Matthew 24:12

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
because	διὰ dia	G1223	through (in very wide applications · preposition
iniquity	ἀνομίαν anomian	G458	illegality · noun — accusative singular feminine
shall abound	πληθυνθῆναι plēthunthēnai	G4129	to increase (transitively or intransitively) · verb — aorist passive infinitive
the love	ἀγάπη agapē	G26	love · noun — nominative singular feminine
of many	πολλῶν. pollōn	G4183	(singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many · adjective — genitive plural masculine
shall wax cold	ψυγήσεται psugēsetai	G5594	to breathe (voluntarily but gently · verb — second future passive indicative, 3rd person singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Revelation 2:4-5 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
James 4:1-4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall…
James 5:1-6 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 24:12

And because iniquity shall abound,.... Meaning, either the malice and wickedness of outrageous persecutors, which should greatly increase; or the treachery and hatred of the apostates; or the errors and heresies of false teachers; or the wickedness that prevailed in the lives and conversations of some, that were called Christians: for each of these seem to be hinted at in the context, and may be all included, as making up the abounding iniquity here spoken of; the consequence of which would be, the love of many shall wax cold. This would be the case of many, but not of all; for in the midst of this abounding iniquity, there were some, the ardour of whose love to Christ, to his Gospel, and t…

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John Calvin on Matthew 24:9-14

Matthew 24:9-14 Matthew 24:9-14 Mark 13:9-13 Luke 21:12-19 9. Then will they deliver you up to be afflicted, and will kill you; and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name. 10. And then will many be offended, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another. 11. And many false prophets will arise, and will deceive many. 12. And because iniquity will abound, the love of many will be cooled. 13. But he who shall persevere to the end will be saved. 14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world for a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. 9. But take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils and syna…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 24:12

the love of many will grow cold (see Rev 2:4): If the love within the community of Jesus’ disciples diminishes to the point of extinction, then the community ceases to be what God has designed it to be.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

That is, true love towards God and our neighbour, in proportion as each surrenders himself to iniquity, in that proportion will the flame of charity in his heart be extinguished.
— Remigius of Rheims ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Observe, He says, the love of many, (Rom. 8:35.) not 'of all,' for in the Apostles, and those like them, love would continue, as Paul speaks, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
— Jerome ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

But as the conquering power of things evil is on the increase-which is the characteristic of the last times -things good are now not allowed either to be born, so corrupted are the seminal principles; or to be trained, so deserted are studies; nor to be enforced, so dined are the laws.
— Tertullian, On Modesty

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Matthew, Gospel according to — The author of this book was beyond a doubt the Matthew, an apostle of our Lord, whose name it bears. He wrote the Gospel of Christ according to his own plans and aims, and from his own point of view,…
Olves, Mount of — So called from the olive trees with which its sides are clothed, is a mountain ridge on the east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7; Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4), from which it is separated by the valley of…
Affections · Should not grow cold — Should not grow cold
Affections, The · Should not grow cold — Should not grow cold
Apostasy · Shall abound in the latter days — Shall abound in the latter days
Apostates · Shall abound in the latter days — Shall abound in the latter days
Backsliders · 8:22; — 8:22;
Christ, The Prophet · Foretold things to come — Foretold things to come
Company · EVIL — EVIL
Jerusalem · Prophecies respecting: Signs preceding its destruction — Prophecies respecting: Signs preceding its destruction
Second Coming Of Christ, The · Signs preceding — Signs preceding

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).