3. When I was leaving for Macedonia, I asked you to stay on in Ephesus and warn certain people there to stop spreading their false teachings.
4. You needed to warn them to stop wasting their time on senseless stories and endless lists of ancestors. Such things only cause arguments. They don't help anyone to do God's work that can only be done by faith.
5. You must teach people to have genuine love, as well as a good conscience and true faith.
6. There are some who have given up these for nothing but empty talk.
7. They want to be teachers of the Law of Moses. But they don't know what they are talking about, even though they think they do.
8. We know that the Law is good, if it is used in the right way.
9. We also understand that it wasn't given to control people who please God, but to control lawbreakers, criminals, godless people, and sinners. It is for wicked and evil people, and for murderers, who would even kill their own parents.