The sins of some men are obvious and lead the way to judgment, but those of others lag behind: so also some good deeds are evident, and those that are otherwise can not remain hidden.
Those who are slaves under the yoke should consider their own masters worthy of fuU honor, so that the name and teaching of God may not be ill spoken of. Those who have masters who are believers should not therefore treat them with disrespect because they are brothers, but work all the harder as their slaves, because those who have the benefit of their good work are believers, and are beloved.
Teach and urge these principles. If anyone deviates from them in his teaching and does not adhere to wholesome doctrines, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and teaching that accords with piety, he is conceited, understands nothing, but is sick over controversies and battles of words; from which grow spite, rivalry, blasphemies, base suspicions, the frictions of men who are corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, who think that piety is gain. And piety, with self-sufficiency, is a great gain; for we brought nothing into the world, and because we can take nothing out of it, and while we have food and covering we shall be satisfied with them. Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and entrapment and many senseless and har^^ desires which sink people into ruin and destruction. For the root of all evils is the love of money, in longing for which some have strayed from their faith and transfixed themselves with many pains.
But you, man of God, avoid all this. Pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Strive in the good contest of faith, lay hold on everlasting life, to which you were summoned and confessed to the good confession before many witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who testified to the good confession in the time of Pontius Pilate, to keep this commandment stainless and irreproachable until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his own time the blessed and single ruler will display; the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, sole holder of immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see: to whom be glory and power everlasting. Amen.
Charge those who are rich in the present time not to be haughty and not to put their hopes in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who provides us richly with all means for enjoyment, to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be liberal, sharing, laying away for ourselves a good foundation for the future so that all may partake of what is really life.
Oh, Timothy, guard this which has been entrusted to you, putting aside the profane babblings and antitheses of what is falsely called knowledge; which some have professed, and thus failed in their faith.
Grace be with you.
The Second Letter to Timothy
11PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST JESUS, BY the will of God through the promise of life in Christ Jesus; to Timothy, his beloved son: grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I give thanks to God, whom I serve with the clear conscience which is from my ancestors, as I mention you continually in my prayers. I long to see you, night and day, remembering your tears; to make my joy complete as I am reminded again of the unfeigned faith that is in you. First it dwelt in Lois your grandmother, and Eunice your mother; and I believe that it is also in you. For which reason I ^ reminding you to rekindle the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us any spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and discretion.
Do not then be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the gospel, with strength from God: God who saved us and summoned us with a holy summons, not because of what we had done but according to his own purpose and his grace, grace in Christ Jesus granted to us countless ages ago, but made evident now through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and spread the light of life and imperishability through his gospel. Of this I have been appointed the herald and apostle and teacher; and that is the cause for which I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, but I know whom I trust, and I am persuaded that he can guard my trust until the great Day. Preserve the standard of wholesome precepts which you have heard from me in faith and love and in Christ Jesus; guard the good which has been entrusted to you through the Holy Spirit which lives in us.
You know this, that all the people in Asia turned away from me; among them are Phygelus and Herrnogenes. But may the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, because many times he refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains; rather, when he arrived in Rome he eagerly sought me out, and found me; may the Lord grant that he find mercy from the Lord on the great Day; and you know better than I all the services he did in Ephesus.
But you, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me before many witnesses, pass this on to trustworthy men who will be able to teach it to others as well. Take your share of sufferings like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in service involves himself in the business of ordinary life, if he is to please the man who enlisted him. And if an athlete competes, he wins no wreath unless he competes by the rules. The farmer who does the work must be first to have his share of the crops. Th^^ upon what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in all things.
Remember Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, who rose from the dead, according to the gospel I preach; the gospel for which I am mistreated to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not in chains; and through this I endure all for the sake of the elect, so that they also may attain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with glory everlasting. This word is to be believed: If we die with him, we shall live with him; if we endure, we shall be kings with him; if we disown him, he will disown us; if we lose our belief, he is still to be believed, for he cannot disown himself.
Keep reminding people of this, charging them before God not to fight verbal battles, which are of no use for anything except for the subversion of those who listen to them. Strive to present yourself to God as one who is worthy, a worker with nothing to be ashamed of, drawing a straight line of argument for the truth. But avoid profane and empty words, for they will advance people in impiety and their speaking will spread like gangrene. Among such people are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have strayed from the truth in saying that the resurrection has already taken place; and so they are upsetting the faith of some. But the foundation of God stands firm, with this seal upon it: The Lord knows those who are his; and: Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wrongdoing. In a great house there are vessels not only of gold and silver but also of wood and clay; and some are to be prized and others to be despised. If, then, a person purges himself from what I have been speaking of, he will be a vessel to be prized, hallowed, useful to his master, made ready for every good work. But avoid the desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. Put aside stupid uninstructed speculations, knowing that they breed quarrels. A slave of the Lord must not quarrel but be mild toward all, instructive, patient, gentle, enlightening his opponents; on the chance that God may grant them to repent and recognize the truth, and they come to their senses and escape the entrapment of the devil, though they had been captured by him for his own will.