---
title: 1 Corinthians 10:11
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-10-11/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-10-11.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 10:11
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 10:11

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

## JW Usage

JWs translate 1 Corinthians 10:11 as "the ends of the systems of things have arrived upon us," but maintain that "the last days" of 2 Timothy 3:1 refer specifically to the period beginning in 1914. The verse is acknowledged as describing the first-century situation but is not allowed to undermine the 1914 framework because the Watchtower treats the Pauline "last days" and the Petrine "last days" as referring to different periods.

## Protestant Usage

Paul tells his first-century audience that "the ends of the systems of things have arrived upon us" (1 Corinthians 10:11, NWT). This is one of six New Testament passages that unanimously place the "last days" in the first century: Acts 2:16-17 (Peter: "this is what was spoken through Joel"), Hebrews 1:1-2 ("in these last days he has spoken through a Son"), 1 John 2:18 ("it is the last hour"), 1 Peter 1:20 ("at the end of the times"), and Hebrews 9:26 ("at the conclusion of the systems of things"). The identical Greek phrase eschatais hemerais appears in both Acts 2:17 and 2 Timothy 3:1 — demolishing the claim that they describe two different periods. Second Timothy 3:5 makes the point inescapable: Paul tells Timothy to "turn away from these" — a present-tense imperative that only makes sense if the people described exist now, not 1,900 years later. The unanimous NT witness is that the last days began with Christ, not in 1914.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Last Days Began at Pentecost, Not 1914](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/last-days-pentecost.md) — Acts 2:16-17 — 'This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel' [Eschatology]
- [The 'Last Days' Started at Pentecost — Not 1914](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/2timothy3-last-days.md) — 2 Timothy 3:1-5 / Hebrews 1:2 / Acts 2:17 [Eschatology]
- [Jesus Delivered Israel from Egypt](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jude5-jesus-delivered-israel.md) — Jude 5 [Deity of Christ]