1 Timothy 1:3-11

3When I was going to Macedonia, I asked you to stay in Ephesus. Please continue to stay there. Certain people in Ephesus are teaching wrong things about God. You must tell them to stop doing that.

4Tell people not to listen to false stories. They should not always be studying long lists of their families' names from years ago. Those things do not help people. They only cause them to argue. Instead, they need to understand God's purpose for us. To do that, people must trust him.

5We need to teach people to love one another with pure thoughts. They need to be sure in their minds that they are living in a good way. They need to trust God completely.

6But certain people have failed to live in that way. They would rather talk about things that do not help anyone.

7They want to be teachers of God's laws. They speak very strongly, but they do not really understand what they are talking about.

8We know that God's laws are good, if people use them properly.

9We also know that God did not make those laws for people who already live in a good way. He made them for people like this, to show them what is right: people who refuse to obey any laws; people who do not want anyone to rule them; people who turn away from God; people who do bad things; people who do not respect God's holy things; people who kill their father or their mother; people who murder;

10people who have sex in a wrong way; men who have sex with other men; people who catch other people to sell them; people who tell lies; people who do not speak the truth in court; people who do any wrong things that are against God's true message.

11That true message is the good news that comes from our great God. We praise him for it. He has chosen me to tell this good news to people.