Scholarly Reflections
Lake, Kirsopp (Oxford Society of Historical Theology). "Chapter Two: The Didache." The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905, 24-36.
Lake notes that the composite nature of the Didache makes analysis challenging. Identification of different layers is not always clear, and classifying the references to Scripture is no easier (Lake 1905, 24). Apart from the first six chapters, however, formulae are used to introduce quotations. yet the quotations are not always direct in nature.
Lake works through the text section by section, providing Didache text and blbilcal text, both in reek, in parallel columns, inserting his commentary on the allusion or quotation after each (Lake 1905, 25ff). He repeatedly observes that the similarities are present by "cannot prove literary dependence on either side." This statement leaves the door open for an understanding of the Didache as antedating the New Testament writings.