1 Paul, an emissary^[a] of Jesus the Anointed commissioned by order of God our Savior and Jesus the Anointed, our living and certain hope), ² to you, Timothy, my true son in the faith.

May the grace, mercy, and peace that come only from God the Father and our Lord Jesus the Anointed mark your life.

³ As I said that day I left for Macedonia, stay in Ephesus and instruct the unruly people in the church, once and for all, to stop teaching a different doctrine. ⁴ Tell them to turn away from fables and endless genealogies. These activities just cause more arguments and confusion. Instead, they should concern themselves with welcoming in and bringing about the reign of God, which is all about faith. ⁵ Our teaching about this journey is intended to bring us to a single destination—a place where self-giving love reigns from a pure heart, a clean conscience, and a genuine faith. ⁶ Yes, some have walked away from these traits and have fallen into a life of endless blabber and nonsense— ⁷ they wish to become scholars of the law, but they don’t know what they are talking about, and they make these grand pronouncements but clearly don’t understand what they just said.

⁸ You and I know the law is good (if used in the right way), and ⁹ we also know the law was not designed for law-abiding people but for lawbreakers and criminals, the ungodly and sin-filled, the unholy and worldly, the father killers and mother killers, the murderers, ¹⁰ the sexually immoral and homosexuals, slave dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone else who acts against the sound doctrine ¹¹ laid out in the glorious, holy, and pure good news of the blessed God that has been entrusted to me.

¹² I thank our Lord Jesus the Anointed who empowers me, because He saw me as faithful and appointed me to this ministry. ¹³ Despite the fact that at one time I was slandering the things of God, persecuting and attacking His people, He was still merciful to me because I acted in ignorance apart from faith. ¹⁴ But He poured His grace over me, and I was flooded in an abundance of the grace and faith and love that can only be found in Jesus the Anointed.

¹⁵ Here’s a statement worthy of trust: Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them all. ¹⁶ But it is for this reason I was given mercy: by displaying His perfect patience in me, the very worst of all sinners, Jesus the Anointed could show that patience to all who would believe in Him and gain eternal life. ¹⁷ May the King eternal, immortal, and invisible—the one and only God—now be honored and glorified forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸ Timothy, my dear child, I am placing before you a charge for the mission ahead. It is in total agreement with the prophecies once spoken over you. Here it is: with God’s message stirring and directing you, fight the good fight, ¹⁹ armed with faith and a good conscience. Some have tried to silence their consciences, wrecking their lives and ruining their faiths. ²⁰ Hymenaeus and Alexander are among these; I have had to hand them over to Satan so they might learn not to speak against God.

2 So, first and foremost, I urge God’s people to pray. They should make their requests, petitions, and thanksgivings on behalf of all humanity. ² Teach them to pray for kings (or anyone in high places for that matter) so that we can lead quiet, peaceful lives—reverent, godly, and holy— ³ all of which is good and acceptable before the eyes of God our Savior ⁴ who desires for everyone to be saved and know the truth. ⁵ Because

The testimony was given to me at just the right time. ⁷ This is exactly what I was appointed to do—tell everyone His story—as a herald, an emissary,^[b] a teacher of the outsiders in faith and the truth. (Listen, I promise it’s all true. I’m not lying.)

⁸ So here’s what you tell them; here’s what I want to see: Men, pray wherever you are. Reach your holy hands to heaven—without rage or conflict—completely open. ⁹ Women, the same goes for you: dress properly, modestly, and appropriately. Don’t get carried away in grooming your hair or seek beauty in glittering gold, pearls, or expensive clothes. ¹⁰ Instead, as is fitting, let good works decorate your true beauty and show that you are a woman who claims reverence for God. ¹¹ It’s best if a woman learns quietly and orderly in complete submission.

¹² Now, Timothy, it’s not my habit to allow women to teach in a way that wrenches authority from a man. As I said, it’s best if a woman learns quietly and orderly. ¹³ This is because Adam was formed first by God, then Eve. ¹⁴ Plus, it wasn’t Adam who was tricked; it was she—the woman was the one who was fooled and disobeyed God’s command first. ¹⁵ Still, God, in His faithfulness, will deliver her through childbearing as long as she^[c] remains in faith and love and holiness with self-restraint.