The Didache is a brief church handbook concerned mainly with ethics, baptism, and Eucharistic prayers rather than formal theological exposition. Therefore, those who pervert the deity of Christ spew their vomit that the word “God” is never applied to Christ in this document. By this I know that Satan has made them stupid. Its failure to apply the word “God” directly to Jesus proves nothing, because silence in one direction would cut both ways: the title “Lord” appears twenty times in the text, yet never once for the Father. No one would argue from this that the Father is not Lord. By the same logic, the Didache’s silence regarding Jesus’ Messiahship cannot be taken as a denial of it. In fact, just as the Didache hints at Christ’s divinity, it also hints at His messianic identity by calling Him the pais—the Servant. This term appears in Acts 3:13 and 3:26 as a title for Jesus and is drawn directly from Isaiah’s Servant Songs, especially Isaiah 52–53. In Isaiah 52:13 (LXX), the Servant— (ὁ παῖς μου) ho pais mou—is exalted and glorified in the very language used for Yahweh Himself, which early Christians understood in a messianic and exalted sense. With that background in place, we can now look at how the Didache’s use of this Servant language points toward Jesus’ sharing in Yahweh’s identity. Nevertheless, here is what the Didache has to say:
Chapter 16. Watchfulness; the Coming of the Lord. Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord will come. But come together often, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if you are not made perfect in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; for when lawlessness increases, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, and then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, 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. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and shall perish; but those who endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth: first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet. And third, the resurrection of the dead — yet not of all, but as it is said: ”The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him.” Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven. (The Didache, Roberts-Donaldson translation
Here is Bart Ehrman’s translation and footnotes:
6 Then the signs of truth will be manifest:30 first a sign of a rip in the sky, then a sign of the sound of a trumpet,31 and third a resurrection of the dead.
7 But not of all the dead. For as it has been said, “The Lord will come and all of his holy ones with him.”32
8 Then the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of the sky.…”33 (Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Scriptures, p. 217)Footnotes:
31Cf. Matt 24:31; 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thess 4:16..
32Zech 14:5; 1 Thess 3:13
33Cf. Matt 24:30.
The Didache quotes Zechariah 14:5 as a fulfilment of the return of the Lord Jesus with all his saints. However, Zechariah 14:5 is about Yahweh Himself who is to come with his holy saints!
Furthermore, it continues to says that Yahweh’s physical feet will actually touch and split the Mount of Olives in half!
“A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. On that day HIS FEET will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.” Zechariah 14:1-9
The Didache derived this from the Apostle Paul
“May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all HIS holy ones.” 1 Thessalonians 3:13
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
“All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with HIS powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.” 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Jude follows a similar style by quoting 1 Enoch 1:9, which was originally about Jehovah (see verses 3-9), but applies it to Christ:
“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’ … But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1:14-15, 20-25
Jude cites a passage from the pseudepigraphal book of Enoch which speaks of the eternal God coming with ten thousands of his holy ones to bring judgment!
“Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them: THE HOLY GREAT ONE will come forth from His dwelling, And THE ETERNAL GOD will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai, [And appear from His camp] And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens. And all shall be smitten with fear And the Watchers shall quake, And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth. And the high mountains shall be shaken, And the high hills shall be made low, And shall melt like wax before the flame And the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder, And all that is upon the earth shall perish, And there shall be a judgement upon all (men). But with the righteous He will make peace. And will protect the elect, And mercy shall be upon them. And they shall all belong to GOD, And they shall be prospered, And they shall all be blessed. And HE will help them all, And light shall appear unto them, And HE will make peace with them. And behold! HE cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 1 Enoch 1:3-9 (Translated from the Ethiopian by R.H. Charles, 1906)
In conclusion, we have shown without a doubt that the Didache shows the full Deity of Christ by quoting passages that were about YHWH but have revealed and fully explained and unveiled in Christ.