2 Timothy 1

₁I, Paul, am an apostle of Jesus Christ because God chose me to do this work. God sent me to tell the Good_News that He gives eternal_life to the people who belong to Christ Jesus. ₂I, Paul, write this letter to you, Timothy. You are like my child, and I love you. I pray that God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord will be good to you and give you grace. I also pray that He will give you peace.

₃I serve God as my forefathers served Him. I know what is right and what is wrong and I have done nothing wrong. I pray to God every day and night, and I pray for you and I thank God. ₄I remember how sad you were and I want to see you again so that I can be happy. ₅I remember that you really believe in Christ like your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice did. I am sure that you also believe in Christ as they did.

₆That is why you must remember that God gave you a gift when I put my hands on you. You must use that gift and make it grow stronger, like blowing a small flame and making it grow into a big fire. ₇God gave us his Holy_Spirit and now we are not afraid. No, the Holy_Spirit makes us strong and He gives us love for God and for other people to do what is right.

₈You must not be ashamed to tell people about our Lord, and don't be ashamed of me in jail because I belong to the Lord. You must be willing to suffer with me when you tell the Good_News to people. God will help you and give you the power to do it.

₉God has saved us and He chose us to be his holy people. Why did He save us? It was not because we did something good. No, He saved us because that was what He wanted to do, because of his grace. Before time started God chose us to belong to Christ Jesus. ₁₀And now God has shown us his grace so that we can see that Christ Jesus came to save us. He defeated the power that death had over us when He gave us the Good_News. This Good_News shows us what eternal_life is.

₁₁God has chosen me and He sent me to preach this wonderful message and to be an apostle to teach the believers about God.

₁₂This is why I am suffering in jail now. But I am not ashamed, because I know Jesus and I believe in Him and I am sure that God has the power to take good care of everything that He gave me. He will do it until the day when Christ comes back. ₁₃You have heard how I have told the people the right things about God. You must do the same. Teach them and continue to believe in Jesus Christ and show that you love everyone. ₁₄God has given you wonderful gifts. You must look after them. The Holy_Spirit who lives in us will help you to do it.

₁₅You know that no one from Asia wanted to come and help me, not even Phygelus and Hermogenes. ₁₆I pray that God will be very good to the family of Onesiphorus because he often encouraged me and told me to be strong. He was not ashamed of me because I am in jail. ₁₇No, when he came to the city of Rome, he looked for me for a long time until he found me. ₁₈I pray that the Lord, when He comes again, will be good to Onesiphorus. You know how much Onesiphorus helped me in the city of Ephesus.