1
“To: Timothy, My Genuine Son in the Faith”
1 From: Paul, an apostle of Messiah Jesus according to the command of God our Savior and Messiah Jesus our hope.
2 To: Timothy, my genuine son in the faith.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Messiah Jesus our Lord.
“I Urge You...to Remain in Ephesus”
3 I urge ˢyou,+ just as I did when I was leaving for Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus, so that you may instruct certain people to stop teaching things that are contrary to the accepted teachings,
4 and to stop occupying themselves with myths and endless genealogies, which promote nothing but useless speculations rather than God’s plan of salvation, which operates by faith.
5 The goal of this instruction, moreover, is love from a pure heart and a clear conscience and a sincere faith.
6 Certain people, by deviating from these, have strayed into fruitless chatter,
7 desiring to be teachers of Torah but not understanding the things they are talking about or the matters about which they make such confident assertions.
“Messiah Jesus Came into the World to Save Sinners”
8 Now, we know that Torah is good if someone uses it as it is supposed to be used,
9 that person understanding this: It is not the righteous for whom Torah is appointed, but the lawless and rebellious, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreverent, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers,
10 the sexually immoral, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to teaching that is sound,
11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
12 I am grateful to the one who strengthens me, to Messiah Jesus our Lord, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service—
13 one who was once a blasphemer and persecutor and insolent man. Even so, I was shown mercy, because failing to understand, I acted in unbelief.
14 Yet the gift of our Lord was lavished on me even more, along with the faith and love that are found in union with Messiah Jesus.
15 Trustworthy is this saying, and deserving indeed of full acceptance: Messiah Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the very worst.
16 Yet here is why I was shown mercy: So that in me, the worst of sinners, Messiah Jesus could display the very greatest of patience, as an example for those who would place their faith in him unto life in the coming age.
17 Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever into the ages of the ages. Amen.
“This Instruction I Am Entrusting to You”
18 This instruction I am entrusting to you in keeping with the prophecies, my son Timothy, previously made about you, so that you may use these words to continue fighting the good fight,
19 holding fast to faith and a clear conscience. Some, by rejecting these, have with respect to the faith suffered shipwreck.
20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I turned over to Satan so that they may be taught through God’s discipline not to blaspheme.