Paragraph 1:13–14

1:13 and 1:14 express similar ideas. Paul instructed Timothy in both verses to protect, guard, and preserve the true doctrine of the gospel.

1:13a

Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me: Paul had taught Timothy the correct and complete gospel message. Here, he was telling Timothy to remember what he had taught him and to preserve it as the model of true doctrine.

Hold on to: Here, the phrase Hold on to means to “keep” or “preserve.” It is parallel to the word “guard” in 1:14. Hold on to implies holding on to something so that it will not be changed or lost.

pattern: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pattern only occurs in the New Testament here and in 1 Timothy 1:16. Other meanings for pattern are “model” or “example.”

In the Greek sentence, pattern occurs before the verb keep. This emphasizes this noun.

In this context, the word pattern refers to an abstract idea. It may be necessary for you to use a phrase or a clause to express this idea. Here is one way you might translate this:

The things that you have heard from me are worthy to be followed / imitated. Keep/Preserve/Hold on to this sound teaching.

sound teaching: This phrase in Greek is literally “healthy words.” Paul was talking about true and correct doctrine, or a true and correct set of beliefs. This true and correct doctrine is the message that Paul preached to tell people that God saves them by means of Jesus Christ.

you have heard from me: The phrase you have heard from me is the direct object of the verb hold. Good News Translation expresses this clearly: “Hold firmly to the true words that I taught you.”

General Comment on 1:13a

Some English translations imply that Paul was instructing Timothy to follow his example by teaching the same things that he taught. While this may be implied, you should not make this explicit in your translation. The emphasis here is on preserving correct doctrine, not on teaching it.

1:13b

with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus: Scholars do not agree about whether this phrase modifies the previous clause or whether it is a separate instruction. So this phrase can be understood in the following two ways:

(1) It tells how Timothy was to “hold on to [what he heard from Paul] as the pattern of sound teaching.” For example, God’s Word says:

With faith and love for Christ Jesus, consider what you heard me say to be the pattern of accurate teachings.

See also Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible.

(2) It is a separate instruction. For example, Good News Translation says:

and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus.

See also New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) as the majority of English versions do.

the faith and love: If you want to translate these two nouns as verbs, you can say, “to believe in Jesus and to love others.”

in Christ Jesus: The phrase in Christ Jesus means “to be united with Christ Jesus.” Paul told Timothy to continue to believe in Jesus and to love others because Timothy was united with Jesus.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.