2 Timothy 3:9 (LSB)

Passage

But they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all, just as theirs was also.

Nearby Context

2 Timothy 3:7 always learning and never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

2 Timothy 3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, disqualified in regard to the faith.

2 Timothy 3:9 But they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all, just as theirs was also.

2 Timothy 3:10 But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

2 Timothy 3:11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "make", "further", "progress", "folly", "obvious", "just", and "theirs". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "make" and "further", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses..." into verse 10's "But you followed my teaching conduct purpose...", so "make" and "further" belong inside that flow. In 2 Timothy context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "make" and "further" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.