Introduction:
God advances His kingdom in the world, and because he calls fallen men to be His ministers, He is always working with flawed instruments. The only exception, of course, was the Lord Jesus Himself, but everyone else, from the apostles on down, has to deal with their inadequacies for the task.
The Text:
“And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief . . . ” (1 Timothy 1:12-20).
Overview:
St. Paul begins with characteristic thanksgiving. Christ Jesus our Lord considered Paul trustworthy, and put him into ministry. The word here is literally diaconate (v. 12). Christ did this despite Paul’s failings—he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an overbearing and insolent man (v. 13). But Paul obtained mercy because he did what he did ignorantly and in unbelief. Despite Paul’s great sin, the grace of the Lord was overwhelming with the gift of faith and love which is in Christ (v. 14). Paul then turns to a “faithful saying,” something that was current in the churches of that time (v. 15). Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (v. 15). This is not true of Paul only, but he applies it readily to himself. The apostle to the Gentiles received mercy so that Jesus could show off with him—if God can save Paul, he can save anybody (v. 16). This results in a burst of doxological praise—honor and glory forever and ever are to be rendered to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God (v. 17).
With this, Paul turns to the business of ministry. He charges him to live up to the prophecies that had been made about him, and that he use them as encouragement in fighting the good fight (v. 18). He was to do this holding to the faith, and holding to a clean and clear conscience (v. 19). Not everyone does this—Hymenaeus and Alexander had made shipwreck of their faith, and Paul had delivered them over to Satan (the realm outside the church), in order to teach them not to blaspheme (v. 20). Paul is not being hard-hearted here. He has just confessed a moment before that he had been a blasphemer; he had hopes for the restoration of these two men as well.
The Unconverted Saul:
A current movement in biblical studies is something called the New Perspective on Paul. While many good things have come out of their work, and a number of the NPP can be read with profit, conservative believers have to still be careful. This is because one of the central ideas in the NPP is that first-century Judaism was a religion of grace, and that it was not legalistic or “Pharisaical” in the sense that that word has taken on. And this means that the conversion of Saul is seen as a “change of mind” about who Jesus was, and not a complete heart transformation.
The conversion of Saul is therefore seen as being more like how Priscilla and Aquila straightened Apollos out, and not so much like a wino getting saved down at the Salvation Army soup kitchen. The problems with this kind of theologizing are many, but this text presents an unanswerable challenge to this view. The unconverted Saul was plain old-fashioned unconverted. When describing himself, St. Paul does not hold back. He was the chief of sinners (v. 15). The fact that all humbled Christians confess this together (it is a faithful saying) does not take away from the fact that Paul confessed it. And he is specific about his sins. He was a blaspheming persecutor and an insolent man. These are not trifles. Paul is not excusing himself in verse 13. So of course first century Judaism was a religion of grace—for those who had grace. Of course it was a religion of legalism—for those who had no grace.
Afraid of Grace:
Respectable religionists want to keep everyone in line with the “expected standard,” and to appeal to the grace of God to clear up the little discrepancies that might show up from time to time. But God’s grace goes all the way down to the foundations. Who did God pick to write the majority of His New Testament? A man who was breathing out threats and murder toward the Church (Acts 9:1). Who was the chosen vessel to bring the message of grace to the Gentiles? An insolent man. And why? Because God wanted to sketch an outline of salvation (a pattern in verse 16) for anyone who would after Paul believe on the Lord to everlasting life. And that means that God saved Paul as an encouragement to you.
Timothy Had His Hands Full:
Paul brings Hymenaeus and Alexander into the conversation because they had some kind of relationship with Timothy—they were in Ephesus, or would be shortly, or Timothy knew them as fellow teachers (2 Tim. 2:16-18). Something like that. Paul tells Timothy to live up to the prophecies that had been made about him. Notice also that prophecy doesn’t work like an automated conveyor belt. Timothy still had to do what had been prophecied he would in fact do. Paul is telling Timothy not to shipwreck his faith in the same way that these two men had done, and this means that they were probably in a comparable position as Timothy’s. This helps us understand the reasoning behind the qualification of the minister coming up in a few chapters.
Coram Deo:
All this is to be done in the presence of God, seeking His blessing. He is the one to whom honor and glory belong forever. Why? He is the King, He is eternal, He is immortal, and He is invisible. But this must be married to what this King has actually done in this passage. Glorious doxological passages like this, when we stand them off by themselves, give sinners like us the wrong impression entirely. We stand in awe all right, but we stand in awe of the Distant God. But what has the King eternal done, in this passage? Put an insolent, blaspheming persecutor into the minstry. He showed mercy to a gnat-strangling Pharisee. Sent His Son into the world to save millions of really bad characters, all of whom could truthfully say that they were the chief of sinners. Picked a really hard case, like Saul, to show the strength of His patience. To use Augustine’s example, God is like a doctor who moves to a new town, and undertakes (for free) the cure of someone for whom all hope has been abandoned.
Mercy without glory is compromise. Glory without mercy is despair. The two are brought together in the gospel, and only in the gospel.