1 Timothy 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

From Paul, an ambassador of Jesus The One — appointed by the authority of God our rescuer and Jesus The One, the one we're counting on —

To Timothy, my true child in the trust we share: undeserved kindness, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Jesus The One, our leader.

Just as I urged you when I left for Macedonia — stay in Ephesus and tell certain people to stop teaching a different message.

Tell them to stop obsessing over myths and endless genealogies. Those things only fuel speculation — they don't advance God's plan, which works through trust.

The whole point of what I'm telling you is love — the kind that flows from a clean heart, a clear conscience, and genuine trust.

Some people have wandered away from these things and gotten lost in pointless debates.

They want to be experts in the Jewish law, but they don't even understand what they're saying or the things they're so confident about.

Now, we know the law is good — if someone uses it the way it was intended.

We also know that the law wasn't designed for people who are already living right — it's for those who break the rules and rebel, for the ungodly and those who miss the whole point, for those who would kill their own father or mother, for murderers,

for the sexually immoral, for men who exploit other men sexually, for slave traders, for liars, for those who break their word under oath — and for anything else that goes against the healthy teaching

that lines up with the stunning good news about the glory of God — the one and only God who deserves all honor — which he entrusted to me.

I'm grateful to Jesus The One, our leader, who gave me the strength for this. He considered me trustworthy and put me into service —

even though I used to speak against him, persecute his people, and act with violent arrogance. But I received mercy because I did it out of ignorance and lack of trust.

But the undeserved kindness of our leader overflowed beyond anything I could have imagined, along with the trust and love that come through being connected to Jesus The One.

Here's a statement you can trust completely: Jesus The One came into the world to rescue those who have failed — and I failed worse than anyone.

But that's exactly why I received mercy — so that Jesus The One could use me, the worst case scenario, as a demonstration of his complete patience. I'm an example for everyone who would later put their trust in him and receive limitless life.

Now to the king who rules through all of time — the one you can't see, who can't be destroyed, the only God — all honor and glory forever and ever. Absolutely.

Timothy, my child — here's the charge I'm giving you, in line with the prophetic words spoken over you earlier: use them as fuel to fight the good fight,

holding on to trust and a clear conscience. Some people have thrown these overboard and their trust has been shipwrecked.

Hymenaeus and Alexander are two of them — I've handed them over to the Adversary so they'll learn not to speak against God.