, Jews and Christians, p. 278.

     [26] See Ladd’s treatment of the possible ending of Didache since there is a mutilated ending of chapter 16 at v. 8 on pages 164-165.

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