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“Teach and Have Them Do These Things”
1 Now, the Spirit says very clearly that in the last times some will forsake the faith, following deceitful spirits and demonic teachings,
2 misled by hypocritical liars whose consciences no longer bother them,
3 who forbid marriage, who require people to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who believe and have come to know the truth.
4 Everything, you see, created by God, is good, and no food is to be rejected if it is with thanksgiving that it is being received.
5 Indeed, it is consecrated through the word of God and prayer.
6 With regard to these things, by teaching them to the brothers and sisters you will be a good servant of Messiah Jesus, constantly nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching to which you are still faithfully adhering.
7 But to irreverent and silly myths pay no attention; rather, keep yourself in training for a godly life.
8 Bodily training, you see, has value for a thing here or there. A godly life, however, possesses value for all things, holding promise indeed both for the present life and the life to come.
9 Trustworthy is this saying, and deserving of full acceptance.
10 Indeed, to this end we work our hearts out and do everything we possibly can, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all mankind, especially of those who believe.
11 Teach and have them do these things.
12 Don’t let anyone look down on you on account of your youth, but set for the believers an example, in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhorting and encouraging, and to teaching.
14 Don’t neglect the gracious gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophetic utterance when the body of elders commissioned you by the laying on of hands.
15 Give these things careful thought and due attention; to these things give yourself wholly, so that your progress will be to everyone very clear and evident.
16 Pay close attention to your life and your teaching. Persist in these things, because if you do, it is both yourself and your hearers whom you will be saving.