This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

There are two things that need attention in this statement: This know also connects what he is saying with what he has just said—and we will need to talk about that. The word perilous, though, is not exactly what Paul said. Other translations render the Greek word here as terrible or difficult. Actually, it comes from a Greek root that means to weaken. It is certainly true that what Paul describes here is a perilous time for men of faith, but it is perilous because the times are weakening—that is, they are debilitating, they tend to take us down.

For Paul to caution Timothy as he did is suggestive that, for all he knew, they might be living in the last days. Paul didn’t know, of course. Jesus made it plain that no man knew the day or the hour. But that didn’t keep him from looking at the signs of the times. But then he when on to explain to Timothy, at some length, what it was he was driving at. We’ll see this as we continue in 2 Timothy, chapter 3.