1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2To Timothy, a true child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3Just as I urged you to remain in Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia, so that you might charge certain people not to teach a different doctrine,
4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which produce speculations rather than the stewardship of God that is by faith.
5But the goal of this charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith,
6from which some, having missed the mark, have turned aside to empty talk,
7wanting to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they are saying nor the things about which they make confident assertions.
8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9knowing this: that law is not laid down for a righteous person, but for the lawless and unruly, the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, those who strike their fathers and those who strike their mothers, murderers,
10the sexually immoral, men who lie with males, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching,
11according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.
12I am grateful to the one who empowered me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to service,
13though formerly I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man; but I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,
14and the grace of our Lord overflowed all the more, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15The saying is faithful and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am foremost.
16But for this reason I was shown mercy, so that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display all his patience, as an example for those who were going to believe in him for eternal life.
17Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
18This charge I entrust to you, my child Timothy, in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may wage the good warfare,
19holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having thrust aside, made shipwreck of their faith;
20among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan so that they might be taught not to blaspheme.
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