2 Timotius 2:25-26

2:25 correcting ¹  opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance and then knowledge of the truth ²  2:26 and they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive ³  to do his will. ⁴ 

2 Timotius 3:2-5

3:2 For people ⁵  will be lovers of themselves, ⁶  lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good, 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God. 3:5 They will maintain the outward appearance ⁷  of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these. ⁸ 

2 Timotius 3:7-9

3:7 Such women are always seeking instruction, ⁹  yet never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 3:8 And just as Jannes and Jambres ¹⁰  opposed Moses, so these people – who have warped minds and are disqualified in the faith ¹¹  – also oppose the truth. 3:9 But they will not go much further, ¹²  for their foolishness will be obvious to everyone, just like it was with Jannes and Jambres. ¹³ 

[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).

[2:25]  ² tn Grk “repentance unto knowledge of the truth.”

[2:26]  ³ tn Grk “having been captured by him.”

[2:26]  ⁴ 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.

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Grk “men”; but here ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) is generic, referring to both men and women.

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Or “self-centered.” The first two traits in 2 Tim 3:2 and the last two in 3:4 are Greek words beginning with the root “lovers of,” and so bracket the list at beginning and end.

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Or “form.”

[3:5]  sn Outward appearance. Paul’s contrast with power in 3:5b shows that he regards this “form” to be outward, one of appearance rather than reality (cf. 1 Cor 4:19-20; 1 Thess 1:5).

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “and avoid these,” with the word “people” implied.

[3:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “always learning,” continuing the description of the women from v. 6. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:8]  ¹⁰ sn Jannes and Jambres were the traditional names of two of Pharaoh’s magicians who opposed Moses at the time of the Exodus.

[3:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “disapproved concerning the faith.”

[3:9]  ¹² tn Grk “for they will not progress any more.”

[3:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “as theirs came to be,” referring to the foolishness of Jannes and Jambres. The referent of “theirs” (Jannes and Jambres) has been specified in the translation for clarity.