Book of Common Prayer

1 I am Paul. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus. God and Christ Jesus told me to be an apostle. God is our Saviour, and Christ is the one who gives us hope.

² Timothy, you are my true son because you believe the way I do. I ask God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord to show you love and kindness, and give you peace.

³ When I went to the country of Macedonia, I asked you to stay in the city of Ephesus. I wanted you to tell some of the teachers not to teach wrong things.

⁴ Tell them not to use stories that are not true, and long histories of names. These things often make people quarrel. These things do not make people believe and follow God's way.

⁵ Here is what teachers should aim at. God's people should love each other with a love which comes from a clean heart, a clear mind, and true faith.

⁶ Some teachers have not tried to do these things and so they talk about things that do no good.

⁷ They want to teach the law. But they do not understand what they say. And they do not know what they are trying to prove.

⁸ We know that the law is good when anyone uses it in the right way.

⁹ He must understand that the law was not made for the man who lives right. It was made for those who do not want any laws over them, and for those who will not obey. It was made for those who do not respect God, and those who are bad people. It was made for those who do not respect anything that is holy or belongs to God. It was made for those who beat their fathers or mothers, and for those who kill people.

¹⁰ It was made for those who use sex in the wrong way and for men who have sex with other men. It was made for those who steal people, for those who tell lies, for those who make a promise that is not true, and for any other thing that is not right.

¹¹ The wonderful good news of God teaches what is right. Praise him! And he has trusted me to tell this good news.

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who gave me power to tell the good news. I thank him because he believed he could trust me, and he chose me for this work.

¹³ There was a time when I did not respect him. I troubled his people. I said wrong things about him. But he was very kind to me, because I did not know what I was doing and I did not believe in him.

¹⁴ Our Lord showed me much love and kindness. I believed in him and had the love which comes from Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ These are true words and everyone should believe them. `Christ Jesus came into the world to save bad people.' And I am the worst of all.

¹⁶ Jesus Christ wanted to show that he is very, very patient. And so he was kind to me who was the worst. He did this so that others would believe in him and live for ever.

¹⁷ Give honour and praise for ever and ever to the one who is King for ever. He will never die. He cannot be seen. He is the only God. Yes, he is!

13 Some people were there at that time who told Jesus what Pilate had done. He had killed some of the people of Galilee and put their blood with the blood of their sacrifices to God.

² Jesus answered, `Do you think it was because they were worse than all the other people in Galilee?

³ I tell you, "No!" But if you do not stop doing wrong things, then you will all die as they did.

⁴ Eighteen men died when the high house in Siloam fell on them. Do you think they were worse than all the other men who lived in Jerusalem?

⁵ I tell you, "No!" But if you do not stop doing wrong things, you will all die as they did.'

⁶ Then Jesus told this story: `A man had a fruit tree on his farm. He came to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.

⁷ He said to the man who cared for the trees, "For three years I have come to look for fruit on this tree, but I have not found any. Cut it down. Why should it spoil my farmland?"

⁸ The man who cared for the trees answered, "Sir, let it stay one more year. I will dig around it and put good soil around it.

⁹ If it has fruit on it next year, that will be good. But if it has no fruit, you can have it cut down." '