1 Timothy 1

{I,} Paul, {write this letter to you.} God is the one who rescues us, and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, is the one whom we confidently expect. The two of them ordered me to represent Jesus the Messiah. \*

{I send this letter} to you, Timothy. You have become like my own son because we both trust in {Jesus}. {May} God the Father and Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, {continue to be} kind and merciful to you and {make you} peaceful.

As I asked you when I was traveling to the province of Macedonia, {I ask you again} to stay in the city of Ephesus. That way, you can prohibit certain people there from teaching things that are different {from what is true}.

{I want you to tell them} to stop focusing on legends and very long lists of ancestors. Those things cause people to argue with each other. They do not help to accomplish God’s plan. That happens when we trust in {Jesus}. \*

I want you to require those things so that people will love {each other}. {They will do that} while they desire only what is good, while they know that they are doing what is right, and while they genuinely trust in {Jesus}.

However, some people have failed to do those things. Instead, they speak about things that do not matter.

Those people desire to be people who teach the {Jewish} law. However, they do not understand what they talk about or what they confidently affirm.

We {believers} understand that the {Jewish} law is excellent as long as people use it properly. \*

Indeed, we {believers} realize that God did not establish the {Jewish} law for people who do what is right. Rather, {he established the Jewish law} for people who do what is wrong and do not obey anyone. They do not honor God, and they sin. They do things that defile themselves, and they do not set themselves apart for God. They murder their parents. They murder other people.

They act in sexually improper ways. They have sex with people of the same gender. They sell other people as slaves. They lie even when they solemnly promise to say what is true. When people teach them what is right, they always do the opposite.

{When people teach what is right,} it fits with the good news, which shows how great is the God whom we praise. That is the good news that God has told me {to proclaim to people}. \*

I thank Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, who has enabled me {to proclaim the good news}. {I thank him} because he decided that he could trust me, so he appointed me to serve {him}.

{Jesus did that} even though I used to insult him, harm his people, and act violently. However, I did not understand what I was doing when I did not trust in {Jesus}. So, Jesus acted mercifully to me.

Our Lord {Jesus} acted extremely kindly to me. By uniting me to himself, Jesus the Messiah, he enabled me to believe in him and to love people. \*

Everyone should trust and rely on this statement: “Jesus the Messiah was here on earth to rescue sinful people.” {As for me,} I am more sinful than everyone else.

However, that is why Jesus acted mercifully to me. That way, Jesus the Messiah could show how very patient he is by how he treated me, the most sinful person. He wanted to illustrate {his character} for people who are going to trust in him so that they live with God forever.

God is always ruling. He will never die, and no one can see him. There are no other gods. So, let us praise and glorify him forever! May it be so! \*

Timothy, you are like my son. I have told you to do certain things because they fit with what people previously prophesied about you. {I have told you to do those things} so that, as those people prophesied, you will serve God well, as a soldier obeys a commanding officer.

{You can do that} by trusting in {Jesus} and by knowing that you are doing what is right. Some people have stopped doing that, and now they no longer trust in {Jesus}.

Among those who have done that are Hymenaeus and Alexander. I have expelled them so that Satan rules over them. That way, they will learn not to insult God.