A personal word to Timothy
1
📚Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to✭ the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,2 📚To my dearly loved son Timothy: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 📚I thank God✭, whom I serve, as my forefathers✭ did, with a clear conscience✭, that night and day✭ in my prayers I constantly remember you. 4 📚Recalling your tears✭, I have a great desire to see you✭, that I may be filled with joy. 5 📚✭For I remember the sincere faith✭ that is in you, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and, I am persuaded, in you also. 6 📚✭Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Good gifts from God to believers
7 📚For God has not given us the spirit of fear✭, but of power✭ and of love✭ and of a sound mind✭.
Gladly suffering for Christ because of God’s grace and the power of the gospel
8 📚So do not be ashamed✭ of the testimony of our Lord or of me his prisoner✭, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel✭, by the power of God, 9 📚who has saved us and called us with a holy calling✭. This was not according to our deeds, but according to his own purpose✭ and grace, which was given to us in Christ✭ Jesus before time began✭, 10 📚but is now revealed✭ by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death✭, and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 📚For this gospel I have been appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 📚✭For this reason also I suffer these things. However, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed✭, and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have entrusted✭ to him until that day✭.
Keeping and guarding the truth
13 📚✭Hold firmly the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, with faith and love✭ which are in Christ✭ Jesus. 14 📚✭By the Holy Spirit✭ who lives in us✭, keep that good thing which was entrusted to you.
Some are deserters, others are helpers
15 📚✭You know that everyone in Asia✭ has deserted me, including Phygellus and Hermogenes.
16 📚The Lord be merciful to the household of Onesiphorus✭, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 When he was in Rome he sought me out very earnestly and found me. 18 📚The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy✭ from the Lord in that day. You know very well how many ways he served me in Ephesus.