Matthew 24:10

Mat 24:10-13. Then shall many be offended — That is, shall stumble and fall, or shall be turned out of the right way. By reason of persecution, many apostatized from the faith, particularly those mentioned by Paul, 2Ti 1:15; and 2Ti 4:10. And shall betray one another — To illustrate this, it is sufficient to cite one sentence out of Tacitus. Speaking of the persecution under Nero, he says, “At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed.” And many false prophets shall rise — Or false teachers, namely, in the Christian Church. Such were Simon Magus, and his followers, the Gnostics, who were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, termed by Paul, 2Co 11:13, false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Such likewise were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2Ti 2:17-18. And the love of many shall wax cold — Because of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false teachers from within the church, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, as Mat 24:10; others corrupt it, as Mat 24:11; and others grow indifferent about it, as Mat 24:12. But he that shall endure unto the end — He who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions; who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor seduce nor be seduced by others; he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren, nor be deterred therefrom: the same shall be saved — Both here and hereafter. It is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of Providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. See on Mat 24:16. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, 2Pe 2:9.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24:10 Persecution will lead some to abandon loyalty to Jesus (10:25; 13:21; 16:24-28; 26:33).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 24:10. Σκανδαλισθήσονται, shall be offended) sc. shall make shipwreck of their faith.[1036]—ἈΛΛΉΛΟΥς, one another) This is the saddest of all.

[1036] As of love, Mat 24:12.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_24:10. Καὶ τότε] and then, when those persecutions will have broken out against you.

σκανδαλισθήσονται πολλοί] many will receive a shock, i.e. many Christians will be tempted to relapse into unbelief, see on Mat_13:21. For the converse of offendentur in this sense, see Mat_24:13. Consequence of this falling away: καὶ ἀλλήλους παραδώς.] one another, i.e. the Christian who has turned apostate, him who has continued faithful. What a climax the troubles have reached, seeing that they are now springing up in the very heart of the Christian community itself!

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 24:10 . σκανδαλισθήσονται : natural sequel of apostolic tribulation, many weak Christians made to stumble ( vide Mat 13:21 ); this followed in turn by mutual treachery and hatred ( καὶ ἀλλήλους , etc.).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 10. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another] To illustrate this point, one sentence out of Tacitus (Annal. l. xv.) will be sufficient, who, speaking of the persecution under Nero, says, At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by THEIR DISCOVERY a great multitude of others were convicted and executed.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Shall many be offended.—The words point primarily to those who were believers in Christ, and found, a stumbling-block either in the new aspects of truth from time to time presented, or in the slowness of its victory, or in the delayed coming of the Lord. (Comp. 2Pe_3:4.)

Shall hate one another.—The words received a terrible fulfilment in the faction-fights of the Zealots and Sicarii at Jerusalem (Jos. Wars, iv. 3), in the disputes in every city between believing and unbelieving Jews (Act_13:50; Act_14:19; Act_17:5; Act_18:6; Act_19:9), in the bitter hatred of the Judaisers against St. Paul (Act_23:12).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. offended] Disappointed hopes will bring about a disruption of Christian unity and love.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And then shall many be offended,.... That is, many who had been hearers of the apostles, and professors of the Christian religion; who were highly pleased with it, and were strenuous advocates for it, whilst things were tolerably quiet and easy; but when they saw the apostles, some of them beaten, and imprisoned; others put to death, and others forced to fly from place to place; and persecutions and affliction, because of Christ and his Gospel, likely to befall themselves, would be discouraged hereby, and stumble at the cross; and fall off from the faith of the Gospel, and the profession of it:

and shall betray one another; meaning, that the apostates, who would fall off from the Christian religion, would prove treacherous to true believers, and give in their names to the persecutors, or inform them where they were, that they might take them, or deliver them into their hands themselves: these are the false brethren, the Apostle Paul was in perils among:

and shall hate one another; not that the true Christians should hate these false brethren, any more than betray them; for they are taught to love all men, even their enemies; but these apostates should hate them, in whose communion they before were, and to whom they belonged; and even to a very great degree of hatred, as it often is seen, that such who turn their backs on Christ, and his Gospel, prove the most bitter enemies, and most violent persecutors of its preachers and followers.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Ver. 10. And then shall many be offended] As not willing to suffer. How many revolted for fear in the primitive times, were abjured here in Queen Mary’s reign, fell to Popery in the Palatinate, and other places in Germany, since the troubles there, as fast as leaves fall in autumn! Somewhat men will do for Christ, but suffer nothing.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Many shall be offended - See the notes at Mat 5:29. Many shall stumble, fall, apostatize from a profession of religion. Many who “professed” to love me will then show that they had no “real” attachment to me; and in those trying times it will be seen that they knew nothing of genuine Christian love. See 1Jo 2:19.

Shall betray one another - Those who thus apostatize from professed attachment to me will betray others who really love me. This they would do to secure their own safety, by revealing the names, habitations, or places of concealment of others.

Shall hate one another - Not that real Christians would do this, but those who had professed to be such would then show that they were not his true followers, and would hate one another. Luke adds that they should be betrayed “by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends,” Luk 21:16. They would break over the most tender ties to surrender Christians to punishment. So great would be their hatred of Christianity, that it would overcome all the natural endearments of kindred and home. This, in the persecutions of Christians, has often occurred, and nothing shows more fully the deep and deadly hatred of the human heart to the gospel. Compare the notes at Mat 10:21.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Mark saith, Mar 13:12,13, The brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. Luke saith, Luk 21:16,17, And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. Many shall be offended; the meaning is, shall turn apostates, stumbling at these great afflictions and persecutions for the gospel.

And shall betray one another. We read of several apostates in holy writ, such as Phigellus, Hermogenes, Demas, Hymeneus, Philetus, and others; but all things not being written that were done, we have no particular record of such treachery as is here mentioned. But it is no other than we may reasonably presume was done, though we had not been assured of it, to justify our Saviour’s prediction. There is no time of great persecution but proves a time of great apostasy and some treachery. It hath been a constant observation, that no hatred flames to that degree with hatred upon the account of religion. Nor is what our Saviour here predicted more than the history of all ages of the church have justified.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Many — Many professing Christians. There shall be apostacies and scandals in the Church.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall many be offended. The persecutions directed against the disciples in general shall in many cases result in overcoming their steadfastness and sapping their faith. Shall betray one another. To curry favour with enemies and to secure their own safety in troublous times, Christians were found to inform against friends, and to deliver them up to the civil authorities. Tacitus notes instances of this degrading cowardice. "First those were seized who confessed that they were Christians; and then on their information a vast multitude was convicted" ("Ann.," 15:44). Shall hate one another. Dissensions in religion cause the most bitter hatred, the very opposite of that love which is the essence of Christianity. (Joh_15:17) Where one of a pagan family embraced Christianity, the convert was regarded as an outcast, and cut adrift from the nearest domestic ties. The same treatment obtains even now in India. The reference in the text chiefly concerns contentions among professing Christians; we see such effects every day; they appear in every page of ecclesiastical history; they have stained the annals of our own and every nation.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then shall many be offended - So as utterly to make shipwreck of faith and a pure conscience. But hold ye fast faith, ver. 11. in spite of false prophets: love, even when iniquity and offenses abound, ver. 12. And hope, unto the end, ver. 13. He that does so, shall be snatched out of the burning. The love of many will wax cold - The generality of those who love God will (like the Church at Ephesus, Rev. ii, 4, ) leave their first love.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

10. Then shall many be offended. Shall stumble and fall, rather than suffer for Christ. The half-hearted always do.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

10. σκανδαλισθήσονται. Shall fall, fail in loyalty, be tempted to forsake the faith.

μισήσουσιν ἀλλήλους. Disappointed hopes will bring about a disruption of Christian unity and love.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] See 2Ti 4:16, and the repeated warnings against apostasy in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The persons spoken of in this verse are Christians. ‘Primo conrepti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitude ingens.’ Tac. Ann. xv. 44. On μισ. ἀλλ., compare the deadly hatred borne to Paul and his work by the Judaizers. In the Apocryphal works called the Clementines, which follow teaching similar to that of the factions adverse to Paul in the Corinthian Church, he is hinted at under the name ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἄνθρωπος (Ep. Pet. to Jam_2, and Recognitions, i. 70, cited by Stanley, Essays on Apostolic Age, p. 377). These Judaizing teachers, among others, are meant by the ψευδοπροφῆται, as also that plentiful crop of heretical teachers which sprang up every where with the good seed of the Gospel when first sown. See especially Act 20:30: Gal 1:7-9: Rom 16:17, Rom 16:18: Col 2:17-end: 1Ti 1:6, 1Ti 1:7, 1Ti 1:20; 1Ti 6:3-5, 1Ti 6:20, 1Ti 6:21: 2Ti 2:18; 2Ti 3:6-8; 2Pe_2 (and Jude): 1Jn 2:18, 1Jn 2:22, 1Jn 2:23, 1Jn 2:26; 1Jn 4:1, 1Jn 4:3: 2Jn 1:7; ψευδαπόστολοι, 2Co 11:13. Even De Wette, who attempts to deny the historical fulfilment of the former signs (ver. 7), confesses that this was historically fulfilled (Exeget. Handbuch in loc.).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 10. And then shall many be caused to stumble, and shall deliver one another up, and shall hate one another.]

10-12. These verses are not in Mk. For the apostasy of the righteous in the last days, see the references in Volz, Jüd. Eschat. p. 179.—πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν] Cf. 2 Est 5:2 “iniquity shall be increased,” 10 “unrighteousness shall be multiplied,” Enoch 91:7.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.