Limitless Word
who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 3:7 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • KJV Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • NKJV always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • NASB always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • NLT (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Their victims are always learning yet never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Endless religious curiosity without saving truth leaves people lost.

Overview

Those captured by false teachers remain perpetually receptive yet never reach genuine understanding. Their problem is not lack of instruction but resistance to the truth that saves. The verse exposes the emptiness of religious novelty that never leads to Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • 2 Tim 4:3–4For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.
  • Eph 4:14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
  • 1 Tim 2:4who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • John 5:44How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
  • Heb 5:11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing.
  • Prov 14:6A mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.
  • 2 Tim 2:25He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
  • 1 Cor 3:1–4Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ.
  • John 12:42–43Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.
  • John 3:20–21Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
  • Isa 30:10–11They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
  • Deut 29:4Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
  • Matt 13:11He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
  • Ezek 14:4–10Therefore speak to them and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to his great idolatry,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 2 Timothy videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 2 Timothy 3:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 2 TimothyMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Christ Jesus 'abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel' — the risen Lord whose word and kingdom endure to the end.

How 2 Timothy 3:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.