09-1Tim1:12

1 Timothy 1:12–17 (ESV) – 12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

Two themes shape Paul’s discussion.

•  The first employs the “faith” word group (see 1:2 note). Building on the transition to this section that employs the concept of “entrusting” (episteuthen) of the gospel (v. 11), Paul identifies himself as “trustworthy” (“faithful”; pistos ) in v. 12.

•  The second theme indicated by the clustering of the name “Christ Jesus” (v. 12, 14, 15, 16) is christological. It reaches its climax in the gospel saying in v. 15, where the event of Christ’s coming into the world is made the basis of salvation.

Context as follows:
v. 12 expresses gratitude for his calling to ministry (past/present);
v. 13 reflects on the former life from which he was redeemed;
v. 14 describes the present life in theological terms;
vv. 15–16 expound the gospel and his personal experience of it, relating it finally to his ministry and the future hope.

Paul’s emphasis is on salvation as a present reality, illustrated in his own experience and ministry, and grounded in a depiction of the Christ story that anchors salvation in the humanity of God’s Messiah.

V.12 – Gratitude – dominant – “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord” – Paul’s opening reflection looks back on the event of his calling in which Christ Jesus played the decisive role. Describing “Who has given me strength” “divine empowerment”

Trustworthy – describe authentic believers from the standpoint of faithfulness, believing or both. Suggests how the association of divine calling, trustworthiness and authoritative teaching serves to distinguish Paul from opponents who were attempting to undercut his position. Paul is not arguing that Christ foresaw that in spite of his sin Paul would prove himself faithful; rather, the sense here is of the potency of divine calling to achieve certain results in human lives.

V.13 – It prepares the way for Paul’s presentation of himself as the pattern of salvation (to which the opponents do not conform). It also links his conversion to God’s plan to reach the Gentiles. Two purposes – Paul’s conversion included liberation from a Torah-absorbed interpretation of life, and his apostolate to the Gentiles is the eschatological outworking of God’s promise .

The “blasphemer” was one who denied God by speaking the name of YHWH carelessly or disrespectfully. 23 In Paul’s history, this refers to his scorn for the messianic claim about Jesus and his hostility towards the followers of Jesus .

The description of rude arrogance contained in the term “violent man. ” This describes the seething attitude of insolent anger and boastful pride that often fills the void caused by fear and insecurity and produces the worst acts of behavior. The phenomenon is part of the stock description of uncivilized behavior in Greco-Roman culture.

Paul- before his conversion he was “blameless ” (Phil 3:6) it should be kept in mind that he was not maintaining his moral innocence in such statements, but rather his commitment to the Torah and the rituals that assured his covenant purity as a Jew over and against the defilement of the Gentiles. — Yet the apostle had long since come to regard his zeal as sin of the worst sort (1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13)

V.14 – Faith and Love encompass the vertical relationship of trust in God and the horizontal outworking of this in service to others . Starting from the transition in v. 11, this is now the fourth occurrence of “faith” language within this section shaped by the faith theme. The reference to “love” invites the hearer to think back on 1:5 where it characterizes Timothy’s charge (which mirrors Paul’s own ministry).

The opponents have departed from “Faith and Love” – thus used as an identity tag for true believers – or authentic belief in the apostolic gospel.

V.15- Capstone – “Trustworthy” the formula: “here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance” – faith/faithfulness

Paul emphasizes the authentic correspondence of the saying and its authority with the apostolic tradition, the (his) gospel, the sound teaching, and so on. From the outset, Paul identifies the problem as a collision of his gospel with an opposing teaching (1:3; 2 Tim 2:14–18; Titus 1:11). And in each community Paul’s gospel had come under heavy fire.

The gospel statement:
1 Tim 1:15: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners .
Luke 19:10: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
Mark 2:17: I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners .
John 18:37: and for this I came into the world , to testify to the truth.

: Paul, as “worst” and “first,” is the example not only of what one might be saved out of (degree), but also of what one must believe to be saved (manner; the gospel Paul preaches).

Paul is defending his specifically Gentile-shaped message and mission against those who have turned back in some degree to a kind of Torah-elitist based approach , his conversion does represent a salvation historical benchmark in this sense: as apostle to the Gentiles, he was the first to comprehend and experience the grace of the gospel he would then articulate in his teaching and ministry to the Gentiles. The immensity of his sin proves the effectiveness of this salvation, and since the revelation of this gospel is associated with his experience of salvation and calling , he can stand as the exemplar of salvation to the Gentiles.

V.16 – returning to the theme of “Paul’s sin” (13a) – now a counter-theme of mercy (13b)

Paul’s experience becomes a (salvation historical ) spectacle, a “display of the immensity of Christ’s patience. Here “patience,” so closely associated with divine mercy and kindness (cf. Rom 2:4), is quantified in terms of the results it produced— the converted Paul was a living illustration of divine patience.

The purpose of Christ was to be an example (pattern, model) for those who would believe on him (Christ) and receive eternal life. THUS, Christ bore with the persecuting ignorant Saul until the time was right to save him.

Paul’s experience of mercy will be replicated in the lives of those who also come to faith through the gospel he preaches. Depicts saving faith as creating a personal relationship with Christ, 59 rather than as formal adherence to a dogma. Paul implicitly links saving faith in Christ to the gospel he preaches—the implications for the Law-obsessed false teaching are obvious.

But what sort of pattern does it supply ? First and foremost, Paul’s experience and the magnitude of his sin exemplify the magnitude of Christ’s mercy and patience: if Christ can reach and enlighten the zealous persecutor, he can reach others who hear the gospel, and this need not exclude Paul’s opponents if they repent.

Second, Paul’s experience forms a pattern of belief in Jesus as the Messiah who came from God into the world to save sinners by faith apart from adherence to Jewish ritual or moral requirements . While this latter is certainly not explicit in the text, it was nevertheless the core of Paul’s gospel and some sort of law-inclined (enthusiastic) turn from Paul’s understanding of the faith is very much the issue in the context. Consequently, he takes pains to recount his conversion story (vv. 12–14, 15c–16) in a way that affirms and demonstrates the authorized gospel he preaches (v. 15ab).

Third, Paul’s conversion forms the salvation historical pattern both of the enormous way Christ intervenes in human lives and of the content of saving faith. Faith must be in Christ, and the gospel is about Christ, not about Paul. Here the church has been placed in danger of missing or distorting the truth of the gospel. Paul insists that only the gospel he endorses is true; God ordained his mission and calling; and his own experience of Christ’s mercy demonstrates the power of the gospel he preaches and his authority to do so.

V.17- Jewish Doxological expressions to the Jewish-pagan dialogue. “Immortal” – “Invisibility” of God – the Only God – affirmation to the’shema’.