¹ Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus appointed by the command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope,

² to Timothy, true child of mine in the faith. Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ When I was setting out for Macedonia I urged you to stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread wrong teaching

⁴ or to give attention to myths and unending genealogies; these things only foster doubts instead of furthering God's plan which is founded on faith.

⁵ The final goal at which this instruction aims is love, issuing from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith.

⁶ Some people have missed the way to these things and turned to empty speculation,

⁷ trying to be teachers of the Law; but they understand neither the words they use nor the matters about which they make such strong assertions.

⁸ We are well aware that the Law is good, but only provided it is used legitimately,

⁹ on the understanding that laws are not framed for people who are upright. On the contrary, they are for criminals and the insubordinate, for the irreligious and the wicked, for the sacrilegious and the godless; they are for people who kill their fathers or mothers and for murderers,

¹⁰ for the promiscuous, homosexuals, kidnappers, for liars and for perjurers -- and for everything else that is contrary to the sound teaching

¹¹ that accords with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, the gospel that was entrusted to me.

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength. By calling me into his service he has judged me trustworthy,

¹³ even though I used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and contemptuous. Mercy, however, was shown me, because while I lacked faith I acted in ignorance;

¹⁴ but the grace of our Lord filled me with faith and with the love that is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ Here is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them;

¹⁶ and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the leading example of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who were later to trust in him for eternal life.

¹⁷ To the eternal King, the undying, invisible and only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸ Timothy, my son, these are the instructions that I am giving you, in accordance with the words once spoken over you by the prophets, so that in their light you may fight like a good soldier

¹⁹ with faith and a good conscience for your weapons. Some people have put conscience aside and wrecked their faith in consequence.

²⁰ I mean men like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they may learn not to be blasphemous.