1 Timothy 1:12–17

1:12 “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord” is the banner waving over the rest of this passage. It is an expression of worship, directed explicitly to Christ. When Paul says that Christ “has given me strength,” he is referring not to the ongoing power of God in sanctification but to what God gave him at his conversion and call to ministry. Fundamentally, God “strengthened” him in the sense that he gave him gifts and ability for mission. Paul is astonished by this mercy and grace because he was previously an enemy of the faith.

1:13 A “blasphemer” is one who uses his words to defame, denigrate, or demean another (BDAG, s.v. βλάσφημος). A “persecutor” is one who harasses and mistreats another, especially because of that person’s beliefs (cf. BDAG on diōktēs and diōkō). The Greek term translated as “insolent opponent” is used only one other time in the NT (Rom. 1:30), but its verb form appears numerous times in the NT and refers clearly to someone who mistreats another person in ways that often include physical violence (cf. Matt. 22:6; Luke 18:32; Acts 14:5; 1 Thess. 2:2). Paul was an enemy of Christ, and yet Christ chose him to be an apostle. This truth was a marvel to Paul. Paul knew that Jesus did not treat him as his sins deserved. And so Paul worships because of God’s mercy toward him.

Paul recognizes, “I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” Paul’s ignorance does not imply that he was thereby innocent—as if he did not know any better. Paul means what Jesus meant when he prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The men crucifying Jesus did not understand the full implications of what they were doing. Nevertheless, they were still guilty and in need of forgiveness. God holds sinners accountable even if they do not comprehend the full implications of their sin. It is the same here with Paul. It seems that Paul views both his ignorance and his unbelief as inculpatory. That he had acted in ignorance seems to be proof that he needed mercy, just as the unbelief proves that he needed mercy. Paul needed mercy because he was locked into ignorance and unbelief. And, because of God’s great mercy, Christ freed him from both.

1:14 Verse 14 makes clear that Paul’s thankfulness and worship is a response to “grace.” This term describes what God has done for his people, not what his people do for him. Paul says that God’s grace overflowed with faith and love. In other words, before coming to Christ, Paul lacked faith and love. But, because of grace, the faith and love that find their source in Christ Jesus overflowed to him. The persecutor and violent aggressor became the one who loves the Lord Jesus and his people. And all of this came to him from grace.

1:15 “The saying is trustworthy” translates the Greek phrase pistos ho logos (lit., “faithful is the word”). This phrase appears five times in the Pastoral Epistles but nowhere else in the NT (1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11; Titus 3:8). Two times the formula includes an added element—“and deserving of full acceptance” (1 Tim. 1:15; 4:9). Towner argues that the meaning of the phrase is defined by its function.¹ According to some interpreters, the phrase functions to accentuate the truthfulness of the words to which it is connected. Others understand the phrase as a marker of a quotation from accepted apostolic tradition. The phrase most likely functions in both ways.² As Knight argues, “The phrase is a citation-emphasis formula which serves to draw one’s attention to the fact that a saying is cited and which serves at the same time to emphasize and commend that saying.”³

The “trustworthy” logos refers not to a generic “word” but to the gospel message handed down faithfully by the apostles. In fact, a similar phrase is used in Titus 1:9, where elders are described as those who “hold firm to the trustworthy word.” It is faithful in the sense of being trustworthy.

This phrase (“the saying is trustworthy”) introduces a well-known “faithful statement” of the gospel: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” “Christ” is Jesus’ kingly title, and the saying announces the purpose of his ministry, death, and resurrection: he came to rescue sinners, to deliver them from sin’s power and punishment. This particular saying emphasizes that Christ aims to save sinners—the very kinds of people who are named as lawbreakers in verses 10–11: the “lawless and disobedient,” the “ungodly and sinners,” the “unholy and profane,” “those who strike their fathers and mothers,” the “murderers,” the “sexually immoral,” the “men who practice homosexuality,” the “enslavers,” the “liars,” and the “perjurers.” Jesus drew near to such “sinners” during his earthly ministry precisely because it was his aim to save the likes of them (e.g., Matt. 9:10–13; Mark 2:15–17).

That Jesus came to save such “sinners” makes the final clause of the verse all the more remarkable. In reference to such sinners, Paul declares himself to be the “foremost.” After surveying a bad lot of “sinners,” Paul says that he is the worst of the lot. Presumably, Paul sees the sins of his own pre-Christian life (1 Tim. 1:13) as the most infamous and prominent. In other words, Paul’s own sin and God’s lavish grace come together to humble Paul. He does not view himself as more spiritually qualified than the lawbreakers of verse 10. He looks at those sinners and at himself and reflects, “I am the worst.” There is no moral superiority in Paul. There is only humility, gratitude, and wonder because of the grace of God.

1:16 “For this reason” introduces the purpose of God’s mercy in Paul’s life. Paul views his own conversion as a part of God’s plan to save other sinners. Paul’s humility here is profound. Because he is convinced that his sin is worse than everyone else’s, his attitude is expectant: “If God can save me, he can save anybody!” In fact, he says this is precisely why God saved him: so that he might be a living, breathing example of Christ’s perfect patience toward sinners; and so that others would be encouraged by knowing that, if God’s grace is big enough for Paul, then it must be big enough for everyone else as well. Paul is convinced that the mercy of God has come to him for a purpose—to prove the sufficiency of God’s mercy through Christ for all sinners. Other sinners would come to “believe in [Christ] for eternal life” because they had seen the same transformation in Paul.

1:17 Paul erupts with praise in view of God’s mercy. His worship begins with the one to whom the praise is addressed: “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God.” Paul declares that to this God alone belong “honor and glory forever and ever.” “Honor” refers to the esteem and reverence that are due to God because of who he is. “Glory” refers to all of who God is, as it is put on display. Those who glorify God in this sense are those who magnify all that God has revealed himself to be through Christ. And Paul’s doxological wish is for such honor and glory to be ascribed to God for all eternity. “Amen” often concludes such doxologies (cf. Rom. 1:25; 11:36; 16:27) and expresses Paul’s confirmation of the truthfulness of what has just been stated.⁴