Matthew 24:12

Matthew 24:12. Because iniquity, &c.— The genuine fruit and effect of all these evils was the lukewarmness and coolness among Christians. By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostasies and false prophets from within, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and also their love to each other, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith; some shall corrupt it, as Mat 24:11 and others again, as here, shall grow indifferent to it; and not to mention other instances, who can hear St. Paul complaining at Rome, 2 Timothy 4:16 that at his first answer all men forsook him; who can hear the divine author of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorting them, Hebrews 10:25 not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is, and not conclude the event to have sufficiently justified our Saviour's prediction?