I Thank Christ Who Strengthened Me (1 Timothy 1:12–15)

1 Tim. 1:12. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.

In giving thanks to God for his calling to the apostolate and for the strengthening he received in the labors of preaching the Gospel, the Apostle shows that if the passing of the Law and its replacement by the Gospel had not been by God’s good will and arrangement, then God would not have torn him away from the Law—him, so zealous for the Law, which he had defended with such fervor—would not have entrusted the preaching of the Gospel to him, and would not have strengthened him in the labors of this work. For the Apostle himself this served as an encouraging conviction that the new Gospel economy, in place of the old, came directly from God. But it could not fail to produce the same impression on others; and therefore Saint Paul mentions it everywhere with the aim of presenting this as a tangible proof that if the Gospel economy is now being established in place of the Law, this is not from men but from God, that God is at work here and people serve only as His instruments. Saint Timothy knew all of this, and there would have been no need to speak of it to him; but although the Epistle was written to him, it was not intended for him alone.

“I thank him who has given me strength,” ενδυναμωσαντι,—who strengthened, who gave strength, or who was strengthening, who was giving strength. The first would point to the conversion of Saint Paul, how the Lord gave him the strength to believe; the second to the labors in preaching the Gospel, in which the Lord strengthened him, for they were beyond human strength. The first thought is expressed by Ambrosiaster: “Every unbeliever suffers from weakness of spirit, being bound by a carnal mind, so as not to believe spiritual things. Therefore the Apostle here expresses his gratitude to Christ the Lord, that by the manifestation of His Divine majesty He gave his weak mind the strength to believe; for until then he had considered incredible what was preached about the Divinity of the Lord, His twofold birth, His resurrection, and the hopes placed in Him.” The second thought is expressed by all our other commentators. Blessed Theodoret puts these words in the mouth of Saint Paul: “It is not by my own power that I offer this teaching to men, but being upheld and strengthened by the One who saved me, who made one who had dared to rage against Him a faithful servant of the Gospel.” Saint Chrysostom sees in the Apostle’s words a confession of the great assistance given him from above. “For consider how difficult it was to stand firm against daily mockeries, reproaches, plots, dangers, disputes, censures, and deaths, and not to fall into despondency, not to lose heart, not to waver—and yet, although from every side thousands of arrows were hurled at him every day, to stand with a firm and fearless countenance. This was beyond human strength.”

“Christ Jesus our Lord.” In the consciousness of Christians, the first thing perceived is the Person of Christ the Lord, the incarnate Son of God; and behind the veil of His flesh, the Tri-hypostatic God is contemplated—the One who in one of His Persons was pleased to become incarnate. This is imprinted in consciousness by faith, but afterward life provides also experiential confirmations that everything in us is from Christ the Lord. No one who is attentive to himself lacks such confirmations. But Saint Paul constantly felt the nearness of the Lord who was strengthening him; and just as he had previously confessed with fervor: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13), so here he gives thanks to the same One, the One “who has given him strength.”

He gives thanks to the Lord who strengthened him, and consequently attributes all his success to Him. But since strengthening is properly given to one who is already active and exerting his own efforts, this at the same time suggests that alongside faith in the All-Strengthening One, his own utmost efforts were also at work. Looking at the matter from these two sides, Saint Chrysostom sees in the Apostle’s words, on the one hand, a testimony to his humility and, on the other, a confirmation that in a life according to the spirit of faith not everything comes from the Lord but that the participation of one’s own will is also required. He says: “The Apostle said that the Gospel of God’s glory was entrusted to him, and since by this he had exalted himself and praised himself openly, he immediately afterward humbles himself, so that you might not think he speaks this out of pride. ‘I thank,’ he says, ‘the Lord who strengthens me.’ Do you see how he always conceals his own merits and attributes everything to God—yet in such a way that by this he does not abolish free will! For an unbeliever might perhaps say: if everything belongs to God and we ourselves contribute nothing, but God turns us from vice to love of wisdom as He would trees and stones, why did He make Paul such as he was, but not Judas? Therefore see, with what wisdom the Apostle speaks, preventing this objection. He says: ‘I thank Christ Jesus who strengthens me’—this is attributed to God; then he points to what belongs to himself: ‘because he judged me faithful’—evidently because he himself was disposed to contribute to this.”

“Because he judged me faithful.” He gives thanks that God counted him worthy of trust, having foreknown that he would be faithful to Him. And proof of this is that God entrusted to him the service of proclaiming the Gospel: “appointing me to his service”—setting him to serve the Gospel. For what master would entrust the stewardship of his house to a person whose faithfulness he was not assured of? So also the Lord entrusted the Gospel to Saint Paul, knowing by foreknowledge that he would be faithful. “And to be convinced that God chose him foreseeing what he would be, hear what God Himself says even before the Apostle came to preach: ‘He is a chosen vessel of Mine to carry my name before the Gentiles’ (Acts 9:15)” (Saint Chrysostom). Perceiving this in the Lord’s providential dealings with him, the Apostle gives thanks to Him. By this thanksgiving he expresses not so much joy at being recognized as faithful as he magnifies the service of the Gospel entrusted to him; and this because the Gospel economy itself is of surpassing greatness. Because of its greatness, it is also a great thing to be counted worthy of the trust of being placed in its service and of being honored with confidence in this matter. Thus the Apostle sets forth the pre-eminent exaltedness of the Gospel, without expressing this in literal terms. Ambrosiaster writes: “The Apostle was honored as worthy of being entrusted with the administration of the Lord’s mystery (that is, the Gospel), so that through the Law he might confirm the truth of what he had previously, out of love for the Law, considered incredible.” He confirmed this not only by teaching but by the very fact of his being chosen for the service of the Gospel. No one else would have confirmed this as much as Paul, the zealot for the Law, transformed into an even more zealous servant of the Gospel he had once persecuted.

But let us pause and attend to the very matter of trust placed in Saint Paul and of his election. For Saint Paul as a persecutor of the Church, it would have been a great thing if he had merely been brought to faith; but he was not only brought to faith but also appointed as its servant and its propagator—like a guilty servant who is not only received back into the household but placed in charge of the household. The Apostle sees in this an excess of mercy toward himself and gives thanks. Saint Chrysostom puts the following words in the mouth of Saint Paul: “I thank the Lord for counting me worthy of this service; for this is a sign that He considers me faithful. For just as in a household a steward is not only grateful to the master for his confidence, but takes this as a sign that the master considers him more worthy of trust than others—so in a similar way it was here.”

Saint Chrysostom connects with the words “he judged me faithful” also the further thought that “he was not unfaithful to the Lord in anything, said that everything belonged to Him, even called what was his own God’s, not appropriating God’s glory to himself.” In this he resembled a good steward who, forgetting himself, cares only for his master’s good and attributes all success to his master’s wisdom. “Saint Paul’s was only this—that he was fit for preaching; but to accomplish in deed what he was found fit for—for this he received strength from above, without which he would not have succeeded in anything” (blessed Theophylact). This is what Saint Paul confesses—here and in many other places. “For hear what he says: ‘Men,’ why are you looking at us? ‘We are men subject to the same passions as you’ (Acts 14:15). And again: ‘I labored more than all of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me’ (1 Cor. 15:10). And further: ‘God is at work in’ us ‘both to will and to work’ (Phil. 2:13). This is what the words mean: ‘he judged me faithful’ (Saint Chrysostom)—that is, He foreknew that he would appropriate nothing to himself, but would attribute everything to the Lord as the source of understanding and strength.”

Ambrosiaster senses in these words of the Apostle his joy in suffering for the Lord, against whom he had once waged war. These words are spoken at the end of a course of entrusted service, traversed amid afflictions, deprivations, and persecutions. The Lord foreknew that, in spite of all this, he would be faithful. Seeing this confirmed, the Apostle gives thanks to the Lord. “Such faithful devotion did the Apostle show to the Lord whom he had previously denied, that he rejoiced more in his sufferings for preaching faith in Him than he had previously exulted in his persecutions of the faithful.”

1 Tim. 1:13. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.

He calls himself “a blasphemer”—because he blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ and was in truth a blasphemer of God; “a persecutor”—because he persecuted those who believed in the Lord and disturbed their communities and churches; and “an insolent opponent”—because he abused and reviled in every way both the faith and the believers. How mercilessly he sets out his former wickedness! But this is in order to display in all the brighter light the mercy of God toward him—the mercy shown nonetheless. “See,” says Saint Chrysostom, “how in describing his former life he extols God’s mercy and loving-kindness: ‘formerly I was,’ he says, ‘a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent opponent.’ Do you see his humility, how he is not self-loving, what a humble soul he has? He is not content to call himself a blasphemer and a persecutor; but he shows also that he did this with particular ferocity. For, he says, I did not keep the evil hidden within myself and was not content to be a blasphemer alone, but I also persecuted those who wished to live piously. I brought blasphemy to the utmost frenzy. For this I was worthy of every punishment, but I was not punished, for I received mercy.”

And he received mercy because “I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.” I did not know that by persecuting Christians I was raising myself against God and destroying His work, for I did not believe that Jesus Christ is God and that the Gospel economy replacing the Law is the work of God. “I was blind, did not see the light—it was not hatred that moved me to wage war, but zeal for the Law” (blessed Theodoret). “He confesses his ignorance, which sprang from unbelief” (Saint Chrysostom). “He acted thus not out of malice but out of error, which readily receives pardon as soon as repentance follows. But one who knows that what he is rejecting is true does not act out of error but out of evil will, and such a one’s wound is incurable. For he, moved by hatred, calls false what he knows to be true” (Ambrosiaster). Saint Paul’s heart was not corrupt and damaged by any passion. He was so actively zealous for the Law because he saw in the glory of the Law the glory of the God who had given the Law. Therefore it was enough to change his conviction—that now the glory of God lay not in the glory of the Law but in the glory of the Gospel—in order to change his course of action and transform him from a persecutor into an even more zealous propagator of the very Gospel he had been persecuting. This was accomplished by the manifestation of the Lord to him.

1 Tim. 1:14. And the grace of our Lord [Jesus Christ] abounded exceedingly, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

“Grace abounded exceedingly”—an exceeding great grace was shown to me, which surpassed all measure and all expectation—it was “grace upon grace” (Jn. 1:16). The Apostle wishes to say that he was not only not punished for his blasphemy and persecution, but was shown mercy; and beyond that, was abundantly and superabundantly graced—by which one may understand both all the spiritual blessings given to every believer, such as regeneration, the power working to salvation, sanctification, adoption, and the Kingdom of Heaven, and also the special grace of the apostolate. That this last should not be excluded from the circle of gifts of the grace that abounded toward Saint Paul is evident from the fact that these words stand in direct connection with the preceding speech, where the Apostle expresses his thanks to the Lord for the trust placed in him and the commission to serve the Gospel economy—which is the apostolate. Our commentators primarily fix attention on the gifts of grace common to all Christians. Saint Chrysostom says: “‘I received mercy,’ he says. But was only this (what you received), did mercy extend only as far as that you were not punished? No, (it extended to) many other great (benefactions). For God not only freed us from the threatened punishment, but also made us righteous, and sons, and brothers, and friends, and heirs, and co-heirs. Therefore he says: ‘grace abounded exceedingly’—expressing the thought that these gifts surpassed (the bounds of) mercy. For thus to act is the property not only of one who has mercy, but of one who loves and is entirely devoted.”

Grace abounded, he says, “with faith and love.” The one called believed; having believed, he loved; faith and love drew down abundant grace; they made of the heart a spacious vessel for the reception of superabundant grace. “By these words the Apostle showed what he himself contributed from his own side. For, having received grace from above, he contributed faith and love; he believed sincerely, loved with all warmth, and did not cease to burn with this love.” — Saint Chrysostom here, as above, makes an inference concerning the participation of free will in the work of salvation. He says: “Having said much about God’s loving-kindness—that He had mercy on him, though he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an oppressor—and not only limited himself to this but counted him worthy of many other great (benefactions)—the Apostle again confirms what has been said against unbelievers—namely, that one should not say that free will does not exist—by adding the following words: ‘with faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus.’ From our side, he says, we only contributed this: that we believed that He is able to save us (and loved Him). For we need not faith alone, but love also. (I add this) because there are now many who believe that Christ is God, yet do not love Him and do not act as those who love Him ought to act.”

“In Christ Jesus”—relates both to love and to faith, and signifies that those—faith and love—were in the Spirit of Christ, according to the Gospel economy, Christian. According to Saint Chrysostom, “in Christ” is the same as “through Christ”; but “through Christ” he understands as: according to the economy of Christ. “What does ‘through Christ’ mean?” he asks—and answers: “That He, and not the Law, was the cause of this for us”—namely, that grace might abound exceedingly for each one with faith and love: for such is the economy of Christ. Wherefore Saint Chrysostom further concludes: “Do you see what good things Christ was the cause of for us, and what the Law was?”

Let us add to this: consequently, the Apostle was right to pour out his thanks to the Lord—for making him not only a Christian but an Apostle of Christianity—and by pouring out such thanks to suggest to all that now no one ought to turn to the dried-up source of the Law, but hasten to the superabundant source of grace in Christ Jesus.

C) Therefore, if you wish to be saved—believe in the Lord (1 Tim. 1:15–17)

Believe; for: aa) Christ the Lord came for this very purpose—to save sinners—and there is no other way of salvation (verse 15); bb) the pattern of salvation by this path is myself, for I was shown mercy precisely so that all might see where those who wish to be saved should direct their steps, and hasten there with full hope (1 Tim. 1:16). Remembering this simple and effective means of salvation, cc) I cannot refrain from crying out: “Honor and glory to the wise God!” (1 Tim. 1:17). Blessed Theodoret expresses the content of these verses thus: “The Apostle, having revealed what happened to him personally, proves that this grace is offered to all.”

Aa) Christ the Lord came for this very purpose—to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15)

1 Tim. 1:15. 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.”

The Apostle does not say in so many words: if you wish to be saved, believe; he only points to the most reliable means of salvation. One who desires salvation will himself hasten toward it. “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance”—the saying about the salvation of sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself testified: “I came from the Father and have come into the world” (Jn. 16:28). For what purpose? Not to call “the righteous,” but sinners “to repentance”—saving repentance (Matt. 9:13). The proclamation went forth: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk. 1:15), and all those with broken hearts and humbled spirits came running to this voice. They came running, and are being saved. The salvation proclaimed in the words of the Gospel is fulfilled in them as a fact. Not one who has truly believed and sincerely sought has been deceived in his hope. All are being saved. And whoever would wish to come to the Lord will be saved. I confirm this by my own example. I am the foremost of sinners, and I have been saved. What sinner after me, then, could fail to be saved? Therefore I confirm that the “saying” about this “is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. Trustworthy”—“that is, not false and untrue” (blessed Theodoret). “Deserving of full acceptance”—worthy of being received with an open heart, without the slightest shadow of doubt or wavering. “Since it seemed incredible that a man, in spite of having spent his entire preceding life (without bringing any) benefit and having squandered it fruitlessly on evil deeds, could afterward be saved through faith alone—for this reason he says: ‘the saying is trustworthy.’ And in proof of this he adduces himself: me, a blasphemer and a persecutor, God had mercy on, and not only had mercy on, but also made a believer. He is not only unashamed to call himself a sinner but even particularly rejoices in it; since by this he could best show the great miracle of God’s care (for sinners)” (Saint Chrysostom).

The Apostle calls himself the foremost of sinners. This comes from a feeling of contrition and repentance that he had formerly blasphemed the Lord and persecuted His Church. Though there was some excuse here in ignorance, a contrite heart does not like to set forth mitigating circumstances, but has recourse only to mercy, counting itself guilty without defense; and having received pardon, attributes it all entirely to mercy as the sole source. Already in this the Apostle presents a true pattern for all who repent; but even more so in his speaking thus of himself and feeling thus about himself after so many labors for God’s glory and after so many mercies shown him by God. The heart does not cease to ache if it is aware that it has offended the Beloved—even if the offense was committed before he came to love Him. Blessed Theodoret writes that “the Apostle, in calling himself the foremost of all sinners, goes beyond the very limits of humility.”

But others propose a somewhat different line of reasoning here. Saint Chrysostom says: “How does the Apostle, having said in another place that he was ‘blameless as to righteousness under the Law’ (Phil. 3:6), here say that he is a sinner and the foremost of sinners? This is because, in comparison with that righteousness of which God has made us partakers (in Christ Jesus) and which is truly to be sought, even those who were righteous under the Law are sinners: ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23). Therefore he did not simply say: as to righteousness, but: as to the righteousness that is under the Law. For just as a man who has acquired a great deal of money may seem rich by himself, yet when he compares his possessions with the royal treasures he sees himself very poor and the foremost of the poor—so here also, comparing the one (legal) righteousness with the other (gracious) righteousness, Saint Paul shows the worthlessness of the former. And not only does he say this, but he even reckons as sinners those who have acquired righteousness of the first kind.” The same thought is expressed by blessed Theophylact, with a somewhat distinctive shade. “Saint Paul places himself among sinners, because before the righteousness that is in Christ, the righteousness that is according to the Law is now sin, since its time has already passed. While its time was in force, it was righteousness—just as in the night both the moon and a candle are light. But when Christ appeared as the sun, He eclipsed it. So he who uses the candle (of legal righteousness) when the sun (of Christ’s righteousness) has risen errs and acts foolishly.”

Bb) The Apostle himself is the pattern of salvation by this path (1 Tim. 1:16)