¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

² sn God our Savior. Use of the title “Savior” for God the Father is characteristic of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. It occurs six times in these letters, but only twice elsewhere in the NT. However, it occurs commonly in the OT, especially in Isaiah. It emphasizes the Father as the initiator and source of salvation.

³ tn Grk “for toward this,” denoting purpose. The conjunction “for” gives confirmation or emphasis to 1 Tim 4:8-9.

⁴ tc A number of mss (א² D 0241^vid 1739 1881 Ï latt sy co) read ὀνειδιζόμεθα (oneidizomeqa, “suffer reproach”), while the reading behind the translation (ἀγωνιζόμεθα, agwnizomeqa) is supported by א* A C F G K Ψ 33 1175 al. The reading from the verb ἀγωνίζομαι (agwnizomai) has slightly better external credentials, but this verb is found in the corpus Paulinum five other times, twice in the Pastorals (1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 4:7). The verb ὀνειδίζω (oneidizw) occurs only once in Paul (Rom 15:3), not at all in the Pastorals. In this instance, transcriptional and intrinsic evidence might seem to be opposed to each other. In such cases, the external evidence should be given more weight. With some hesitation, ἀγωνιζόμεθα is preferred.

⁵ tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, and is thus translated “people.”

⁶ tc ‡ Most witnesses, some of them important (א² A D H 1881 Ï lat sy bo), have σοι (soi, “you”) after παραγγέλλω (parangellw, “I charge [you]”), a predictable variant because the personal pronoun is demanded by the sense of the passage (and was added in the translation because of English requirements). Hence, the omission is the harder reading, and the addition of σοι is one of clarification. Further, the shorter reading is found in several important witnesses, such as א* F G Ψ 6 33 1739 pc. Thus, both internally and externally the shorter reading is preferred. NA ²⁷ places σοι in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

tn Grk “I charge.”

⁷ tn Grk “testified the good confession.”

sn Jesus’ good confession was his affirmative answer to Pilate’s question “Are you the king of the Jews?” (see Matt 27:11, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3, John 18:33-37).