1 Timothy 1:15—17

Without a doubt, 1 Timothy 1:15 is one of the most significant verses in the New Testament.  It offers tangible proof that Jesus Christ did indeed come into the world to save sinners.   We often refer to Paul as the “greatest apostle” or the “great missionary” or the “great teacher,” but we forget that Paul came into this world as none of those things.  Paul came into this world as Saul, who grew up to become a hater and persecutor of all things and people having anything to do with Jesus Christ.

We also often talk about Christ as the Son of God who came to teach us, to show us how to live; to change our lives, but this verse declares succinctly that—

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…

Whatever else Jesus did; all the healings and the teachings, were purely secondary to this stated purpose.  Jesus came to save sinners.  And, at least according to Paul, he was the unqualified worst of the lot.

—of whom I am the worst.

In this verse, Paul opens up like he seldom did in his letters.  First he makes a statement that applies to all mankind, then he makes a personal application of that profound Biblical truth; what a marvelous way to share you faith!

1.  The Word:  trustworthy, verse 15a

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance…

Of course, the “trustworthy saying” is “Christ came into the world to save sinners.”   The Greek phrase behind the English “trustworthy saying” is pistos ho logos, meaning literally “faithful the word,” and there are five such trustworthy sayings mentioned in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:8; 2 Timothy 2:11—13; Titus 3:4—8).

This first famous and “trustworthy saying” is simple and great, like the Rock of Gibraltar, it is the unshakable foundation upon which our faith rests.   This simple statement, passed from believer to believer had, in less than four decades, so entrenched itself in the hearts, minds and consciousness of Christians that by the time of this letter it had become the simple confession of faith in the very early Church. Imagine, without the help of televangelists and popular Christian writers and teachers flooding the airwaves, somehow this simple, “trustworthy saying” had permeated the whole Church.  And why not?  It was and is the faithful Word of God.  Somehow, without the aid of the printing press, or the Old and New Testaments for that matter, this “Word of God” was enough to save.  Here we are, 2,000 years on, awash in Bibles of every conceivable translation, more lost than ever!  It may be the highest selling book of all time, but it is surely least read book ever written.

The Word declares exactly what Jesus Christ did—

…[He] came into the world to save sinners…

This refers, not to the Incarnation specifically, but to something else.  The juxtaposition of the words “world” and “sinners” reveals that in this instance, the word “world” is really an ethical concept.  That is, here was the sinless and perfect and eternal Son of God, pure and Holy, living in the presence of God the Father, voluntarily leaving the world He knew to enter a world to which He did not belong:  the world of sin.  His entrance into this world of darkness was for the express purpose of saving sinners.   Jesus Christ, then, was fully justified in leaving Heaven and purely motivated in coming into our world.   That, then, is part of the trustworthy saying you should know so well; this is the good news—the Gospel that saves, and it is reliable and rock solid.

2.  The proof, verse 15b

…of whom I am the worst.

When one makes extraordinary claims, the listener often doubts, and so Paul offers proof of what he just wrote.  The very fact that he was saved and a changed man proved the reliability or trustworthiness of the Word he just wrote.  Paul felt that he was the absolute “worst” (literally, the “first” or “chief”) of all sinners.  He thought that in the procession of sinners, he was at the head of the line.  Why did he feel this way about himself?  Did he consider himself worse than a demon-possessed man?  Was he worse than a child abuser or serial killer?   What Paul was getting at was simply this:  he had been persecuting the Church vigorously (Acts 22:4, 5 shows how vigorously) and had his vicious plans succeeded—had he not met Christ on the Damascus Road—the Church would have died in its infancy.  To him, to his reckoning, this was the worst of all sins making him the greatest of all sinners.

In the order of the Greek, the emphasis on himself in verse 15, switching to Christ’s work in verse 16; in other words, Paul is using himself as a way to contrast the greatness of what Christ did.  We are reminded of the moving words of Charles Wesley:

Indeed, what Paul wrote about himself each one of us could write about ourselves.  For in comparison to greatness of Jesus Christ, we are nothing.

3.  The reason for Paul’s salvation, verse 16

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

This is the purpose of God’s amazing grace.  Paul would become a living, breathing illustration of what God can do to change a human life.  Even salvation is all about God, not about us.  This follows what Paul wrote to the Galatians—

But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…  (Galatians 1:15—16a)

We don’t often think about that as a reason for our salvation:  to show the glory of God to others.  Christians are deluded into thinking that their faith is a private thing; something between them and God.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Our faith is what should define us.  Nothing could be more eloquent of the goodness, kindness, and the grace of God than your changed life; it speaks louder than any word you say.  At least it should.  Hopefully our lives testify to the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.  If not, we need to revisit our confessions of Christ!

4.  Doxology, verse 17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Scottish poet and hymn writer, Elizabeth Clephane, known as “the Reforming Mom,” wrote these beautiful words—

These “two wonders” are what moved Paul to write verse 17.  Considering his great sinfulness, Paul realized how great God’s grace must have been.  In a sense, our view of God is determined by the view we hold of ourselves.  Paul could write verse 17 because he wrote verses 15 and 16; he saw the utter depravity of himself and knew that his rescue demanded a great God.

In these few verses Paul writes of two things in his conversion:  first, how such a great and glorious God could have compassion on him while he was the foremost sinner, and second, the purpose of God in Paul’s salvation, that he should become a kind of pattern of grace to all believers.  Paul, as a Pharisee, was in ignorance and unbelief, rebelling against a God he did not know, all the while thinking he was actually serving that God!  His ignorance, however, was no excuse for his sinful condition.

Like the good shepherd, the old lady, and the father of the parables of Luke 15, God sought Paul, the lost one, to bring him home where he belonged.  Paul, in his sin, may have “kicked against the goad” time and again, but God’s grace was greater than his sin, God’s patience more perfect than Paul’s persistent rebellion.  Guilty as Paul may have been, as hostile as Paul may have been to the Kingdom of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, his sin did not come close to touching God.  It did not dissuade God from His purpose:  saving Paul, and revealing Himself in Paul, so that Paul could do His will.  God was pleased to show in Paul a pattern of perfect grace and sovereignty to all Jews, who were as rebellious as Paul was, and to all people everywhere and for all time, for all who live without Christ are enemies of God whether they know it or now, and are in desperate need of saving.

The chief, the most active, the most chronic of sinners made the most powerful witness that the grace of God abounded over sin and that the work of Christ was enough to change Paul’s life.

The reality is we are all as bad as Paul, but that God’s amazing grace and boundless love can reach down from Heaven into our hearts and change us in an instant.  We can become walking illustrations of the power and sovereignty of God.

(c)  2009 WitzEnd