Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Timothy 3:1

"But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come." — 2 Timothy 3:1 (ASV)

This know also.—Better rendered, But know this. The Apostle had warned Timothy (2 Timothy 2:3–13) not to allow fear of oncoming peril and trouble to paralyse his efforts in the Master’s cause, for the Lord’s true servant should never lose heart, and then had proceeded (2 Timothy 2:14–26) to detail how his efforts were to be directed, showing him how his teaching should stand in contrast with that of the false teachers. St. Paul now (2 Timothy 3:1), having told him that although there was no reason to fear, yet warns him that grave dangers to the Church would surely arise, and that God’s servants, like Timothy, must be prepared to combat.

In the last days.—The majority of commentators have referred “the last days” here spoken of to the period immediately preceding the second coming of the Lord—a day and an hour somewhere in the future but hidden, not merely from all people, but from the angels, and even from the Son (Mark 13:32).

It seems, however, more in accordance with such passages as 1 John 2:18: Little children, it is the last time—where the present, and not an uncertain future is alluded to—to understand “the last days” as that period, probably of very long duration, extending from the days of the first coming of Messiah—in which time St. Paul lived—to the second coming of Christ in judgment.

The Jewish Rabbis of the days of St. Paul were in the habit of speaking of two great periods of the world’s history: “this age” and “the age to come.” The former of these, “this age,” included all periods up to Messiah’s advent; the latter, “the age to come,” included all periods subsequent to the appearance of Messiah.

We find the same idea embodied later in the Talmud (treatise “Sanhedrin”), where it is mentioned that the duration of the world is 6,000 years: 2,000 years of waste or chaos, 2,000 years under the Law, and 2,000 years for the days of Messiah. This last period, “the days of Messiah,” is often alluded to by the Hebrew prophets under the expression “in the last days”—literally, in the end of days (Hosea 3:5; Micah 4:1).

The words of 2 Timothy 3:5, from such turn away, would certainly require a strained interpretation if we are to suppose that “the last days” referred to a time immediately preceding the end—or, in other words, the last period of the Christian era.

The sad catalogue of vices is, alas, one with which all ages of the Church of Christ have been too well acquainted. The Christian teacher has no need to look forward to a future time of deeper iniquity, when those who will deserve the dreary titles of this passage will be found in the Church of the living God. The Church of his own age will supply him with examples of many such, for In a great house ... are there not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood, and earth, and some to honour and some to dishonour.