But know this: that in the last days, grievous times will come.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 1. Know. Do not be troubled at the many evils, persecutions, and heresies, which rise up against the Church. There have ever existed such since the Church was first established, and such ever will exist. Did not Jannes and Mambres rise up against Moses? Calmet. See 1 Timothy 4:1. 2 Peter 3:3. Judith 18.—That in the last days. It only signifies hereafter. And the advice Saint Paul gives to Timothy, (verse 5) now these avoid; shews that some of those false teachers should come in S. Timothy’s days. We may observe that few agree exactly in translating or expounding the sense of so many Greek or Latin words, which express the vices of such heretics; but the difference is so small, that it need not be taken notice of. Witham.