1 Timothy 1

God who saves us and Christ Jesus who gives us hope commanded that I, Paul, should be an apostle.

I am writing this to you, Timothy, and you are like a son to me by believing. I pray that God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind and merciful to you and that he will give you his peace.

When I went to Macedonia, I urged you to remain in Ephesus so that you would command certain men not to teach what is different from what we teach

and not to give their time and attention to old useless stories and lists of ancestors that people never stop thinking about. These things only cause people to argue with each other but do not help them to know God's plan to save us—a plan that we know by faith.

Instead, the purpose of what we command you to teach is to love God from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from faith that is sincere.

Some men have stopped trying to do these good things; instead, they are now saying useless things.

They want to teach about the law, but they do not understand it. Yet they insist that what they teach is true.

But we know that the law is good if we know how to use it according to what the law says.

We know that the law is not made for people who are right with God, but it condemns lawbreakers and those who are rebellious, it condemns those who are ungodly and those who are sinners, it condemns those who are worldly and profane, and it condemns those who would kill their fathers or their mothers and also those who would commit murder.

The law condemns those who practice improper sexual relations, including those who practice homosexuality. It also condemns those who take away people and sell them as slaves, it condemns those who lie and those who give false witness before a court, and it condemns anything that is against what we teach according to the scriptures.

All of this agrees with the wonderful good news that God whom we praise has taught us and that he trusts me to announce to others.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord because he strengthened me and appointed me to serve him since he judged that he could rely on me.

Not too long ago, I had insulted and persecuted those who believed in Christ. I acted with terrible violence against them, but God had mercy on me. At that time I did not know the truth of the gospel and I did not believe that Christ was the Savior.

God showed me his love—a wonderful love that I did not deserve—and he made me able to trust in Christ as my Savior and to love him because of the love that was in Christ.

Everyone should accept this fact because we can count on it completely: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is true that I am the worst sinner of all.

But because I am the worst sinner, God had mercy on me before many others so that they would see how patient he is. God is patiently waiting to give everlasting life to those who believe in him.

The eternal king cannot be seen, and he cannot die. He alone is God. It is he whom everyone will honor and praise forever and ever. Amen.

Timothy, my child, I command you: Remember what certain believers prophesied about you. Do this in order to follow those things as you work hard for the Lord.

Trust God and keep a good conscience. Some people have not paid attention to their own consciences. So what has happened to their faith is a disaster.

Hymenaeus and Alexander are two men like this. I have handed them over to Satan for him to attack them so that they may learn not to insult God.