This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 1 Timothy 1:15

While Peter and James ministered to the Jews, it was through the work performed by the Apostle Paul, ‘the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles’, that the rest of the world were introduced to the gospel (Romans 15:16). Including Hebrews, Paul wrote fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, furnishing the church with some of the deepest advancements of New Testament theology. But Paul was not always working on the side of Christ. Concerning the injurious course of Saul of Tarsus, Paul confessed:

…many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Acts 26:10-11

Like apostle Paul, the converted man does not speak highly of his past life. While good deeds were at times performed, he confesses his prior course to have been evil. Moreover, Paul does not say ‘I was chief’, but ‘I am chief’ of the sinners that Christ came to save. Although Paul was relieved of the guilt of his sin, and rejoiced in the liberty wherein Christ had made him free, it is apparent that a conviction of his sinfulness abode with him after conversion.

Indeed, to be conscious of the converting power of Christ Jesus in the life is not inconsistent with the abiding acknowledgement that we are sinners. On the contrary, it is only while this conviction abides with us that we may have victory over sin, for it is not to the proud, but the poor in spirit, that the kingdom of heaven belongs.

Christopher Sparks