2 Timothy 2:24-26 and Free Will?

I would like to see how some of my Arminian brothers in Christ view with this verse. Thanks for any input.

2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

Is this giving of the knowledge of truth (spoken of in THIS passage; I can already see the string of proof texts ready to be offered) something that God is going to give to everybody?
Or is it something that God "might" do and does not do for everybody?

 

A person studying the Scripture has to at times ask questions. Did God lead them into believing error? Did the Devil lead these people into error? Did the men themselves into religious error?

We know it was not God who led them into error because, the Lord is the Author of truth and by His Spirit leads us into all truth. [I John 2:27]

The answer is that the evil one led them men into error as says, II Timothy 2:26. They were caught in ' . . . the snare of the Devil.' No one who is a Christian would believe that Satan would lead them out of error into God's truth.

God Who saved Hymenaeus and Philetus [vs. 17-18] through and Elder, ' . . . the servant of the Lord' in conjunction with the Spirit of God are the two viable agents who might be able to convince these men of their mistake.

Repentance is always man turning away from his sin and fleeing to the Lord God. The Lord Jesus cannot repent for you. His Spirit leads a person to change their mind to forsake sin or to drop error they once believed.

These two brethren believed that the resurrection was already in the past. There are all kinds of error that Christians have come to believe; but this does not mean they are not saved. [II Timothy 2:19] Those who change, with the help of God theSpirit, have done so when they ' . . . acknowledge the truth.' [vs.25] The Greek word for {acknowledging} is (epignosin) meaning a recognition, a full discernment of the truth.

The bias of John Calvin has led many to believe that Christ died on the Cross for sinners, but then the erring idea is that He only died for His elect, in the face of the Scripture which teaches that Jesus died for all of His created human beings. [Matt. 23:37; John 11:42; I Tim. 2:6; I John 2:2 and Revelation 22:17]

The evil one will not set you on the path to truth, only God's intervention by the Spirit, by the ministry of the man of God, and the personal, self-correction of the erring soul can change things to correct theological thinking and belief.


Berrian, Th.D.