Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

¹² I thank him ^(A)who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, ^(B)appointing me to his service, ¹³ though formerly I was a blasphemer, ^(C)persecutor, and insolent opponent. But ^(D)I received mercy ^(E)because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴ and ^(F)the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the ^(G)faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ The saying is ^(H)trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus ^(I)came into the world to save sinners, ^(J)of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶ But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷ To ^(K)the King of the ages, ^(L)immortal, ^(M)invisible, ^(N)the only God, ^(O)be honor and glory forever and ever.^[a] Amen.

¹⁸ This charge ^(P)I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with ^(Q)the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may ^(R)wage the good warfare, ^19 (S)holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have ^(T)made shipwreck of their faith, ²⁰ among whom are ^(U)Hymenaeus and ^(V)Alexander, whom I ^(W)have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to ^(X)blaspheme.

The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is ^(A)the commandment—the statutes and the rules^[a]—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, ² that ^(B)you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and ^(C)that your days may be long. ³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, ^(D)as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: ^(E)The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[b] 5} You ^(F)shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And ^(G)these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ^7 (H)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^8 (I)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^9 (J)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^(K)that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ^12 (L)then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is ^(M)the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^(N)by his name you shall swear. ¹⁴ You shall not ^(O)go after other gods, ^(P)the gods of the peoples who are around you— ¹⁵ for ^(Q)the Lord your God in your midst ^(R)is a jealous God—^(S)lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

^16 (T)“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(U)as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ You shall ^(V)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ^18 (W)And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers ^19 (X)by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

^20 (Y)“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ^(Z)‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² And ^(AA)the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. ²³ And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^(AB)to fear the Lord our God, ^(AC)for our good always, that ^(AD)he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. ²⁵ And ^(AE)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Worship in the Splendor of Holiness