2 TIMOTHY 1 (NIV)
- Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
- To Timothy, my dear son:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. - I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.
- Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.
- I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Loid and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
- For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
- For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
- So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,
- who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
- but is has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
- And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.
- That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamd, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
- What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
- Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you - guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
- You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
- May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
- On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.
- May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
