Passage

2 Timothy 2.25

Book: 2 Timothy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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,

25. in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; 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, having been taken captive by him unto his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26, ASV)

WEB

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,

25. in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26, WEB)

KJV

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}

25. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

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 2:23-26, KJV)

YLT

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,

25. in meekness instructing those opposing, if perhaps God may give to them repentance to an acknowledging of the truth,

and they may awake out of the devil's snare, having been caught by him at his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, writing under his own name
Audience: Timothy, Paul's delegate at Ephesus
Location: written from imprisonment at Rome to Timothy at Ephesus
Time period: c. AD 64-67, traditionally Paul's last letter, written from a second Roman imprisonment shortly before his execution

Theological reading

"In meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth."

Two things are commonly argued from this verse. First, that repentance is a gift of God rather than an autonomous human achievement, which Reformed readers take as evidence for effectual grace and others read as describing God's enabling of a response that remains genuinely the person's own. The Greek construction carries a note of contingency, rendered "if peradventure" or "perhaps," which is why the verse does not settle the debate on its own; it grants that the outcome is God's to give without specifying the mechanism.

Second, and less contested, the practical inference Paul himself draws: because repentance is God's to give, the corrector's manner should be meek. The verse makes gentleness a consequence of the doctrine rather than a concession to sentiment. "Knowledge of the truth" (epignōsis alētheias) is a recurring phrase in these letters for genuine conversion rather than mere information._

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G3341 - metanoia, metanoia, Strong's G3341
G0225 - aletheia, aletheia, Strong's G0225
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

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.