1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the authority of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope,
2. to Timothy, beloved son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. Now I asked you to remain at Ephesus, while I went into Macedonia, so that you would speak strongly against certain ones who have been teaching a different way,
4. against those who have been paying attention to fables and endless genealogies. These things present questions as if they were greater than the edification that is of God, which is in faith.
5. Now the goal of instruction is charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith.
6. Certain persons, wandering away from these things, have been turned aside to empty babbling,
7. desiring to be teachers of the law, but understanding neither the things that they themselves are saying, nor what they are affirming about these things.
8. But we know that the law is good, if one makes use of it properly.
9. Knowing this, that the law was not set in place for the just, but for the unjust and the insubordinate, for the impious and sinners, for the wicked and the defiled, for those who commit patricide, matricide, or homicide,
10. for fornicators, for males who sleep with males, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
11. which is in accord with the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God, the Gospel which has been entrusted to me.
12. I give thanks to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he has considered me faithful, placing me in the ministry,