Philip Schaff

“ For in the last days [6] false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; [7] 4. for when lawlessness increaseth, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, [8] and then shall appear the world-deceiver [9] as the Son of God, [10] and shall do signs and wonders, [11] and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass since the beginning. ”

“ There are other interpretations based on textual emendations. As the word is very rare, it is difficult to determine the exact sense. “Opening” seems lexically allowable and otherwise free from objection. ↑ Zech. xiv. 5. This citation is given substantially in Apostolic Constitutions. As here used, it seems to point to the first resurrection. Comp. 1 Thess. iv. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 23; Rev. xx. 5. Probably it is based upon the Pauline eschatology rather than upon that of the Apocalypse. At all events, there is no allusion to the millennial statement of the latter. ”