On the basis of these studies of Matthew 25:1–13, Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Didache 16, I am able to conclude that the widely accepted model of progressive ‘de-eschatolization’ in the early church due to the passing of time and the disappointment at the delay of the parousia fits the evidence only partially.

Particularly in Matt. 25:5–7a I discerned the literary deposit of a community coming to terms with the delay of the parousia, a problem that had become acute, owing not so much to the passing of time as to the death of community members. This had led to a reworking of eschatological expectation and an incorporation of the possibility that all may die before the expected parousia into their eschatological framework. I tentatively dated the revision of eschatological expectation within this community to the forties or fifties, but recognized that not every community necessarily under-went such a process at this time. One could not strictly claim that the process reflected in Matt. 25:1–13 was ‘de-eschatolization’, for the reworked expectation retained an imminent parousia-hope while at the same time recognizing the experienced delay. By the time this material was incorporated into Matthew's Gospel, I found that the delay of the parousia was no longer a burning issue, as both the possibility of the death of all Christians and the fact of the delay itself had become part of the revised eschatological framework.