5. If an athlete is running a race, he must obey all the rules in order to win.
6. The farmer who works hard should be the first person to get some of the food that he grew.
7. Think about these things that I am saying. The Lord will give you the ability to understand all these things.
8. Remember Jesus Christ. He is from the family of David. After Jesus died, he was raised from death. This is the Good News that I preach,
9. and I am suffering because of that Good News. I am even bound with chains like a criminal. But God’s teaching is not in chains.
10. So I patiently accept all these troubles. I do this so that those whom God has chosen can have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. With that salvation comes glory that never ends.
11. This teaching is true:If we died with him,then we will also live with him.
12. If we accept suffering,then we will also rule with him.If we say we don’t know him,then he will say he doesn’t know us.
13. If we are not faithful,he will still be faithful,because he must be true to who he is.
14. Continue teaching these things. And warn people before God not to argue about words. Arguing about words does not help anyone, and it ruins those who listen.
15. Do the best you can to be the kind of person that God will approve, and give yourself to him. Be a worker who is not ashamed of his work—a worker who uses the true teaching in the right way.
16. Stay away from those who talk about useless worldly things. That kind of talk will lead a person more and more away from God.
17. Their evil teaching will spread like a sickness inside the body. Hymenaeus and Philetus are men like that.
18. They have left the true teaching. They say that the rising from death of all men has already taken place. And those two men are destroying the faith of some people.
19. But God’s strong foundation continues to stand. These words are written on that foundation: “The Lord knows those who belong to him.” And also these words are written on that foundation, “Everyone who says that he believes in the Lord must stop doing wrong.”