2 Timothy 3:1

But as the conquering power of things evil is on the increase-which is the characteristic of the last times -things good are now not allowed either to be born, so corrupted are the seminal principles; or to be trained, so deserted are studies; nor to be enforced, so dined are the laws.

Grant that from the time of John the Paraclete had grown mute; we ourselves would have arisen as prophets to ourselves, for this cause chiefly: I say not now to bring down by our prayers God's anger, nor to obtain his protection or grace; but to secure by premunition the moral position of the "latest times; " enjoining every species of of tapeino/fronhsij, since the prison must be familiarized to us, and hunger and thirst practised, and capacity of enduring as well the absence of food as anxiety about it acquired: in order that the Christian may enter into prison in like condition as if he had (just) come forth of it,-to suffer there not penalty, but discipline, and not the world's tortures, but his own habitual observances; and to go forth out of custody to (the final) conflict with all the more confidence, having nothing of sinful false care of the flesh about him, so that the tortures may not even have material to work on, since he is cuirassed in a mere dry skin, and cased in horn to meet the claws, the succulence of his blood already sent on (heavenward) before him, the baggage as it were of his soul,-the soul herself withal now hastening (after it), having already, by frequent fasting, gained a most intimate knowledge of death!

He had said in the former Epistle, that "the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith" (1 Tim. iv. 1, 1 Tim. iv. 2.); and elsewhere in this Epistle he foretells that something of this kind will afterwards happen; and here again he does the same thing: "This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come." And this he pronounces not only from the future, but from the past; "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses." And again from reasoning; "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver." But why does he do this? In order that Timothy may not be troubled, nor any one of us, when there are evil men. If there were such in the time of Moses, and will be hereafter, it is no wonder that there are such in our times. "In the last days perilous times shall come," he says, that is, exceeding bad times. How shall times be perilous? He says it not blaming the days, nor the times, but the men of those times. For thus it is customary with us to speak of good times or evil times, from the events that happen in them, caused by men.

The Lord's teaching required both unity and love. They embraced all the prophets and the law in two commandments. But what sort of unity, what sort of love, is preserved or contemplated by the mad fury of discord that rends the church, destroys faith, disturbs peace, scatters charity, profanes religion? This evil began long ago, my brothers in the faith. Now its cruel havoc has increased, now the poisonous plague of heretical perversity and schism is beginning to spring up and put out new shoots.

Above, he instructed him how to handle present tribulations and dangers; here he shows him how to stand against future ones: first, he predicts some dangers that are to come; second, he shows his fitness to resist them, at but you have fully known my …

Since in those times there were many evil people, so that Timothy would not be troubled by this, the apostle first said to him: "in a great house" and so on, and now says that evil people will exist afterward as well. Even in the …

In the last days - The time of the gospel dispensation, commencing at the time of our Lord's death, is peculiarly styled the last days. Grievous - Troublesome and dangerous.

), in gospel times, there would come perilous times. Though gospel times were times of reformation in many respects, let him know that even in gospel times there would be perilous times; not so much on account of persecution from without as on account of corruptions within.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

This know also,....

"The latter times," 1Ti 4:1, refer to a period not so remote as "the last days," namely, the long days of papal and Greek anti-Christianity. perilous--literally, "difficult times," in which it is difficult to know what is to be done: "grievous times." shall come--Greek, "shall be imminent"; "shall come unexpectedly" [BENGEL].

In the last days - This often means the days of the Messiah, and is sometimes extended in its signification to the destruction of Jerusalem, as this was properly the last days of the Jewish state. But the phrase may mean any future time, whether near or distant.