Apostolic Fathers: Didache
Chapter 16 1 Watch over your life. Do not quench your lamps nor ungird your hips. Be ready. You do not know when our Lord will come. The closing admonitions, like those of St. Paul's epistles, give imperatives for the Christian life. The general admonition to “watch over your life” come straight from Jesus' mouth (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 22:40-46). Jesus says this after He returns from His first prayer in Gethsemane. The Apostles had fallen asleep. Jesus encourages His followers to watch so that we might be ready when His time comes. The admonition not to quench our lamps comes most directly from Luke 12:35. The Teaching has the two segments of the statement reversed from St. Luke. It also points towards Jesus' parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). Only those who had oil in their lamps—whose lamps were not quenched—were able to enter the wedding feast. Only those who are ready will be able to enter the marriage feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). This readiness is necessary because we do not know when Jesus will return (Matthew 24:36, 42-44; Zechariah 14:5). 2 Gather together frequently, seeking what is profitable for your souls. The whole time of your faith will not profit you, until you are made perfect in the last time. 3 For in the last days, false prophets and corrupters will be multiplied, and the sheep will be twisted into wolves. Love will be twisted into hate. To make ready, Christians are encouraged to “gather together frequently, seeking what is profitable for your souls.” This is an important concept in the early Church, especially since the Apostles were either being martyred or held under arrest at the time the Teaching is being compiled and the epistle to the Hebrews is being written. Hebrews 10:23-25 encourages the Christian congregation to gather frequently: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” A Christian cannot consider himself or herself ready for the Day of the Lord if he or she does not gather with the congregation. “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (Psalm 22:22). For those who say, “I can worship God in nature,” the Teaching says, “The whole time of your faith will not profit you.” Heaven's gates will not open just because you have been a Christian for decades. Polycarp himself, in his Martyrdom, promotes the length of his Christianity, “For eighty and six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” (9:3). While Polycarp has been commemorated as a saint throughout Church history, his faith is not contingent on length of time. His faith is contingent on the King who saved him. This faith illustrates that Heaven is not opened to all who had once been a Christian. Heaven is opened only to those who are in the right relationship with God on the Last Day. “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13; Revelation 2:10). These verses disprove the mistaken notion of “once saved, always saved.” A Christian may fall from God's grace. This was the whole point with many of the early Church's heresies. Some fell away from the Church, turning their backs on their congregations so that they might save their own life. The orthodox, in several of these cases, didn't want to allow the repentant back into the Church. The Church struggled through this especially in the third century. The positive disposition of the soul toward Jesus at any point in life does not lead to salvation. The positive disposition of the soul toward Jesus at the end of life leads to salvation. This faithful disposition will be perfected and revealed in the world to come when Jesus returns on the Last Day. 4 For as lawlessness increases they will hate each other and hand each other over. Then the deceiver of the world will appear as the Son of God and will do signs and wonders. The land will be handed over into his power. He will do lawlessness as has never been seen since the beginning of the age. 5 Then the creation of men will come into the fiery trial, and many will be scandalized and destroyed. Those who remain faithful will be saved by Him who was cursed. In the last days, the soul's disposition will be tested greatly. Revelation shows us the two beasts who will arise to lead the world astray (13:1-18). These beasts are the powers that seek to destroy and corrupt the Christian faith in the last days (1 Timothy 4:1). They will be successful because they will seek to twist people inward on themselves. People will become more selfish as time goes along (2 Peter 3:3). St. Augustine first coined the phrase curvatus in se to describe man's natural inclination of self-preservation. Due to original sin, man is so curved in on himself that he cannot escape himself. The false prophets and corrupters will use this to their advantage to turn many away from the Church in the last days. Lawlessness will abound throughout the world, as Jesus prophesied (Matthew 24:3-22). Families will even be torn apart in this time (Matthew 10:21). Towards the climax of the abundance of lawlessness, the great deceiver—the Antichrist—will appear. He will appear like the Son of God and do great and mighty works in the sight of all people. He will draw many to himself, including Christians, with the openness of his power. While Jesus came into the world humbly, the Antichrist will come into the world haughtily. This should be a great sign for Christians. Those who seek to revel in their own power and notoriety are not to be considered as leaders of the true faith in Christ. The world will be handed over to the Antichrist because he worships and utilizes the power of “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). In his lust for power, the Antichrist will do unspeakable lawless deeds whose evil has never been seen before. God destroyed the world in Noah's day because of their wickedness, but their wickedness will pale in comparison to the Antichrist's wickedness in the last days. In these last days, the whole world will enter into the fiery trials. They will face the fiery darts of the devil. Those who have the armor of God will be able to withstand his attacks (Ephesians 6:10-20). Those who endure in faith will be saved by Him who became a curse for us (Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Galatians 3:13). Jesus died on the cross, taking the curse of humanity's sinfulness, bearing God's wrath against sin, so that we might be empowered to endure in the faith to meet Him in the skies (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). 6 Then the true signs will be manifested. Heaven will be spread out first. Then the trumpet will sound. Then the resurrection of the dead. 7 Not everyone will be raised. The Lord will come with all the saints, as has been said before. 8 Then the world will see the Lord coming down from above with the clouds of Heaven. On the Last Day, as St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), Jesus will return visibly to claim His brothers and sisters and bring them into their eternal reward. (See also Matthew 24:29-31 and 26:63-64.) He will come with all the saints who have gone before us and whose souls sit before Him in Heaven. These departed saints will be joined with their glorified bodies. Those still on earth will be caught up into the air and their bodies glorified “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). When all these things are accomplished, Jesus “will sit on His glorious throne” (Matthew 25:31) to judge the living and the dead. This last chapter is not given as a timeline of events to prepare us for the Last Day. These things are given so that we might comfort each other with the Gospel promise that Jesus has overcome the world. He will return to judge the living and the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:18). While the prophecy of the world's lawlessness is unnerving and even scary, Christians boldly go forth with the knowledge that their Savior has overcome the world and is coming back to bring them to be with Him in Heaven.