Bible Trivia Quiz | Warnings Paul Gave About the Last Days | Digging Deeper

Question 1. Paul said people in the last days would keep up an outward show of something while denying its power. What was it?

Answer: Godliness. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).

Context & Exhortation: Paul wrote this in his second letter to Timothy, likely the last letter he wrote, from prison in Rome. 

He warned that “in the last days perilous times shall come” (3:1). Then he gave a long list of what people would be like, including “lovers of their own selves” and “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (3:2, 4).

What makes the list so striking is that these people still look religious. They keep the outward form, the words and the rituals, but there is no real change inside. Their faith is a performance, not a power that transforms them.

Jesus said the same about some in His day, quoting Isaiah: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8).

Paul’s advice was clear: “from such turn away” (3:5). 

But this warning is also a mirror for us. Is our faith only habit and appearance, or is God’s power truly changing how we live, speak, and love?

Question 2. Paul named two men who opposed Moses as a picture of those who resist the truth. Who were they?

Answer: Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8).

Context & Exhortation: Jannes and Jambres. Their names do not appear in the book of Exodus. 

Jewish tradition links them to Pharaoh’s wise men and magicians, who copied Moses’ signs with their enchantments (Exodus 7:11). Paul uses these well-known names to describe people who oppose God’s truth.

These magicians did not deny that something supernatural was happening. Instead, they resisted the truth by imitating it. That is often how deception works: a counterfeit looks very close to the real thing.

Eventually the magicians could not keep up. When they failed to copy the plague of lice, they admitted to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). 

Paul says of the false teachers of his day, “their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was” (3:9).

Family, truth always outlasts imitation. In a world full of voices claiming to speak for God, test what you see and hear against His Word. Think about where you get your teaching from, and make sure it lines up with Scripture.

Question 3. Paul warned that in the latter times some would leave the faith. What two rules would these false teachers lay on people?

Answer: They would forbid marriage and order people to abstain from certain foods (1 Timothy 4:1–3).

Context & Exhortation: Paul says “the Spirit speaketh expressly” about this warning (4:1). He described these teachers as people who had their conscience “seared with a hot iron” (4:2), meaning they had become hardened to the truth.

In the early church, some groups taught that the body and the material world were evil. As a result, they forbade marriage and banned certain foods, believing this made them more spiritual. 

Paul saw this as false teaching dressed up as holiness.

Paul answered plainly: “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving” (4:4). God’s good gifts are to be received with gratitude, not rejected.

False teaching does not always look loose or worldly. Sometimes it looks extra strict. 

Here’s one of the lessons coming out of this for us: measure every rule and teaching by Scripture, not by how holy it sounds, and receive God’s good gifts with thanks.

Question 4. Paul said a time would come when people would not put up with sound doctrine. What would they turn to instead?

Answer: Fables. They would gather teachers to suit their “itching ears” and turn away from the truth (2 Timothy 4:3–4).

Context & Exhortation: These are among Paul’s final words, written as he faced execution in Rome. 

He charged Timothy: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season” (4:2). He knew a time was coming when that message would not be welcome.

Itching ears” are ears that want to be pleased, not corrected. People like this gather teachers who will tell them only what they want to hear. 

Paul told Timothy, “watch thou in all things” (4:5). He could then say of his own life, “I have kept the faith” (4:7). He had stayed faithful to the truth even when it cost him everything.

Can we ask ourselves whether we welcome the parts of God’s Word that correct us, or only the parts that comfort us? We have to love the truth, even when it is hard to hear.

Question 5. According to 2 Thessalonians 2, what two things must happen before the day of Christ comes?

Answer: A falling away must come first, and the man of sin, the son of perdition, must be revealed (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Context & Exhortation: Paul had founded the church in Thessalonica, but he had to leave quickly because of persecution. 

After he left, some believers were shaken by claims that the day of Christ had already come, even “by letter as from us” (2:2). Paul wrote to correct them, saying, “Let no man deceive you by any means” (2:3). Paul did not answer their fear with more speculation. He calmed them with facts, explaining what must happen first. 

Rumours spread fear, but Scripture brings steadiness.

Paul reminded them, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” (2:5). Then he urged them to “stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught” (2:15), meaning the teaching they had received from the apostles.

Today there are many dramatic claims about the end times, especially online. 

Something to think about: know your Bible well enough that you are not shaken by every new claim. When you hear something alarming, go back to what Scripture actually says.

Question 6. According to Paul, what will people be saying just before sudden destruction comes on them?

Answer: “Peace and safety” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

Context & Exhortation: Paul says the day of the Lord comes “as a thief in the night” (5:2). He describes sudden destruction coming “as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (5:3). 

Labour pains come suddenly, and once they start, they cannot be stopped until the baby is born.

The danger Paul describes is false security. Historians note that Rome proudly promoted the peace and security it had brought to its empire, and many trusted in it. 

People can feel safest at the very moment they should be most alert.

But Paul encourages believers: “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day” (5:5). Then he adds, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (5:6).

Family, our security does not come from governments, money, or circumstances. It comes from walking with God. 

The question we are called to ask ourselves again today is, where do I  place my sense of safety, and choose to live in the light, so that day will not catch us unaware.

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