Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VII:
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles: Chapter XVI.—Watchfulness; The Coming of the Lord

p. 382  

Chapter XVI. 2503 —Watchfulness; The Coming of the Lord.

1. Watch for your life’s sake. 2504 Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; 2505 but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. 2506 2. But often shall ye come together, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, 2507 if ye be not made perfect in the last time. 3. For in the last days 2508 false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; 2509 4. for when lawlessness increaseth, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, 2510 and then shall appear the world-deceiver 2511 as the Son of God, 2512 and shall do signs and wonders, 2513 and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass since the beginning. 5. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, 2514 and many shall be made to stumble and shall perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved 2515 from under the curse itself. 2516 6. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; 2517 first, the sign of an out-spreading 2518 in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; 7. yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. 2519 8. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven. 2520  

Footnotes

The resemblance between this chapter and Apostolic Constitutions, vii. 31, 32, is mainly in order of topics and in the identity of some phrases and terms. Verses 3 and 4 (to the word “world-deceiver”) are reproduced almost verbatim. That the writer of the Teaching used Matt. xxiv. is extremely probable, but the connection of Apostolic Constitutions, with this passage is evident. In Barnabas, iv., there are a few corresponding phrases.  

Or, “over your life;” the clause occurs verbatim in Apostolic Constitutions.  

Comp. Luke xii. 35, which is exactly cited in Apostolic Constitutions.  

Matt. xxiv. 42.  

Here Barnabas, iv., furnishes a parallel.  

This reference to the last days as present or impending is an evidence of early date; comp. Barnabas, iv., and many passages in the New Testament. The mistake has been in measuring God’s prophetic chronology by our mathematical standard of years.  

Comp. Matt. 24:11, 12.  

Comp. Matt. xxiv. 10.  

ὁ κοσμοπλάνος, found only here and in Apostolic Constitutions, vii. 32. Comp. 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, 8; Rev. xii. 9.  

Not found in Apostolic Constitutions. The expression plainly implies the belief that Jesus Christ was Son of God.  

Comp. Matt. xxiv. 24. The rest of the verse has no parallel.  

Comp. 1 Pet. iv. 12. where πύρωσις also occurs.  

Comp. Matt x. 22 and similar passages; none of them directly cited here.  

ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καταθέματος, “from under the curse itself:” namely, that which has just been described. Bryennios and others render “by the curse Himself;” that is, Christ, whom they were tempted to revile. All other interpretations either rest on textual emendations or are open to grammatical objections. Of the two given above, that of Hall and Napier seems preferable.  

“Truth” might refer to Christ Himself, but the personal advent is spoken of in verse 8; it is better, then, to refer it to the truth respecting the parousia held by the early Christians. For this belief they were mocked, and hence dwelt upon it and the prophecies respecting it. The verse is probably based upon Matt. 24:30, 31; but some find here, as in verse 4, an allusion to Paul’s eschatological statements in the Epistles to the Thessalonians.  

Professor Hall now prefers to render ἐκπετάσεως, “outspreading,” instead of “unrolling,” as in his version originally. Hitchcock and Brown, Schaff, and others, prefer “opening;” that is, the apparent o pening in heaven through which the Lord will descend. “Outspreading” is usually explained (so Professor Hall) as meaning the expanded sign of the cross in the heavens, the patristic interpretation of Matt. xxiv. 30. Bryennios and Farrar refer it to the flying forth of the saints to meet the Lord. There are other interpretations based on textual emendations. As the word is very rare, it is difficult to determine the exact sense. “Opening” seems lexically allowable and otherwise free from objection.  

Zech. xiv. 5. This citation is given substantially in Apostolic Constitutions. As here used, it seems to point to the first resurrection. Comp. 1 Thess. iv. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 23; Rev. xx. 5. Probably it is based upon the Pauline eschatology rather than upon that of the Apocalypse. At all events, there is no allusion to the millennial statement of the latter. Since there was in the early Church, in connection with the expectation of the speedy coming of Christ, a marked tendency to Chiliasm, the silence respecting the millennium may indicate that the writer was not acquainted with the Apocalypse. This inference is allowable, however, only on the assumption of the early date of the Teaching.  

Comp. Matt. xxiv. 30. The conclusion is abrupt, and in Apostolic Constitutions the New-Testament doctrine of future punishment and reward is added. The absence of all reference to the destruction of Jerusalem would indicate that some time had elapsed since that event. An interval of from thirty to sixty years may well be claimed.