Eschatology in Didache 16 and Ellen White Compared also Perfection before the End Time

(Koot van Wyk, Sangju, South Korea, 8 January 2021)

 

Translation of Didache 16 is below taken from a source. Also the analysis is by that source. Then Ellen White is placed in between to illustrate the Adventist doctrine. Notice how only the good ones are resurrected and not the bad ones also. Except those who pierced him says the Bible. But Didache says nothing. Surprising is also the doctrine of perfection before the Second Coming.

 

16:1 [A] Bë_watchful over ÿour life;

 [1] do not let ÿour lamps be_quenched,

 [2] and do not let ÿour waists be ungirded. (Matt. 25:8; Luke 12:35?)

[B] But bë prepared;

 for ÿou do not know the hour in which our Lord is coming.

(Matt 24:42)

[Be Adventists expecting Christ any time for we do not know when]

 

16:2 [C] (And) frequently bë_gathered_together,

 seeking the things appropriate for ÿour souls;

for the whole time of ÿour faith will not be of use to ÿou

if in the end time ÿou should not have been perfected.

[Doctrine of Perfection before the Second Coming] GC 613

 

16:3 [1] For, in the last days,

[a] the false_prophets and corrupters will be multiplied,

[b] and the sheep will be turned into wolves,

[c] and the love will be turned into hate.

[Deception

[Deception by ministers] GC 654-655

16:4 For, when lawlessness increases,

 [a] they will hate each other

 [b] and they will persecute

 [c] and they will betray [each other]. (Matt 24:10-12)

 [2] And then will appear the world-deceiver as a son of God,

[a] and he will do signs and wonders, (Matt 24:24)

[b] and the earth will be delivered into his hands,

[c] and he will do unlawful things

 that never have happened from eternity.

[Imitating Christ and His Coming by Deception] GC 624

 

16:5 [3] Then the human creation will come

 into the burning-process of testing,

[a] and many will be led into sin and will perish,

[b] the ones remaining firm in their faith,

 on_the_other_hand,

 will be saved (Matt 24:10,13) by the curse itself.

[Wicked and their fate at the Second Coming] GC 657

16:6 [4] And then the signs of the truth will appear: (cf. Matt 24:30)

[a] [the] first sign [will be] an opening in heaven,

[b] then [the] sign of a trumpet sound, (cf. Matt 24:30; 1 Thess

 4:16)

[Coming of the Lord Accessories] GC 640-641

Voice (GC 640); small black cloud; with a cloud wrapped in flaming fire; voice calling for resurrection (GC 644)

[c] and the third [sign will be] a resurrection of dead ones—

 

16:7 but not of all [the dead],

 but as it was said:

 “The Lord will come and all the holy ones with him.”

(Zech 14:5; cf. 1 Thess 3:13)

[Resurrection of the Faithful only not the wicked] GC 644-645

 

16:8 [5] Then the world will see the Lord coming atop the clouds of

heaven . . . (cf. Matt 24:30; 26:64; Dan 7:13 LXX)

[Description of His Second Coming] GC 640-641

 

NOTE: The translation and Scripture annotations are my own. For the sentence

analysis, Aaron Milavec in his recent books on The Didache is at play here. The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary Paperback – Illustrated, October 1, 2003.

 

Source:

http://www.tms.edu/m/tmsj16f.pdf

William Varner, The Didache Use of The Old and The New Testaments. TMSJ 16/1 (Spring 2005) 127-151, especially pp. 150-151.

 

Perfection attained before the End Timearticle

There is the article on Didache 16:2 by Jonathan A. Draper in which he used a number of early patristic sources including the Didache here to postulate that they had a strict perfection expectation because of the Jewish use of Deuteronomy in Christianity. But, Draper argued, that as the Christians secularized by mingling with pagans also now joining the church, they could not insist of legal perfection for the End Time because the heathens did not know the laws of the Jews. So what happened? They modified and “watered down” the truth and accommodate the heathens by saying “no one really can be perfect. That is okay. You do not have to be perfect at the End Time.”

 

Source:

Draper, J.A. 2018. “’For the Whole Period of Your Faith Will Be of No Use Unless You Are Found Perfect in the Last Time’ (Did. 16.2): Salvation by Works in the Didache, Barnabas and the Shepherd Of Hermas?” Paper presented to the SBL International Conference, Helsinki, 30th July-3 rd August 2018 (Apostolic Fathers Section). Forthcoming.

  Abstract: The Pauline understanding of salvation by grace alone appropriated by faith without works of the law has dominated Christian soteriology, particularly since Augustine. However, it is not the only or perhaps even the earliest Christian understanding of salvation. Utilizing the lens of Terror Management Theory this paper explores and compares the Two Ways as catechesis for salvation through works in Didache, Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. Covenantal nomism drawn from Deuteronomy provides the basis for initiation into the Christian community, as well as for their ongoing common life as believers, and their destiny in the final judgment when the Lord comes. Walking on the Way of Life provides an attractive, achievable and effective cultural double anxiety buffer against the fear of death which is the basis of human motivation: a shared worldview and status enhancement. However, the need to accommodate both Gentile converts and Torah observant Jews led to a double standard of “the perfect” and the “not-yet-perfect” which undermined its potential once it was removed from its Jewish Christian roots. Hermas demonstrates the paralyzing effect of “double-mindedness” and the emergence of penance as an obsession for many Christians