Ver. 1. This know, (
It is scarcely worth while to advert to the plural reading of A, F,
ãéíù
́
óêåôå
, strangely preferred by Lachmann and Huther; for
ãé
́
íùóêå
has the support of
à
, C, D, K, L, Vulg., Syr., and Coptic versions.) however, that in the last days grievous times shall set in. The introduction of the mournful topic discussed in this section of the epistle is made with a but, or a however, because forming a sort of contrast to the hopeful issue indicated at the close of the preceding chapter respecting the opponents there referred to. Timothy, and those following him in the administration of the affairs of the church, are warned against entertaining too sanguine expectations—admonished to bear in mind that, however they may succeed with particular persons in repressing incipient disorders, and winning men back to sobriety of mind, there was to be a great development of evil in the approaching future, not only of the outlying world, but also of the Christian church. This gloomy prospect is associated with the last days (
ἐí ἐó÷Üôáéò ἡìÝñáéò
;—without the article, because the expression itself is sufficiently individualizing as to the time meant; Winer, Gr. § 19). But while in one sense this term is specific enough, in another it is attended with a considerable amount of vagueness. In prophecy it was often used for the far distant future, especially as connected with Messianic times (see the Sept., for example, at Num_24:14; Isa_2:2, Isa_9:1; Jer_23:20; Dan_2:28, Dan_10:14, etc.). And about the gospel age, it would appear that the expression, with some slight variations—such as John’s
ἐó÷Üôç ὥñá
(1Jn_2:18)—had become appropriated generally to the period or dispensation of Messiah. So, in Heb_1:1 and 1Pe_1:23, this whole period is distinguished from the times of the fathers and the prophets which preceded, by being designated “the last days,” or “the last of the days;” and we learn from other sources that the Jews of later times familiarly used the same mode of speech (Schöttgen, Hor. Heb., on this passage). It does not appear that in this respect they were wont to distinguish between the “latter” days and the “last” days (see at 1Ti_4:1). And it is somewhat doubtful how far the apostles attempted to go beyond their countrymen in any more discriminating use of such expressions. They were discouraged by our Lord from expecting to get definite revelations of the times and the seasons pertaining to the future of His kingdom (Act_1:6); and while they throw out, from time to time, prophetic intimations of events, both of an adverse and a prosperous kind, which should mark its progress, they leave us much in the dark as to either the absolute or the relative times of their occurrence. In particular, the deplorable manifestation of corruption and godlessness which here, for example,—and at 2Pe_3:3, also in 1Jn_2:18, and 2Th_2:1-12,—is coupled with the last days, appears from the descriptions to deepen as those days proceed, and to reach, one is apt to think, a culmination not far from their close in the second advent; while yet the evil is represented as either actually begun in the apostolic age, or just on the eve of beginning to develope itself The grievous times or seasons (
÷áëåðïß
, grievous in a moral respect; difficult, hence perilous) which the apostle in this passage associates with the last days, are at the same time said to be pressing on—
ἐíóôÞóïíôáé
, aderunt (Bengel), they will immediately be present, are even now close at hand—so that all should be on the outlook for them. Indeed, consisting as they do in spiritual defections from the life of the gospel, and consequent moral depravations, they are never wholly wanting in any age of the church, though at certain periods and in particular localities they become more rife and rampant than in others. “I think,” says Theodoret, “that it was our time which is here predicted. For our life is full of these evils; and while we bear about us an aspect of piety, it is the image of wickedness which we produce by our works.” So, many have in substance said, of their particular time, both before and since; so, doubtless, they will say in the future; and what is written of the evil in the epistolary or apocalyptic portions of New Testament Scripture, is but an expansion of the prophetic glimpses given by our Lord in some of His parables (such as the Wheat and Tares, the Wise and Foolish Virgins), and in His discourse on the last times, which speaks of false teachers and prophets, delusions, iniquity abounding, and the love of many waxing cold (Matthew 24). It was not that Christianity was in any measure to produce the corruptions and disorders that were in prospect, but simply that they should exist in spite of the divine grace and reformatory agencies it was bringing into play, and to some extent also should take advantage of its hallowed name under which to cloak, or more effectually prosecute, the work of evil.
