If God Perhaps Will Grant Them Repentance
In humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth.
Listen to the "Verse by Verse" episode covering this scripture.
God’s desire is for everyone “to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Most of humanity will only have that choice to respond to God’s call after the resurrection at the end of the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ (see “Resurrections: What Are They?”).
However, the Bible does show that some (we hope, relatively few) will reject God’s gracious gifts and choose the way that leads to the second death in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15).
Still, Paul encourages Timothy to gently and patiently correct those who, though they may have been part of the Church at one time, are now in opposition to God’s way, with the hope they will repent and escape the “snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2:24, 26). We should always hope for the best and seek for the best even for those who have made themselves enemies.
For more about repentance, see “What Is Repentance?”
