24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:24–26)
One ought not engage in raucous quarrels when attempting to teach the truth. Angry agitation is sinful and consequently, it does not produce a righteous outcome (Col. 3:8; Jas. 1:19-20). But, gentleness does not mean weakness. Nor does it mean one cannot “reprove” and “rebuke” as well as “exhort” when trying to persuade the lost (2 Tim. 4:2). The truth of the gospel corrects error, but only if we will use it to point out sin and its remedy. Repentance is needed where there is error, for error opposes the truth of God. Teaching the truth to those who are lost is not an “either, or” proposition; either be gentle and do not confront their error, or expose their error and thereby fail to be gentle. Without quarreling, the Lord’s servant must teach the truth plainly so that lost souls can “know the truth…come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil”.
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