Christ came to save sinners... thoughts on 1Tim 1:12-17
This was the responsive reading today @ Boulevard Baptist, where Kacey and I currently attend. When I sat down this evening to read 1 Tim, I did not know that I would choose this verse, necessarily, to write about on here. Interesting.
I will not take the time to quote the verse in length... feel free to look it up yourself and then proceed. As always, I recommend the ESV, but also see the benefit in the NIV, NASB, and NKJV, depending on the verse.
I do want to focus, however, primarily on verse 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." This seemingly simple statement boldly proclaims why Christ came in his humble incarnation, which many Christians around the world celebrate between December 25 - January 6. It wasn't to merely show us an example of how to live and love. Did he live a perfect life, free from sin? Absolutely. Did he also love perfectly? Yes. (It is interesting, then, that Christ's perfect love included the action of calling false teachers and the Pharisees "vipers" and accusing them of being children of Satan... we in 21st century America do not see this as a very "loving" thing to do... but that is a problem not with Christ but with our fallen understanding of what true love indeed is.) To say that he did not provide a perfect example would be to say that he was sinful.
Providing an example was NOT, however, his reason for coming to this fallen realm. Even if that was our goal as Christians - for us to follow and to get others to follow Christ's example... guess what? We just epically fail. We can't follow his example. We can't. Do you love perfectly? Yeah, neither do I. Even if we started now in following his example... and could do it perfectly... the old bag/bird lady from Home Alone 2 is wrong... good deeds do NOT erase bad deeds, whether or not it is Christmas Eve. So you are still stuck with x # of years of crap you've done prior to your pathetic attempt to follow Christ's example.
I am thankful that this isn't the gospel, after all!! If it were... who would be saved? To say nothing about those who died in their sins before the incarnation... if the good news of Christ consisted of: "Hey y'all! Follow me! Walk this way!"... who could be saved? That would not be good news... it'd be pathetically bad news, because we can't do it. That'd be like Jesus coming to me and saying "Okay Ryan, to be saved, just use your free will and teleport to New Zealand and you'll be saved! Oh... you can't telport anywhere? TOO BAD! Guess you're screwed and damned to Hell! See ya!" I hope I was not too crass concerning our Lord, but I find the example still remains. (It is this same example I would use to describe why I'm so gracious for God's sovereign choice in electing and saving me rather than leaving it up to my own free will to somehow choose what is inherently contrary to my nature as a sinful spiritually dead creature.)
Jesus as an example? Not his mission. What is it? To save sinners. How does he do this? The cross of Christ. 1Corinthians 15 provides and excellent, if brief, summary of the Gospel. Romans 3 is another amazing example. Christ came, lived the perfect life we could not live, died the atoning death we could not die as an acceptable atoning sacrifice on our behalf, and he rose on the 3rd day conquering death and the grave, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, until the day he comes again in his second coming to judge the quick and the dead. Our response to this is repentance and trust in Christ's work on our behalf to save us and bring us new life - not new life in terms of freedom from financial trouble or a better more fulfilling sex life with a spouse... but new life as in no longer enslaved to the sinful nature. This is the gospel in its beauty.
Especially beautiful about 1Tim 1:15... even though I may not spend as much time on it as it may deserve... is the phrase "of whom I am the foremost." The term, "I am" here is, in the Greek, eimi, and conveys a present indicative. Paul did say "Christ came to save sinners... of whom I was chief." Do you see the difference? Numerous YouTube nuts, such as OpenAirPreacher, try and preach this horrid teaching that you can just, by your will power, stop sinning. It is semi-Palagian at best... and out and out Palagian heresy at worst from the pit of Hell. Paul himself here and in Romans 7 identifies himself presently as as sinner. Not as a former sinner. Truly, there is a sinner and saint distinction in the scripture... often "sinner" is the one who is unregenerate, while "saint" is the one who is saved by grace through faith and therefore is in Christ. But as far as perfect sanctification... someone ceasing sinning all together... not found here or anywhere else in Scripture preached aright.
Paul himself identifies himself as a sinner... a sinner Christ came to save. Christ's blood is not only effectual up until the point you repent and believe... and then the rest is up to you. Christ's blood is sufficient for me even in my present sinful state. It is not someone that just gets me in the door of Christianity... it is the whole of Christianity in many ways! It is all about Christ's atoning sacrifice, period. Christ came to save sinners... of whom I am, presently, one of them. I do not boast in my sin... rather I boast in Christ whose blood is sufficient to cover my sin. I boast in Christ who daily intercedes on my behalf.
To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
I will not take the time to quote the verse in length... feel free to look it up yourself and then proceed. As always, I recommend the ESV, but also see the benefit in the NIV, NASB, and NKJV, depending on the verse.
I do want to focus, however, primarily on verse 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." This seemingly simple statement boldly proclaims why Christ came in his humble incarnation, which many Christians around the world celebrate between December 25 - January 6. It wasn't to merely show us an example of how to live and love. Did he live a perfect life, free from sin? Absolutely. Did he also love perfectly? Yes. (It is interesting, then, that Christ's perfect love included the action of calling false teachers and the Pharisees "vipers" and accusing them of being children of Satan... we in 21st century America do not see this as a very "loving" thing to do... but that is a problem not with Christ but with our fallen understanding of what true love indeed is.) To say that he did not provide a perfect example would be to say that he was sinful.
Providing an example was NOT, however, his reason for coming to this fallen realm. Even if that was our goal as Christians - for us to follow and to get others to follow Christ's example... guess what? We just epically fail. We can't follow his example. We can't. Do you love perfectly? Yeah, neither do I. Even if we started now in following his example... and could do it perfectly... the old bag/bird lady from Home Alone 2 is wrong... good deeds do NOT erase bad deeds, whether or not it is Christmas Eve. So you are still stuck with x # of years of crap you've done prior to your pathetic attempt to follow Christ's example.
I am thankful that this isn't the gospel, after all!! If it were... who would be saved? To say nothing about those who died in their sins before the incarnation... if the good news of Christ consisted of: "Hey y'all! Follow me! Walk this way!"... who could be saved? That would not be good news... it'd be pathetically bad news, because we can't do it. That'd be like Jesus coming to me and saying "Okay Ryan, to be saved, just use your free will and teleport to New Zealand and you'll be saved! Oh... you can't telport anywhere? TOO BAD! Guess you're screwed and damned to Hell! See ya!" I hope I was not too crass concerning our Lord, but I find the example still remains. (It is this same example I would use to describe why I'm so gracious for God's sovereign choice in electing and saving me rather than leaving it up to my own free will to somehow choose what is inherently contrary to my nature as a sinful spiritually dead creature.)
Jesus as an example? Not his mission. What is it? To save sinners. How does he do this? The cross of Christ. 1Corinthians 15 provides and excellent, if brief, summary of the Gospel. Romans 3 is another amazing example. Christ came, lived the perfect life we could not live, died the atoning death we could not die as an acceptable atoning sacrifice on our behalf, and he rose on the 3rd day conquering death and the grave, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, until the day he comes again in his second coming to judge the quick and the dead. Our response to this is repentance and trust in Christ's work on our behalf to save us and bring us new life - not new life in terms of freedom from financial trouble or a better more fulfilling sex life with a spouse... but new life as in no longer enslaved to the sinful nature. This is the gospel in its beauty.
Especially beautiful about 1Tim 1:15... even though I may not spend as much time on it as it may deserve... is the phrase "of whom I am the foremost." The term, "I am" here is, in the Greek, eimi, and conveys a present indicative. Paul did say "Christ came to save sinners... of whom I was chief." Do you see the difference? Numerous YouTube nuts, such as OpenAirPreacher, try and preach this horrid teaching that you can just, by your will power, stop sinning. It is semi-Palagian at best... and out and out Palagian heresy at worst from the pit of Hell. Paul himself here and in Romans 7 identifies himself presently as as sinner. Not as a former sinner. Truly, there is a sinner and saint distinction in the scripture... often "sinner" is the one who is unregenerate, while "saint" is the one who is saved by grace through faith and therefore is in Christ. But as far as perfect sanctification... someone ceasing sinning all together... not found here or anywhere else in Scripture preached aright.
Paul himself identifies himself as a sinner... a sinner Christ came to save. Christ's blood is not only effectual up until the point you repent and believe... and then the rest is up to you. Christ's blood is sufficient for me even in my present sinful state. It is not someone that just gets me in the door of Christianity... it is the whole of Christianity in many ways! It is all about Christ's atoning sacrifice, period. Christ came to save sinners... of whom I am, presently, one of them. I do not boast in my sin... rather I boast in Christ whose blood is sufficient to cover my sin. I boast in Christ who daily intercedes on my behalf.
To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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