Passage

2 Timothy 2.24

Book: 2 Timothy · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

22. But flee youthful lusts, and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23. But foolish and ignorant questionings refuse, knowing that they gender strifes.

24. And the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing,

in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, 26. and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will. (2 Timothy 2:22-26, ASV)

WEB

22. Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23. But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.

24. The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle towards all, able to teach, patient,

in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth, 26. and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will. (2 Timothy 2:22-26, WEB)

KJV

22. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, ^{patient: or, forbearing}

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. ^{recover: Gr. awake} ^{taken: Gr. taken alive} (2 Timothy 2:22-26, KJV)

YLT

22. and the youthful lusts flee thou, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart; 23. and the foolish and uninstructed questions be avoiding, having known that they beget strife,

24. and a servant of the Lord it behoveth not to strive, but to be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient under evil,

in meekness instructing those opposing, if perhaps God may give to them repentance to an acknowledging of the truth, 26. and they may awake out of the devil's snare, having been caught by him at his will. (2 Timothy 2:22-26, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, who names himself in the opening line (1:1) and writes as a prisoner (1:8; 2:9). Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them Luke Timothy Johnson (Anchor Bible, 2001), William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's many personal details.
Audience: Timothy, "my beloved child" (1:2), whose "unfeigned faith" dwelt first in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice (1:5). He is probably still at Ephesus: Paul reminds him of Onesiphorus's service there, which Timothy "knowest very well" (1:18), and greets Prisca and Aquila (4:19). Paul urges him to come to Rome quickly (4:9, 21).
Location: Rome, where Paul is in chains; Onesiphorus "sought me diligently, and found me" there (1:16-17).
Time period: on Pauline authorship, Paul's final imprisonment, usually dated c. AD 64-67, shortly before his death; he writes, "the time of my departure is come" (4:6). Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice.
Literary context: part of Paul's instructions on how Timothy is to deal with false teachers and their followers (2:14-26). Verse 23 has just told him to refuse "foolish and ignorant questionings", because "they gender strifes".

Theological reading

"And the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing," (2 Timothy 2:24, ASV)

The Lord's servant. Timothy is described with a title that has deep Old Testament roots: Moses is "the servant of Jehovah" (Joshua 1:1). The servant belongs to his master and does his master's work, not his own. The first thing said of him here is negative: he "must not strive". The verb is the ordinary word for fighting or quarrelling, and it picks up the "strifes" that foolish questionings produce in the verse before (2:23).

Gentle, apt to teach, forbearing. In place of quarrelling come three positive traits. "Apt to teach" is also required of every overseer (1 Timothy 3:2). "Forbearing" describes someone who puts up with wrong without resentment. None of the three means silence: the next verse speaks of "correcting them that oppose themselves" (2:25). The question is the manner, not whether error is answered.

The goal is repentance. The reason for gentleness follows in 2:25-26: "if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil". The opponent is pictured as a captive to be freed, not an enemy to be beaten. Repentance is God's gift, so the servant's part is to teach patiently and leave the result with God. Peter asks the same of every believer who gives a reason for the hope within, "yet with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). See 2 Timothy 2.25 and 2 Timothy 2.26.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

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Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.