Run the great race of the Faith, and win the Immortal Life. It was for this that you received the Call, and, in the presence of many witnesses, made the great profession of Faith.
Through the evidence afforded by the service thus rendered, you cause men to praise God for your fidelity to your profession of faith in the Good News of the Christ, as well as for the liberality of your contributions for them and for all others.
Let the Peace that the Christ gives decide all doubts within your hearts; for you also were called to the enjoyment of peace as members of one Body. And show yourselves thankful.
This, then, is the charge that I lay upon you, Timothy, my Child, in accordance with what was predicted of you--Fight the good fight in the spirit of those predictions,
Do not neglect the divine gift within you, which was given you, amid many a prediction, when the hands of the Officers of the Church were laid on your head.
It was God who saved us, and from him we received our solemn Call--not as a reward for anything that we had done, but in fulfillment of his own loving purpose. For that love was extended to us, through Christ Jesus, before time began,
For he intended us to find great encouragement in these two unchangeable things, which make it impossible for God to prove false--we, I mean, who fled for safety where we might lay hold on the hope set before us.
God, from whom all help comes, and who called you, by your union with Christ, into his eternal glory, will, when you have suffered for a little while, himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.
Dear friends, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common Salvation, I felt that I must write to you at once to urge you to fight in defense of the Faith that has once for all been entrusted to the keeping of Christ's People.
Therefore remember what you have received and heard, and lay it to heart and repent. Unless you are on the watch, I shall come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I am coming to you.