2. To Timothy, a true son to me in the faith we share. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. When I went to Macedonia, I asked you to stay in Ephesus. Some people there are teaching things that are not true, and I want you to tell them to stop.
4. Tell them not to give their time to meaningless stories and to long lists of names to prove their family histories. Such things only cause arguments. They don’t help God’s work, which is done only by faith.
5. My purpose in telling you to do this is to promote love—the kind of love shown by those whose thoughts are pure, who do what they know is right, and whose faith in God is real.
6. But some have missed this key point in their teaching and have gone off in another direction. Now they talk about things that help no one.
7. They want to be teachers of the law, but they don’t know what they are talking about. They don’t even understand the things they say they are sure of.
8. We know that the law is good if someone uses it right.
9. We also know that the law is not made for those who do what is right. It is made for those who are against the law and refuse to follow it. The law is for sinners who are against God and all that is pleasing to him. It is for those who have no interest in spiritual things and for those who kill their fathers or mothers or anyone else.