1 Timothy
From Paul, an Apostle of Messiah Jesus by the command of God our
Savior and of Messiah Jesus our hope,
to Timothy, my genuine child in the
faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God who is the Father and from Messiah Jesus our
lord.
As I urged you when I was departing for Macedonia, remain in Ephesus to command certain people not to teach false doctrines,
nor to
embrace myths and endless genealogies. These merely promote empty
speculations rather than God’s immortality plan, which operates by faith.
But the object of our teaching is love produced by a pure heart, a good
conscience and a genuine faith.
Some have veered away from these and have
turned aside to pointless discussions.
They want to be teachers of the Law,
but they do not understand either what they are saying or the subject they are
confidently insisting on.
Now we know that the Law is good provided one uses it legitimately,
which means realizing that the Law is not meant for an upright person, but for the lawless
and rebellious, for the godless and sinners, for the unholy and
irreverent, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers,
for the
sexually immoral, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever
else contradicts the health-giving teaching.
This teaching is based on the
Gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.
I give thanks to Messiah Jesus our lord
who has given me strength,
because he considered me faithful and put me in ministry —
although I was
previously a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. Yet I received
mercy because I had acted from ignorance and unbelief,
and the grace of our
lord overflowed, with the faith and love which are in Messiah Jesus.
This saying is trustworthy and deserves to be fully accepted: “Messiah
Jesus came into the world to save sinners” — and I am the worst of them.
But this is why I received mercy, so that in me as the worst of sinners
Messiah Jesus would demonstrate his enormous patience, as an example for
those who will believe in him for the Life of the Age to Come.
Now to
the King of the ages, who is immortal and invisible, the only one who is God,
be honor and glory to the ages of the ages! Amen.
Timothy, my child, I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the
prophecies which were previously made about you, so that encouraged by those
prophecies you fight the good fight.
In order to do this, you must maintain
the faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and have shipwrecked the faith.
Hymenaeus and Alexander are among them, and I
have delivered them over to Satan, so that they may be disciplined not to
blaspheme.
1 Timothy