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1 Timothy 1:12-17
-- Jamieson, Fausset, &
Brown
12. The
honor done him in having the Gospel ministry committed to him
suggests the digression to what he once was, no better (1Ti
1:13) than those lawless ones described above (1Ti 1:9, 10),
when the grace of our Lord (1Ti 1:14) visited him.
And—omitted
in most (not all) of the oldest manuscripts.
I thank—Greek,
“I have (that is, feel) gratitude.”
enabled me—the
same Greek
verb as in Ac 9:22, “Saul increased the more in strength.” An
undesigned coincidence between Paul and Luke, his companion.
Enabled
me, namely, for the ministry. “It is not in my own strength that
I bring this doctrine to men, but as strengthened and nerved by
Him who saved me” [Theodoret].
Man is by nature “without strength” (Ro 5:6). True conversion
and calling confer power [Bengel].
for that—the
main ground of his “thanking Christ.”
he counted me faithful—He
foreordered and foresaw that I would be faithful to the trust
committed to me. Paul’s thanking
God for this shows that the merit of his faithfulness was due
solely to God’s grace, not to his own natural strength (1Co
7:25). Faithfulness
is the quality required in a steward (1Co 4:2).
putting me into—rather
as in 1Th 5:9, “appointing me (in His sovereign purposes of
grace) unto the ministry” (Ac 20:24).
13. Who was before—Greek,
“Formerly being a blasphemer.” “Notwithstanding
that I was before a blasphemer,”
&c. (Ac 26:9, 11).
persecutor—(Ga
1:13).
injurious—Greek,
“insulter”; one who acts injuriously from arrogant contempt of
others. Translate, Ro 1:30, “despiteful.” One who added insult
to injury.
Bengel
translates, “a despiser.” I prefer the idea,
contumelious to others
[Wahl].
Still I agree with
Bengel
that “blasphemer” is against God,
“persecutor,” against holy men,
and “insolently injurious” includes, with the idea of injuring
others, that of insolent “uppishness” [Donaldson]
in relation to one’s self.
This threefold relation to God, to one’s neighbor, and to one’s
self, occurs often in this Epistle (1Ti 1:5, 9, 14; Tit 2:12).
I obtained mercy—God’s
mercy, and Paul’s want of it, stand in sharp contrast [Ellicott];
Greek,
“I was made the object of mercy.” The sense of mercy was
perpetual in the mind of the apostle (compare
Note, see on
1Ti 1:2). Those who have felt mercy can best have mercy on those
out of the way (Heb 5:2, 3).
because I did it ignorantly—Ignorance
does not in itself deserve pardon; but it is a less culpable
cause of unbelief than pride and wilful hardening of one’s self
against the truth (Jn 9:41; Ac 26:9). Hence it is Christ’s plea
of intercession for His murderers (Lu 23:34); and it is made by
the apostles a mitigating circumstance in the Jews’ sin, and one
giving a hope of a door of repentance (Ac 3:17; Ro 10:2). The
“because,” &c. does not imply that ignorance was a sufficient
reason for mercy
being bestowed; but shows how it was possible that such a sinner
could obtain mercy. The positive ground of mercy being shown to
him, lies solely in the compassion of God (Tit 3:5). The ground
of the ignorance
lies in the unbelief,
which implies that this ignorance is not unaccompanied with
guilt. But there is a great difference between his honest zeal
for the law, and a wilful striving against the Spirit of God (Mt
12:24–32; Lu 11:52) [Wiesinger].
14. And—Greek,
“But.” Not only so (was mercy
shown me), but
the grace—by
which “I obtained mercy” (1Ti 1:13).
was exceeding abundant—Greek,
“superabounded.” Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”
(Ro 5:20).
with faith—accompanied
with faith, the opposite of
“unbelief” (1Ti 1:13).
love—in
contrast to “a blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious.”
which is in Christ—as
its element and home [Alford]:
here as its source whence it flows to us.
15. faithful—worthy
of credit, because “God” who says it “is faithful” to His word
(1Co 1:9; 1Th 5:24; 2Th 3:3; Rev 21:5; 22:6). This seems to have
become an axiomatic saying
among Christians the phrase, “faithful saying,” is peculiar to
the Pastoral Epistles (1Ti 2:11; 4:9; Tit 3:8). Translate as
Greek,
“Faithful is the saying.”
all—all
possible; full; to be received by all, and with all the
faculties of the soul, mind, and heart. Paul, unlike the false
teachers (1Ti 1:7), understands
what he is saying, and whereof he affirms;
and by his simplicity of style and subject, setting forth the
grand fundamental truth of salvation through Christ, confutes
the false teachers’ abstruse and unpractical speculations (1Co
1:18–28; Tit 2:1).
acceptation—reception
(as of a boon) into the heart, as well as the understanding,
with all gladness; this is faith acting on the Gospel offer, and
welcoming and appropriating it (Ac 2:41).
Christ—as
promised.
Jesus—as
manifested [Bengel].
came into the world—which
was full of sin (Jn 1:29; Ro 5:12; 1Jn 2:2). This implies His
pre-existence. Jn 1:9, Greek,
“the true Light that, coming into
the world, lighteth every man.”
to save sinners—even
notable sinners like Saul of Tarsus. His instance was without a
rival since the ascension, in point of the greatness of the sin
and the greatness of the mercy: that the consenter to Stephen,
the proto-martyr’s death, should be the successor of the same!
I am—not
merely, “I was chief” (1Co 15:9; Eph 3:8; compare Lu 18:13). To
each believer his own sins must always appear, as long as he
lives, greater than those of others, which he never can know as
he can know his own.
chief—the
same Greek
as in 1Ti 1:16, “first,” which alludes to this fifteenth verse,
Translate in both verses, “foremost.” Well might he infer where
there was mercy for him,
there is mercy for all who will come to Christ (Mt 18:11; Lu
19:10).
16. Howbeit—Greek,
“But”; contrasting his own conscious sinfulness with God’s
gracious visitation of him in mercy.
for this cause—for
this very purpose.
that in me—in
my case.
first—“foremost.”
As I was “foremost” (Greek
for chief,
1Ti 1:15) in sin, so God has made me the “foremost” sample of
mercy.
show—to His
own glory (the middle Greek,
voice), Eph 2:7.
all long-suffering—Greek,
“the whole (of His) long-suffering,” namely, in bearing so long
with me while I was a persecutor.
a pattern—a
sample (1Co 10:6, 11) to assure the greatest sinners of the
certainty that they shall not be rejected in coming to Christ,
since even Saul found mercy. So David made his own case of
pardon, notwithstanding the greatness of his sin, a sample to
encourage other sinners to seek pardon (Ps 32:5, 6). The
Greek for
“pattern” is sometimes used for a “sketch” or outline—the
filling up to take place in each man’s own case.
believe on him—Belief
rests
on
Him as the only foundation on which faith relies.
to life everlasting—the
ultimate aim which faith always keeps in view (Tit 1:2).
17. A
suitable conclusion to the beautifully simple enunciation of the
Gospel, of which his own history is a living sample or pattern.
It is from the experimental sense of grace that the doxology
flows [Bengel].
the King, eternal—literally,
“King of the (eternal) ages.” The
Septuagint translates Ex 15:18,
“The Lord shall reign for ages and
beyond them.” Ps 145:13,
Margin, “Thy
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,” literally, “a kingdom of all
ages.” The “life everlasting” (1Ti 1:16) suggested here “the
King eternal,”
or everlasting.
It answers also to “for ever and ever” at the close, literally,
“to the ages of the ages” (the countless succession of ages made
up of ages).
immortal—The
oldest manuscripts read, “incorruptible.” The
Vulgate,
however, and one very old manuscript read as
English Version
(Ro 1:23).
invisible—(1Ti
6:16; Ex 33:20; Jn 1:18; Col 1:15; Heb 11:27).
the only wise God—The
oldest manuscripts omit “wise,” which probably crept in from Ro
16:27, where it is more appropriate to the context than here
(compare Jud 1:25). “The only Potentate” (1Ti 6:15; Ps 86:10; Jn
5:44).
for ever,
&c.—See note, above. The thought of eternity (terrible as it is
to unbelievers) is delightful to those assured of grace (1Ti
1:16) [Bengel].
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A., &
and Brown, D. 1997. Commentary Critical and Explanatory
on the Whole Bible (electronic ed.) . Logos Research
Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor
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