God’s Word for You
2 Timothy 2:25-26 gently correcting
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, June 30, 2026
25 gently correcting those who oppose him. For God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap, after being captured by him to do his will.
The purpose of correcting those who oppose Christ is that God might grant them repentance. The result of this would be that such a person might escape the devil’s trap.
This goes back to the previous verses, where we were told that those who oppose sound doctrine have become ensnared by the devil. For the more that the devil succeeds in drawing people away from sound doctrine, the easier it will be for him to draw those people away from the word of God altogether. For once doctrine has ceased to be a wall, a fence, or a hedge around the Scriptures, then the Scriptures begin to lose their meaning. At first this is a slow, small, and innocent-seeming discussion: “Maybe Paul’s words about not letting women be pastors was only meant for the Ephesian Christians, and not for all churches.” Or, “Maybe the the words “evening and morning” and “day” in the Creation account don’t really mean what they seem to mean. Maybe the days were much different than they are today.” But it’s a short step from there to “Maybe ‘This is my body’ doesn’t mean that. Maybe it means something else.” Or, “Maybe ‘Everyone will rise from their graves’ doesn’t mean what it says at all. Maybe it means something else.” So it is that watering down doctrine in one part of the Bible waters down everything in the Bible, until the one who doubts finally has no reason to read the Bible (since it no longer means anything) and no reason to hang onto Christ. His religion has become nothing but a social circle, a thing of habit, and the thing he should pray for is a change in preachers so that a man will come who believes what the Scripture says and sweep out all of those cobwebs of doubt and the dust of misunderstanding.
“Ultimately the devil’s goal is to tear us away from the heart and core of God’s Word, the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that are ours through faith in the saving merit of Christ our Savior. When he has succeeded in his attacks on the most fundamental doctrines of the Scriptures, church for us will have degenerated into a social club with a cross on the roof. Only then will he be satisfied.”
And if the devil cannot get at a Christian through false doctrine or a dismissal of doctrine, he has other attacks. He may launch an attack on the Christian’s life. “The pure doctrine of the drunkard, the gossip, the gambler, the adulterer, the liar, or the cheat impresses no one; the life of the hypocrite drives away those who might otherwise have listened to the Word.” And “if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered” (Ezekiel 3:20). But Jesus steers us back toward right living, based on right faith, when he says, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
It is God’s will that all people should know and enjoy the truth of the Bible. “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). Therefore we ought to be careful in our ways of speaking “on all subjects, but especially when we are speaking about God. We ought to believe and speak about God in a most correct and reverent manner, so that we do not take the holy name of God in vain by ridiculous and outrageous ways of speaking. This carelessness in speaking came into the world at exactly the same time that sin entered. When Adam was questioned about the cause of his sin he replied, ‘This woman whom you gave me as my companion, she gave it to me and I ate’ (Genesis 3:12).”
Praise God, then, that he leads poor miserable people like us to repentance, and that he also assures us that this repentance has nothing to do with our own abilities. It “in no way belongs to the human powers of natural free will, not entirely or one-half or the least and tiniest part, but altogether and alone the divine operation of the Holy Spirit. For to some extent reason and free will are able to lead an outwardly virtuous life. But to be born anew, to receive outwardly a new heart, mind, and spirit, is solely the work of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore our loving God leads us back when we wander astray, calls us through his gospel in word or in sacrament, and gives us the very forgiveness for which we tremble and desire more than anything. He loves, and he calls on us to respond to his love.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.