Who Is The Chief Of Sinners?

Who is the chief of Sinners?

1 Timothy 1:12–17 NKJV

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

One of the most memorable epithets in the passage this morning is “the chief of sinners.” Many Christians over the ages have applied this to themselves. One of the more famous Christians who applied this title to himself was John Bunyan, the author of “Pilgrim’s Progress” and “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.” Bunyan suffered many hardships including years in jail for the preaching of the gospel without being properly licensed (controlled) by the Church of England. But Bunyan was not always the saint we know today. He, like everyone else. was a sinner first and never forgot where he came from. We can also look at another person, John Newton, who was saved from the wicked life of a slave trader, and who later wrote Amazing Grace. Time would fail to recount the conversions of those who considered themselves the chief of sinners. Paul was the first, but by no means, the last.

When we look at this morning’s passage, we should read what comes before.

1 Timothy 1:9–11 NKJV

knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

In these verses, Paul lists a group of terrible vices which have plagued the children of Adam. surely, the people who have done these things could be characterized as the chief of sinners. Even though everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, these sins stick out as being the chief ones.

But we have no record of Paul being a fornicator, pervert, kidnapper or murderer, as far as men count these crimes. Paul even said that he was blameless concerning these things. So. why would he call himself the chief of sinners? Paul provides a separate list. The first thing was that He was a blasphemer To people today who abuse the name of God with impunity think little about blasphemy. They care little about the honor of God. But blasphemy is a most serious sin in the eyes of God as it is an affront to His holiness. One can blaspheme with words which say bad things about God and associating His name with evil. But one can blaspheme with the way they live their life. If one claims to be a Christian and lives like the devil, this is also a form of blasphemy. We would do well to remember that we are called to honor and glorify His name.

What Paul said and did was blasphemous before Christ met him on the Damascus Road. His persecution of Christians which included what could be considered kidnapping and murder as God sees things. He might have had official warrant from the Sanhedrin to do these things, but to God these acts were kidnapping, murder, and blasphemy. By the time that Paul was converted, he had amassed a long list of sins. Once his sins were brought to light, he was kept in constant remembrance of where he had come from. His remorse comes out in this passage, but this is not the only place it does.

If we read the text more carefully, we notice two points. First of all, Paul is not just talking about himself as the chief of sinners. It is true that Paul would include himself in this group as seen by the examples of his former life, but we should notice it is part of a confessional statement. He calls it a faithful saying which applies to all. The first part of this confessional statement is that Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners. This is true of everyone. But notice the attached “of whom I am chief.” If this is part of this faithful saying which is to be accepted by all Christians, then by stating this, we are confessing ourselves to be the chief of sinners individually. We are not confessing that someone else is a greater sinner than we are. There is always danger in this kind of comparison like the Pharisee in the parable did when looking at the poor publican beating his breasts and asking for mercy from his sin. This Pharisee thought he compared well with this tax collector. He pointed out to the Lord how good he was. The truth is that the Pharisee was perhaps even more wretched a sinner than the tax collector because of his boasting. At any rate, it was the tax collector who came home justified.