Second Letter to Timothy 2

¹ Accept the strength, my dear son, that comes from the grace of Christ Jesus.

² You have heard everything that I teach in public; hand it on to reliable people so that they in turn will be able to teach others.

³ Put up with your share of difficulties, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

⁴ In the army, no soldier gets himself mixed up in civilian life, because he must be at the disposal of the man who enlisted him;

⁵ or take an athlete – he cannot win any crown unless he has kept all the rules of the contest;

⁶ and again, it is the working farmer who has the first claim on any crop that is harvested.

⁷ Think over what I have said, and the Lord will show you how to understand it all.

⁸ Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’;

⁹ it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news.

¹⁰ So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.

¹¹ Here is a saying that you rely on: If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.

¹² If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him. If we disown him, then he will disown us.

¹³ We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot disown his own self.

¹⁴ Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening.

¹⁵ Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.

¹⁶ Have nothing to do with pointless philosophical discussions – they only lead further and further away from true religion.

¹⁷ Talk of this kind corrodes like gangrene, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus,

¹⁸ the men who have gone right away from the truth and claim that the resurrection has already taken place. Some people’s faith cannot stand up to them.

¹⁹ However, God’s solid foundation stone is still in position, and this is the inscription on it: ‘The Lord knows those who are his own'[*a], and ‘All who call on the name of the Lord[*b] must avoid sin’.

²⁰ Not all the dishes in a large house are made of gold and silver; some are made of wood or earthenware: some are kept for special occasions and others are for ordinary purposes.

²¹ Now, to avoid these faults that I am speaking about is the Way for anyone to become a vessel for special occasions, fit for the Master himself to use, and kept ready for any good work.

²² Instead of giving in to your impulses like a young man, fasten your attention on holiness, faith, love and peace, in union with all those who call on the Lord with pure minds.

²³ Avoid these futile and silly speculations, understanding that they only give rise to quarrels;

²⁴ and a servant of the Lord is not to engage in quarrels, but has to be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and patient.

²⁵ He has to be gentle when he corrects people who dispute what he says, never forgetting that God may give them a change of mind so that they recognise the truth and

²⁶ come to their senses, once out of the trap where the devil caught them and kept them enslaved.