Text -- 2 Timothy 2:25-26 (NET)

2:25 correcting opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance and then knowledge of the truth 2:26 and they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive to do his will.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Ti 2:25

¹ sn Correcting is the word for “child-training” or “discipline.” It is often positive (training, educating) but here denotes the negative side (correcting, disciplining).

² tn Grk “repentance unto knowledge of the truth.”

NET Notes: 2Ti 2:26

¹ tn Grk “having been captured by him.”

² tn Grk “for that one’s will,” referring to the devil, but with a different pronoun than in the previous phrase “by him.” Some have construed “for his will” with the earlier verb and referred the pronoun to God: “come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap (though they have been captured by him) in order to do His will.” In Classical Greek the shift in pronouns would suggest this, but in Koine Greek this change is not significant. The more natural sense is a reference to the devil’s will.