Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Timothy 2:25

"in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth," — 2 Timothy 2:25 (ASV)

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.—By “those that oppose themselves,” Paul alludes less to the leading teachers of false doctrine than to those led astray by them. In Titus 3:10, we read how these pronounced heretics—undoubtedly the teachers and leaders of the school—were, after a first and second admonition, to be shunned and left to themselves.

These, however, were evidently to be dealt with differently. Their treatment was to be gentle. Nothing is said here about only a first and second admonition; no hint is given that these are to be shunned. They are clearly not the same as those referred to in Titus 3:10, or earlier in 2 Timothy 2:21 of this chapter, where, again, separation is strongly urged.

If God peradventure will give them repentance.—The Greek original here also supports what was said in the note on the last clause, and can be literally translated, if perchance at any time God might grant to them... This suggests at least a hope that at some time God’s grace would bring about a change in these “opposing” members of the congregation. The “repentance” here signifies an abandonment by those erring Christians of the wrong course on which they had entered, and a return to the true Church of God and to the full knowledge of the gospel truth.