Sinner Saved By Grace

December 29th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

1 Timothy 1:12-14 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

If anyone had something for which to be thankful to “Christ Jesus our Lord,” it was Paul. Not only did Christ appear to him and save him (cf. Acts 9:1-19), He “strengthened” Paul, enabling him for service unto Christ. Hence, it was God who gave Paul the power he needed for ministry. This is Paul reminding Timothy, who may have been timid (4:12), to lean upon Christ for the power he too needed to stand up to false teachers (1:4). God would never have appointed Paul to this task unless He had first equipped him for it; so too with Timothy. What God did for Paul, He did for Timothy, and He does the same thing for all His saints for His own glory. Of course Paul was not set apart by his own faithfulness; rather, it was the inner strength given to him by God that God saw fit to bless. In sum, God gives His servants all they need, puts them “into service,” and then judges their faithfulness by how they use the gifts He has given to them.

Paul never says that God put him into service because of some traits he inherently possessed. Truth is, Paul, by his own admission, was the worst of sinners. First, he was a “blasphemer,” that is, one who slanders. Paul slandered the holy name of Christ, attempting in every city to force Christ’s disciples to slander His name (Acts 26:9, 11; Gal. 1:13). Paul was also a “persecutor”—persistently harassing Christ’s disciples for the purpose of arresting them, even killing them. Why? Simply because they believed Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, and Paul didn’t. Further, Paul was a “violent aggressor”—one who used not only arrogant, insolent words to insult and humiliate peaceful Christians but one who physically assaulted them to further disgrace them.

Yet in spite of all this, God showed “mercy” to Paul, overlooking his sinful ways. In addition, Paul was given “grace.” Whereas mercy speaks of pardon for sin, grace speaks of goodness given in place of punishment. Paul speaks of God’s grace as being “more than abundant,” literally, it “overflowed”—God overflowed His grace like a river running over its banks and spewing over to flood the town. The damage, as it were, of God’s grace in Paul’s life was that it totally overwhelmed who he once was, leaving the old Paul undone. His heart, once filled with unbelief and hatred, was now overcome with faith and love and an impulse to follow Christ. All of this was due to “the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.”

Though Paul says that he “acted ignorantly” (lit. no knowledge) in unbelief” (v. 14), he was still responsible for his actions, as all humans are. What he was ignorant about was that Jesus, the One he was persecuting, was indeed the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. As a sincere, legalistic Pharisee he truly believed he was doing noble service to God by eliminating Jesus’ disciples. He was not claiming his ignorance excused his actions; rather, his ignorance and unbelief had not disqualified him from God’s mercy. He had not knowingly and rebelliously defied God (cf. Num. 15:29-30), he unknowingly defied God. Once enlightened, however, he repented.

Food For Thought
God meets all sinners who come to Christ just as He met Paul, in our wretched, self-righteous ignorance. If we believe, we are shown mercy, avoiding what we truly deserve—eternal death. Then He engulfs us with grace, wiping away our sins, making us like Christ, giving us eternal life. We cannot earn this favor from God. If we could, grace wouldn’t be grace. Grace is thus a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). By receiving it, we receive forgiveness of sins and guaranteed eternal life!