So heart wrenching is this reality that the New Testament writers had to warn Christians about it repeatedly (2 Thess 2:3; 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Tim 3:1-9; 2 Pet 3:3; 1 Jn 2:18-19; Rev 13:12-17). Early Christian exhortation regularly portrayed perseverance and apostasy as the alternatives in times of serious testing (S. Brown 1969:146). Like Mark, Matthew connects the suffering of believers with that of Christ, even prefacing his passion narrative with the promise of believers' suffering (compare Feuillet 1980b; Graham 1986).

Wickedness, or more literally and specifically "lawlessness," could characterize especially the outwardly religious (Mt 23:28; compare Jude 4) but probably applies to the society as a whole, including wicked rulers (2 Thess 2:3, 7-8). Nevertheless, as a consequence even the hearts of most (literally, "the many," perhaps denoting disciples—compare Mt 20:28) will become loveless (compare 22:37-39), hence capable of betrayal. Although the promise that one who stands firm to the end will be saved (24:13; compare v. 22) could refer to survival (as in 4 Ezra 6:25), the context of apostasy suggests that enduring to salvation here may refer to the same demand that phrase implies in most New Testament passages: that only those who continue in the faith will receive salvation at the final day (compare 7:13-14; Marshall 1974:73).