1:12
Now why does Paul give something of his own testimony here? It is to encourage Timothy, and all who have come after him as servants of the Lord. Serving the Lord can at times be a painful or costly task. For Paul it involved times in prison, beatings etc. Yet he still gave thanks to the Lord. If we are working in His service we too should give thanks. The Lord gives us strength, and He has considered us trustworthy. It is a great honour to serve the Lord. We are appointed by the Lord to His service, it is the most honoured job that we can have.
1:13
Paul was not appointed to this position because he was worthy. He was a blasphemer, a violent man, a persecutor of Christ and the church. Paul had been a Pharisee, and remember that they would have considered the Christians to be blasphemers, yet now Paul speaks of himself as a blasphemer. He would also have been “respectable”, yet he describes himself as a violent man. When we look at the gospels we see that the religious leaders were perfectly happy to have violence used against Jesus.
Paul says he was shown mercy because he acted in ignorance and unbelief. A man without Christ is spiritually blind, it needs the Holy Spirit to take away our blindness. However, if someone who has seen Christ for who He is, who has been enlightened by the Spirit, then rejects Christ, then they are in a very serious position. Jesus talks about the sin against the Holy Spirit, and Hebrews speaks of those who have tasted the goodness of Christ and the gospel falling away.
1:14
So what changed in Paul? The grace of God was poured out on him. We need the grace of God in our lives. Along with it came the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. When He was here on the earth Jesus showed us what a life of faith and love looks like. And now we can share in that faith and love through the Holy Spirit.
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