1 Timothy 1:3–11

Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers

³As I urged you when I went into Macedonia,^g stay there in Ephesus^h so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrinesⁱ any longer ⁴or to devote themselves to myths^j and endless genealogies.^k Such things promote controversial speculations^l rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. ⁵The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart^m and a good conscienceⁿ and a sincere faith.^{o 6}Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. ⁷They want to be teachers^p of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.^q

⁸We know that the law is good^r if one uses it properly. ⁹We also know that the law is made not for the righteous^s but for lawbreakers and rebels,^t the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine^{u 11}that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.^v