Dual Panel1This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, sent out to tell others about the life he has promised through faith in Christ Jesus.
2It is written to Timothy, my dear son. May God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.
3Timothy, I thank God for you. He is the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.
4I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.
5I know that you sincerely trust the Lord, for you have the faith of your mother, Eunice, and your grandmother, Lois.
6This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.
7For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self–discipline.
8So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for Christ. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the proclamation of the Good News.
9It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began––to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus.
10And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News.
11And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News.
12And that is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
13Hold on to the pattern of right teaching you learned from me. And remember to live in the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.
14With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard what has been entrusted to you.
15As you know, all the Christians who came here from the province of Asia have deserted me; even Phygelus and Hermogenes are gone.
16May the Lord show special kindness to Onesiphorus and all his family because he often visited and encouraged me. He was never ashamed of me because I was in prison.
17When he came to Rome, he searched everywhere until he found me.
18May the Lord show him special kindness on the day of Christ’s return. And you know how much he helped me at Ephesus.