Bible Dictionaries
Last

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

"last, utmost, extreme," is used (a) of place, e.g., Luke 14:9,10 , "lowest;" Acts 1:8; 13:47 , "uttermost part;" (b) of rank, e.g., Mark 9:35; (c) of time, relating either to persons or things, e.g., Matthew 5:26 , "the last (farthing)," RV (AV, "uttermost"); Matthew 20:8,12,14; Mark 12:6,22; 1 Corinthians 4:9 , of Apostles as "last" in the program of a spectacular display; 1 Corinthians 15:45 , "the last Adam;" Revelation 2:19; of the "last" state of persons, Matthew 12:45 , neuter plural, lit., "the last (things);" so Luke 11:26; 2 Peter 2:20 , RV, "the last state" (AV, "the latter end"); of Christ as the Eternal One, Revelation 1:17 (in some mss. ver. 11); 2:8; 22:13; in eschatological phrases as follows: (a) "the last day," a comprehensive term including both the time of the resurrection of the redeemed, John 6:39,40,44,54; 11:24 , and the ulterior time of the judgment of the unregenerate, at the Great White Throne, John 12:48; (b) "the last days," Acts 2:17 , a period relative to the supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the resumption of the Divine interpositions in the affairs of the world at the end of the present age, before "the great and notable Day of the Lord," which will usher in the messianic kingdom; (c) in 2 Timothy 3:1 , "the last days" refers to the close of the present age of world conditions; (d) in James 5:3 , the phrase "in the last days" (RV) refers both to the period preceding the Roman overthrow of the city and the land in A.D. 70, and to the closing part of the age in consummating acts of gentile persecution including "the time of Jacob's trouble" (cp. verses James 5:7,8 ); (e) in 1 Peter 1:5 , "the last time" refers to the time of the Lord's second advent; (f) in 1 John 2:18 , "the last hour" (RV) and, in Jude 1:18 , "the last time" signify the present age previous to the Second Advent.

Notes: (1) In Hebrews 1:2 , RV, "at the end of these days" (AV, "in these last days"), the reference is to the close of the period of the testimony of the prophets under the Law, terminating with the presence of Christ and His redemptive sacrifice and its effects, the perfect tense "hath spoken" indicating the continued effects of the message embodied in the risen Christ; so in 1 Peter 1:20 , RV, "at the end of the times" (AV, "in these last times").

the neuter of the adjective husteros, is used as an adverb signifying "afterwards, later," see AFTER , No. 5. Cp. the adjective, under LATER.

Note: In Philippians 4:10 the particle pote, "sometime," used after ede, "now, already," to signify "now at length," is so rendered in the RV, AV, "(now) at the last."