Paul the apostle experienced
the “exceeding abundant grace with faith and love” of the
Lord Jesus Christ even though he was once a “blasphemer,
persecutor and injurious” to Jesus and His church. Paul knew it
was only because he “obtained mercy” that he was ever
“enabled” to be put “into the ministry”, and
because of his example, in chapter one and verse fifteen of his
letter to Timothy, he declared himself to be the “chief”
of sinners where we read:
This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
The verse begins, “This
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation,...” After
declaring Jesus Christ's grace as the source of his salvation, Paul
added, “This is a faithful”
or “trustworthy and reliable” “saying”
which means “speech, discourse, doctrine or teaching” “and
worthy” or “weighty,
valuable, befitting and congruous” “of all acceptation”
which means “individually and collectively received, admitted and
appropriated”. In other words, what Paul is about to declare,
everyone should receive as valuable and worthy of accepting as
trustworthy and reliable.
The
verse continues, “that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners;” After
perking the ears of anyone who reads this statement of Paul, he
wrote, “that Christ Jesus” who
is “the anointed one, the messiah known as Jehovah is Salvation”
“came into” or
“arose, came forth and showed himself” “the world”
or “to the earth” “to
save” which means “to rescue
from danger and destruction” “sinners”
which were people who were “devoted to sin, preeminently sinful,
wicked and specifically those who were stained with certain
definite vices or crimes”. Jesus' purpose for coming into the world
was “to save sinners”, and Paul knew that only by the
grace of God could He do so.
Finally the verse says, “of
whom I am chief.” As though
the statement of Jesus coming “to save sinners” wasn't
enough, Paul personalized his declaration with “of whom”
which refers to the “sinners”
just mentioned “I am chief”
which means “first in time or place, first in any succession
of things or persons, first in rank, influence, honor or principal”.
Paul saw himself as the worst “sinner” who ever lived, and
because the grace of the Lord Jesus was extended to him, he knew it
could be given to anyone. Paul was the “chief of sinners”
in his own eyes, and yet, Jesus saved him from his sinful ways.
As we think about this self
proclaimed title of Paul, we may be inclined to want to argue with
his assessment. Certainly there were people who were worse than he,
weren't there? However, when we put ourselves in his place, look into
his other letters and see the progressive evaluation of himself, we
understand that the closer he came into a relationship with Jesus,
the more “chief of sinners” he became. Paul declared
himself to be “least of the apostles” and then later
“least among the saints”, and finally “chief”
of sinners. The progression is obvious, and as we grow closer and
closer to Jesus, perhaps we will understand why we too are in the
position of “chief of sinners”. May the Lord Jesus extend
His grace to us all.
Next
time Paul writes about why he is a pattern to those who will believe,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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