2 Timothy 1

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus because God wanted it, sent to tell about the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

2To Timothy, my dear son: May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.

3I thank God, whom I serve as my ancestors did, with a clean conscience. Night and day I never stop remembering you in my prayers.

4I remember your tears, and I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.

5I remember your honest faith. That same faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure it lives in you too.

6For this reason I remind you to keep on fanning into flame the gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.

7For God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid. He gave us a spirit of power, love, and a clear mind.

8So do not be ashamed to tell others about our Lord, and do not be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Instead, join with me in suffering for the good news, by the power of God.

9God saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we did, but because of his own plan and grace. He gave us this grace in Christ Jesus before time began,

10and now he has shown it to us through the coming of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. Christ has destroyed the power of death and, through the good news, has brought life that never ends out into the light.

11I was chosen to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this good news.

12That is why I am suffering as I am. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him, like a treasure kept safe, until that day.

13Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

14Guard the treasure that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.

15You know that everyone in the province of Asia has turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16May the Lord show mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, because he often cheered me up and was not ashamed that I was in chains.

17Instead, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.

18May the Lord grant that Onesiphorus will find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.