JB 2 TIMOTHY Chapter 1

Greeting and thanksgiving

1:1 From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus in his design to promise life in Christ Jesus;

1:2 to Timothy, dear child of mine, wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

1:3 Night and day I thank God, keeping my conscience clear and remembering my duty to him as my ancestors did, and always I remember you in my prayers; I remember your tears

1:4 and long to see you again to complete my happiness.

1:5 Then I am reminded of the sincere faith which you have; it came first to live in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I have no doubt that it is the same faith in you as well.

The gifts that Timothy has received

1:6 That is why I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

1:7 God's gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control.

1:8 So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord, or ashamed of me for being his prisoner; but with me, bear the hardships for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God

1:9 who has saved us and called us to be holy - not because of anything we ourselves have done but for his own purpose and by his own grace. This grace had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time,

1:10 but it has only been revealed by the Appearing of our saviour Christ Jesus. He abolished death, and he has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News;

1:11 and I have been named its herald, its apostle and its teacher.

1:12 It is only on account of this that I am experiencing fresh hardships here now ;[*a] but I have not lost confidence, because I know who it is that I have put my trust in, and I have no doubt at all that he is able to take care of all that I have entrusted to him until that Day.

1:13 Keep as your pattern the sound teaching you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

1:14 You have been trusted to look after something precious; guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

1:15 As you know, Phygelus and Hermogenes and all the others from Asia refuse to have anything more to do with me.

1:16 I hope the Lord will be kind to all the family of Onesiphorus, because he has often been a comfort to me and has never been ashamed of my chains.

1:17 On the contrary, as soon as he reached Rome, he really searched hard for me and found out where I was.

1:18 May it be the Lord's will that he shall find the Lord's mercy on that Day. You know better than anyone else how much he helped me at Ephesus.

JB 2 TIMOTHY Chapter 2

How Timothy should face hardships

2:1 Accept the strength, my dear son, that comes from the grace of Christ Jesus.

2:2 You have heard everything that I teach in public; hand it on to reliable people so that they in turn will be able to teach others.

2:3 Put up with your share of difficulties, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

2:4 In the army, no soldier gets himself mixed up in civilian life, because he must be at the disposal of the man who enlisted him;

2:5 or take an athlete - he cannot win any crown unless he has kept all the rules of the contest;

2:6 and again, it is the working farmer who has the first claim on any crop that is harvested.

2:7 Think over what I have said, and the Lord will show you how to understand it all.

2:8 Remember the Good News that I carry, 'Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David';

2:9 it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal - but they cannot chain up God's news.

2:10 So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.

2:11 Here is a saying that you rely on: If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.

2:12 If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us.

2:13 We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot disown his own self.

The struggle against the immediate danger from false teachers

2:14 Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening.

2:15 Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life's work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.

2:16 Have nothing to do with pointless philosophical discussions - they only lead further and further away from true religion.

2:17 Talk of this kind corrodes like gangrene, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus,

2:18 the men who have gone right away from the truth and claim that the resurrection has already taken place. Some people's faith cannot stand up to them.

2:19 However, God's solid foundation stone is still in position, and this is the inscription on it: 'The Lord knows those who are his own'[*a], and 'All who call on the name of the Lord[*b] must avoid sin'.

2:20 Not all the dishes in a large house are made of gold and silver; some are made of wood or earthenware: some are kept for special occasions and others are for ordinary purposes.

2:21 Now, to avoid these faults that I am speaking about is the Way for anyone to become a vessel for special occasions, fit for the Master himself to use, and kept ready for any good work.

2:22 Instead of giving in to your impulses like a young man, fasten your attention on holiness, faith, love and peace, in union with all those who call on the Lord with pure minds.

2:23 Avoid these futile and silly speculations, understanding that they only give rise to quarrels;

2:24 and a servant of the Lord is not to engage in quarrels, but has to be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and patient.

2:25 He has to be gentle when he corrects people who dispute what he says, never forgetting that God may give them a change of mind so that they recognise the truth and

2:26 come to their senses, once out of the trap where the devil caught them and kept them enslaved.

JB 2 TIMOTHY Chapter 3

The dangers of the last days

3:1 You may be quite sure that in the last days there are going to be some difficult times.

3:2 People will be self-centred and grasping; boastful, arrogant and rude; disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious;

3:3 heartless and unappeasable; they will be slanderers, profligates, savages and enemies of everything that is good;

3:4 they will be treacherous and reckless and demented by pride, preferring their own pleasure to God.

3:5 They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it. Have nothing to do with people like that.

3:6 Of the same kind, too, are those men who insinuate themselves into families in order to get influence over silly women who are obsessed with their sins and follow one craze after another

3:7 in the attempt to educate themselves, but can never come to knowledge of the truth.

3:8 Men like this defy the truth just as Jannes and Jambres defied Moses:[*a] their minds are corrupt and their faith spurious.

3:9 But they will not be able to go on any longer: their foolishness, like that of the other two, must become obvious to everybody.

3:10 You know, though, what I have taught, how I have lived, what I have aimed at; you know my faith, my patience and my love; my constancy

3:11 and the persecutions and hardships that came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra - all the persecutions I have endured; and the Lord has rescued me from every one of them.

3:12 You are well aware, then, that anybody who tries to live in devotion to Christ is certain to be attacked;

3:13 while these wicked impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and deceived themselves.

3:14 You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were,

3:15 and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures - from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

3:16 All scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and teaching them to be holy.

3:17 This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work.

JB 2 TIMOTHY Chapter 4

A solemn charge

4:1 Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom:

4:2 proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience - but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching.

4:3 The time is sure to come when, far from being content with sound teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes;

4:4 and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths.

4:5 Be careful always to choose the right course; be brave under trials; make the preaching of the Good News your life's work, in thoroughgoing service.

Paul in the evening of his life

4:6 As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone.

4:7 I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith;

4:8 all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.

Final advice

4:9 Do your best to come and see me as soon as you can.

4:10 As it is, Demas has deserted me for love of this life and gone to Thessalonika, Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia;

4:11 only Luke is with me. Get Mark to come and bring him with you; I find him a useful helper in my work.

4:12 I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

4:13 When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, and the scrolls, especially the parchment ones.

4:14 Alexander the coppersmith has done me a lot of harm; the Lord will repay him for what he has done.[*a]

4:15 Be on your guard against him yourself, because he has been bitterly contesting everything that we say.

4:16 The first time I had to present my defence, there was not a single witness to support me. Every one of them deserted me - may they not be held accountable for it.

4:17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear; and so I was rescued from the lion's mouth.[*b]

4:18 The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Farewells and final good wishes

4:19 Greetings to Prisca and Aquila, and the family of Onesiphorus.

4:20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus ill at Miletus.

4:21 Do your best to come before the winter. Greetings to you from Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.

4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

END OF JB 2 TIMOTHY [4 Chapters].