1 Timoteo 1:15

‘The saying is faithful, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.’

‘The saying (or word) is faithful (pistos ho logos).’ That is, it comes from a faithful God through faithful men and is worthy of all trust. This solemn phrase, standing in its baldness, is a typical Pauline construction. ‘The word is faithful’ compares with the equally bald ‘God is faithful’ in 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13, and note ‘God is faithful’ and ‘the Lord is faithful’ in 2 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:3. It stresses that the word has come from the God Who is faithful. It is also found in 1 Timothy 3:1; 1 Timothy 4:9 (along with ‘and worthy of all acceptance’); 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8, each time introducing an important truth. Compare also Revelation 22:6.

‘Worthy of all acceptance’ (compare 1 Timothy 4:9) is a phrase common in the papyri. It adds further weight to what Paul is saying. It is declaring that it is a deep truth and must be accepted as such. And the deep truth is that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’

‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ This was something stated right from the beginning (Matthew 1:21), and was the foundation stone of the church. Although simple, it is packed full of theology. The Messiah Jesus had come into the world as its Saviour, coming from God the Saviour (1 Timothy 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:10), in order to save sinners. The fact that He had ‘come into the world’ indicates the source from which He came (compare John 9:37; John 11:27; John 16:28; John 18:37). He came from God the Saviour. The fact that He came to ‘save (deliver, make whole) sinners’ makes clear His central purpose. It was true that He had come to reveal love and to teach, but above all it was to save sinners (hamartowlous, those who were not obedient to God’s Law). In other words God was fulfilling the saving purpose that He had had from the beginning, and He was doing it in His Messiah Jesus.

There may also be intended to be a stress on the fact that He came into the world to do it. It was not done from afar. Salvation was not accomplished through a number of intermediaries. Nor was it simply offered from above. It was accomplished by His coming into the world as it is, in all its earthliness, with the saving activity being accomplished by Him on earth.

‘Of whom I am chief (prowtos - ‘first, most prominent, chief’).’ And as Paul spoke of ‘sinners’ he knew that there was one who was lower than all sinners, and that was himself. Even at this present time (‘I am’) he was aware of what a sinner he was. He had stood out as a sinner from the first. Had the Devil been choosing sinners for his team, Paul would have been the first to be selected. For he had persecuted the Lord Himself and had sought to stamp out His infant church (Acts 9:4-5). He was not declaring this out of false humility but out of a deep sense of unworthiness, and of gratitude, and as an encouragement to others. He knew what he had been and in making his ratings he knew in his heart that no one came lower than himself. He was ‘less than the least of all saints’ (Ephesians 3:8), and yet as such, and this was something which continually left him dumbfounded, he had been given the graciously offered opportunity and enablement to ‘proclaim among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Ephesians 3:8). The persecutor had been given the opportunity to become the proclaimer. Note the ‘I am’. He knew that without Christ His case would still have been hopeless. We can safely say that no one but Paul could have written these words.

‘Christ Jesus.’ An order found regularly in Paul (over 36 times outside the Pastorals and 14 times in the Pastorals), and only elsewhere in Acts 19:4 where it is in words of Paul; and in Hebrews 3:1, and 1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 5:14.