Greeting

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God our Savior, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope,[#Titus 1:3; #Col 1:27]

²To Timothy, my true son in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Warning Against False Teaching

³As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, continue to remain at Ephesus so that you might command some to teach no other teaching,[#Gal 1:6–7; 1Ti 6:3]

⁴nor pay attention to fables and endless genealogies, which cause debates rather than godly edifying, which is in faith.[#1Ti 4:7; 2Ti 4:4; Titus 1:14]

⁵Now the goal of this command is love from a pure heart, and from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.[#2Ti 2:22; #2Ti 1:5]

⁶From this, some have lost their way and turned aside to empty talk,[#Titus 1:10]

⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, and understanding neither what they say nor what they affirm.[#1Ti 6:4]

⁸But we know that the law is good if someone uses it lawfully.[#Ro 7:16]

⁹And we know that the law is not given for a righteous person, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and the profane, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,[#Gal 3:19; 5:23]

¹⁰for the sexually immoral, for practicing homosexuals, for slave traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for anything else that is contrary to sound teaching,[#Lev 18:22; Ro 1:27; 1Co 6:9; #2Ti 4:3]

¹¹according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.[#2Co 4:4; #Gal 2:7]

Thankfulness for Mercy

¹²I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful and appointed me to the ministry.[#Php 4:13; #Ac 9:15]

¹³I was previously a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and an insolent man. But I was shown mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.[#Ac 8:3; #Ac 3:17]

¹⁴The grace of our Lord overflowed with the faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.[#2Ti 1:13]

¹⁵This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.[#1Ti 3:1; 2Ti 2:11; Titus 3:8]

¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show all patience, as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.[#Eph 2:7; #1Ti 1:13]

¹⁷Now to the eternal, immortal, invisible King, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever. Amen.[#Col 1:15; #Mt 6:13]

¹⁸This command I commit to you, my son Timothy, according to the prophecies that were previously given to you, that by them you might fight a good fight,[#1Ti 1:2; #1Ti 4:14]

¹⁹keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.[#1Ti 1:5; 3:9]

²⁰Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.[#2Ti 2:17; 4:14; #Ac 13:45; 1Co 5:5]