Paul, an apostle of AL-MASIH1 ‘ISA2 according to the commandment of God3 our Saviour, and AL-MASIH ‘ISA our hope; 2to Timothy, my true child in faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and AL-MASIH ‘ISA our Lord.
3As I exhorted you to stay at Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia, that you might command certain men not to teach a different doctrine, 4neither to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which cause disputes, rather than God’s work of faith. 5The goal of the command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; 6from which things, some people have missed the mark and turned aside to empty talk. 7They desire to be teachers of the Taurat,4 though they understand neither what they say, nor what they so strongly affirm.
8But we know that the Taurat is good, if a man uses it properly, 9as knowing this, that laws are not made for the righteous, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who murder their own parents, for manslayers, 10for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to sound teaching; 11according to the glorious Injil 5 of the blessed God, committed to my trust.
12And I thank him who enabled me, AL-MASIH ‘ISA our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to serve him; 13although I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14The grace of our Lord abounded greatly with faith and love which is in AL-MASIH ‘ISA. 15The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that AL-MASIH ‘ISA came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first, ‘ISA AL-MASIH might display all his patience, as an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.
18This charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may wage a good warfare; 19holding faith and a good conscience; which some having thrust away made a shipwreck concerning the faith; 20of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered to Shaitan6, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.
- 1:1 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 1:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
- 1:1 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 1:7 Taurat, this Arabic word derived from Torah (Hebrew) literally means “instruction” or “teaching.” In the Injil, the Greek text says nomos (meaning, “law”). Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎ - 1:11 Injil, this Arabic word is derived from Euangel (Greek) and means “good news” or “Gospel” (old English for ‘good news’). Depending on context, Injil can refer to,
1. the whole Christian New Testament containing 27 books,
2. the first 4 books of the New Testament, that is, the Injil according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, or,
3. the message or “good news” of forgiveness of sins through ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed in the holy Injil (or New Testament). ↩︎ - 1:20 Shaitan, is derived from the Hebrew Satan, which means “adversary” or “accuser.” ↩︎