2 Timothy 3:6-7 6For among these people are those who slip into households and take captive weak women who have been weighed down with sins, swayed by various desires, 7always learning and never being able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
The reason (for) why Timothy must avoid people like this is that they wreck havoc on the church. The earliest churches were centered around households, with most churches meeting in homes. The false teachers were sneaking into the households and deceiving vulnerable women. The verb slip into is only used here in the New Testament and gives the image of purposefully and intentionally sneaking in.
The problem people could find two major weaknesses to exploit among the women of the church. First, they targeted gullible women who were weak because of sins and desires. Paul does not list any specific sins or desires that detracted these women, but one can image the many challenges first-century women experienced. No one is beyond temptation by the wrong desires.
Second, the women were easy targets because they lacked knowledge, conviction, and focus about the truth. The false teachers take captive, like soldiers capture and take control of the enemy. The problem in the first century context of cities like Ephesus was that women were uneducated and easily victimized. This could be true in the church also, which is why discipleship and teaching orthodox doctrine was important, not just for men but for women and children. No one should be left out of knowing the gospel. The women were always learning, but they must have been learning the wrong things because they were not able to come to a knowledge of the truth. They missed what really mattered. Their learning made no different in eternal matters.
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