prokoptō

BDAG divides the New Testament usage into an impersonal use of time ("be advanced," Rom 13:12, of the night far gone) and a personal or figurative use, "move forward to a higher or more advanced state, progress, advance," construed with ἐν plus the dative of respect (Luke 2:52; Gal 1:14), with a genitive of the sphere advanced in (2 Tim 2:16, ἀσεβείας), or absolutely (2 Tim 3:9, 13). LSJ documents the same range in classical and Hellenistic Greek, including of a ship making headway, of an undertaking prospering, and of the day or night being far advanced. The derivation from κόπτω ("strike, cut") is disputed and largely irrecoverable: the older explanations, either the lengthening of metal under the smith's hammer or the clearing of a way forward, are conjectural, and Hellenistic usage is simply "make headway," a point Stählin stresses in TDNT against etymologizing readings. The word group is a technical term in Stoic and Cynic moral philosophy for advance toward virtue (the προκόπτων being one who is progressing but has not yet arrived), and Stählin, followed by EDNT, argues that this usage colors Luke 2:52 and Gal 1:14, while noting that Luke's summary is also modeled on 1 Sam 2:26 (Samuel growing in favor with the Lord and with people). Commentators on the Pastorals (Marshall, Towner, Knight) treat the apparent tension between 2 Tim 3:9 and 3:13 as a difference of reference rather than of lexical sense: in 3:9 the opponents' influence is checked because their folly becomes manifest, while in 3:13 their own moral condition deteriorates. The ironic application of a positive progress term to advance in ungodliness (2 Tim 2:16; 3:13) is widely recognized.