Why Paul Called Himself the "Chief of Sinners" — 1 Timothy 1:15 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody in for another afternoon of taping. We always like to let our television audience know that we tape four programs right in succession, and consequently the same people are sitting in the same place. And I guess the main reason I like to tell them, otherwise they call and say, have you only got one shirt? And I just want them to know that we just wear one shirt for four programs in a row. But anyway, we're glad you're all here. We even have some visitors from Oregon that watch us off the satellite, and we just trust that they'll enjoy the afternoon with us. Now again, for those of you on the television audience, remember that all the past programs are available on videotape, or now in the little printed books, and we just are thrilled how they're being used all over the country in various ways. So if you're interested in the past programs, you just give us a call on the 800 number, or drop us a line, and we'll get them back to you. Alright, now for the beginning of our study today, we're going to pick up where we left off in our last lesson. That's I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 9. And remember I've been emphasizing throughout this whole study of the book of Corinthians, both letters really, is that they were in response to questions from the congregation at Corinth. And again remember that these believers in Corinth had come out of the most ungodly, pagan, immoral background that you can imagine. And so it took quite a while for them to get everything sorted out, and sort of get their feet on the ground. And as a result of that of course, Paul makes it very plain that the Corinthians were still so carnal. They were not a spiritual church like Ephesus or Philippi, but they were a church beset with all kinds of problems. Now the first ones we noticed of course were their divisions. That some said, oh we follow Paul, some say we follow Apollos, and others said, no we're going to follow Peter, and some even went so far as to say in chapter 1 that they followed Christ. And it was a division in the church, and Paul had to address it, and as he addressed that again he had to of course defend his apostleship. You know I'm always pointing that out, that everywhere you read throughout Paul's letters he is defending his apostleship, and it stands to reason, because you want to remember too, that in his early ministry he always went first to the Jew. He went to the synagogue where at least he would have a halfway civil hearing, and when the Jews would reject it, then of course he'd go out into the Gentile area, the marketplace and whatever. But wherever he went there was that constant slur on the man that he was an imposter. He wasn't a true representative of Judaism, and he was a renegade Jew, and so he always has to come back and defend the fact that he is God's man for the hour. And we're going to see this especially now in verse 10 and 11. But now beginning in verse 9, after straightening up some of the problems, not all of them yet by any means, now he comes to these Corinthians, and remember they're carnal, they're not the most spiritual in the world, but nevertheless they were still co-laborers with the Apostle, and that of course puts us in the same place, that we are co-laborers, all of us together, to bring to fruition the eternal will of God. And that of course is to bring the body to its completeness, to where the Lord can take it unto Himself, and then yet pick up where He left off with His covenant people after that. So now verse 9, he says, We are laborers together with God. My, what a partner! Have you ever thought of that? What a partner! You know, wealthy people a lot of times get wealthy because they're hooked up, as they say, with the right wealthy person. I've run into several like that. They've just almost fell into it, because they just got hooked up with someone who already had things going, and had the wealth to get things going. Alright, well we've got something even better than that. We are hooked up with the Creator God Himself, and all these promises, you know, we can just feed on them, day in and day out. A lot of times God doesn't necessarily do it the way we think He should, but nevertheless He's sovereign, He's in control, and even if we're a little bit on the carnal side, as the Corinthians were, that doesn't cancel out the fact that we are still laborers with God. Now this is what I've been emphasizing in this Corinthian study, and I think it's to encourage those of us who are not spiritual giants. I shared with a class last night, that years ago I read a little book on true spirituality by the great Chinese Bible teacher, Watchman Nee. And I'd read some of his other books and enjoyed them, but this one on true spirituality, just sort of made me feel so far beneath a man like Watchman Nee. Who was I to even try? And I almost got discouraged through the reading of it. But I think this is why Paul writes now to these Corinthians, that they not become discouraged, that yes, they're carnal, they're still babes in Christ, but look, who are they laboring with? The Eternal Sovereign God, even though they're carnal. In other words, you don't have to be the great spiritual giant that some of these theologians seemingly are, in our eyes at least, in order for us to do the work that God has for us to do. God wants to use every last one of us, whether we're weak and a babe, and yet maybe a little carnal, or whether we're further up the ladder, and we're more spiritual than even the average. So he says, we're labors together. Now he says, you are God's husbandry. You are God's building. Now do you see where the possession lies? All of this, the possessive term, is with God. He's the owner of everything. Not just the cattle on a thousand hills. He owns every one of us. And of course He owns us by virtue of the redemption price of His shed blood. And we'll keep screaming that at people, that it's the preaching of the cross that gets people into this position, and nothing else will do. And so as believers then, in the finished work of the cross, yes, God is our partner. God is our overseer. He is the one that is over everything we say, think, and do. And so we are His workmanship, Ephesians says. We are His husbandry. And we are God's building. Now we're going to stay with that word building, rather than the husbandry aspect. Because when we get down to verse 12, we're going to be dealing with building materials. But put that on hold for a moment, because I want to come into verse 10, where Paul brings out something that just shook me up, years and years ago. Mostly because a couple in one of my classes had almost been plaguing me with a particular question. And it was after I'd taught the early chapters of Acts, and he was a brilliant man. He was a highly educated individual, and he had an intellect far above average. And he came to me one evening after class, and he said, Now Les, after seeing you teach, and hearing you say over and over, be just as careful about what is not in here, as what is, he said, I'm suddenly beginning to wonder, did the Church begin at Pentecost? Because he said, There's no Church language in these early chapters. And I'd never thought of it before. See I was raised traditionally, like most people. I was a traditionalist, and I said, I've never heard of such a thing. Well he said, You're the one that got me to study. And he said, You should be able to see that. And I said, Well I don't know what you're driving at, but I've never really caught it. And I hadn't. But with his kind of egging me on, I began to search these things, and almost every week, he'd say, Well what do you think? And I said, I haven't decided yet. And then finally, you know the Lord in His own time, I saw verse 10. Now I don't say that if you don't agree with me, that you're out in left field, and you're doomed, or anything like that. But I just maintain, that if you see it the way I see it, this book is just going to open up, like you've never seen it opened up before. Now look what he says, verse 10. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me. Now always remember, when Paul speaks in the first person, of himself, he's not being braggadocio. He is writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Every word, even when he commends himself, it's Holy Spirit inspired. Don't forget that. And so now he says, The grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. Now I always ask my classes here in Oklahoma, when we teach this verse. Any of you have ever built a home, or a building, or whatever, and you need a contractor. When does your major contractor come into the scene? When the home is half built? When? When? When you first begin to lay plans to build. That contractor comes right into the picture with you. He's the one that goes out and stakes where it's going to be built, and he's the one who lays the foundation. Right from the beginning, he is involved. Now that's the role of a master builder. He is not someone who comes on the scene when the building is half built, just to finish it up. He's going to be there from day one. Now that's what the apostle is claiming to be. That he is the master builder. And he's speaking of course of the church, the body of Christ. Then move on a little bit in the verse, and he says, I have laid the foundation. In other words, he's there from day one, overseeing this building. Now remember, this is what we're talking about in verse 9, is that we're working together in this building. And of course, the building is the body of Christ. Then, the last part of the verse, let every man take heed how He, following in Paul's footsteps now, builds thereon. Alright, you say, well that's not enough to convince me. Now turn with me to I Timothy, if you will. I Timothy, chapter 1. And of course, when you start studying, then all these things start following. You know, that's the way the Holy Spirit works. And so now in I Timothy, chapter 1, dropping down to verse 15 and 16, I couldn't help but see that this was a verse I'd heard sermon after sermon after sermon. I had read comments in various books, and they all used the word chief of sinners as making Paul, who had been Saul of course, the worst reprobate that had ever lived. Well, he was awful. I mean, let's face it, he persecuted those followers of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jews. You remember on the road to Damascus, why was he going to Damascus? He was going to arrest those Jewish believers because he thought that to stamp out anything connected with Jesus of Nazareth was doing his God a favor. He was a religious nut. Now that's all there is to it. He was a fanatic, and he was trying to stamp out anything that would oppose Judaism. And so consequently, he did. My, he regretted it, and it comes up through his letters how he persecuted those early believers. But all right, for the most part now, Christendom then has taken this verse as the chief of sinners to imply that he was the worst that was ever saved. Well, he was bad, no doubt about it. It was the grace of God to the extreme that saved Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. We know that. But that's not what the verse says. All right, look at it with me. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. This is a faithful saying. And worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Absolutely he did. Of whom I am chief. Now they take that word chief, like I said, and that makes him the worst. That's not what the word chief means. The word in the Greek is protos. P-R-O-T-U-S. Protos. And now let's look up where it's used in other portions in our Bible. Look to Luke 22, verse 26. Luke 22, verse 26. Now some of you who are in my classes here in Oklahoma, we've probably gone through this before. But for those of you in television, that's what you miss. We just have a ball in these weeknight classes. We have questions back from the class people, of course. And sometimes we don't get a verse at a time covered. But nevertheless, here's one that we have looked at more than once. And now in Luke 22, verse 26. The same Greek word that is used in 1 Timothy 1.15. And Jesus is speaking, and He says, "...but you shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve." Now look at that verse. Would it fit to imply that Jesus was talking about somebody intrinsically wicked and bad and awful? Of course not. But what's He talking about? He that is the most prestigious among you. In fact, I looked it up in a Greek dictionary. And that's what this word protos really meant. It meant prestigious. Someone who was in leadership. Someone who was at the head of the line. That's what the word meant. It didn't mean the worst. And so that's the way it's used here. And He said, let him that is the most prestigious, the one that is at the head of everything, let him go to the bottom of the rung, or the bottom of the ladder. Now the next one, let's go to Acts chapter 14, verse 12. I better keep moving or I'll run out of time as usual. Acts 14, now verse 12. Same Greek word, protos. Here Paul and Barnabas, I think it is, isn't it, have come into Lystra, one of the little towns or villages that Paul visited in his earthly ministry. All right, and they have performed a miracle. And so these pagans thought that it was some one of their pagan gods had come down, and that's what they thought Paul and Barnabas were. All right, now look what happened. Verse 12, they called Barnabas Jupiter. See, because they thought he must be an offspring of Jupiter. And Paul they called Mercurius because he, Paul, was the chief speaker. Does that mean he was the worst? Does that mean he was vile? Does that mean he used awful language? No, he was the most important of the two. See, he was the chief speaker rather than Barnabas being. All right, so I'm just trying to show you how the Word is translated to all these other areas, and why have we twisted it to mean something entirely different. All right, now go on to Acts 28. Acts 28, verse 7. Acts 28, verse 7. Now this is what I call Bible study. See, this is the only way we can learn. You just compare Scripture with Scripture. And you don't just take what I say, you search the Scriptures. All right, here in Acts 28, verse 7. In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and lodged us three days courteously. That's of course when Paul is on his way and has shipwreck and everything else, and they end up on the island of Melita. All right, was this Publius a wicked man? Is that what he's trying to tell you? No, but he was what? He was the head honcho on the island. He was probably the governor, and consequently he was the chief of that island. One more, Romans. Romans chapter 3. Now of course it's an adverb, and so it's a little different form of the Greek. Instead of Probus, it's Probosci, or something like that, and I'm not a Greek scholar. But it's an adverb instead of an adjective, and so it's a little different Greek word, but it's the same root. All right, now the question in chapter 3, verse 1 that Paul writes is, What advantage then hath the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision? In other words, being a bona fide Jew. Now look at his answer. Much, every way. They had all kinds of advantages. They were the covenant people. They had the temple. They had a priesthood. They had the very blessings of Jehovah God upon them. But, what's the next word? Chiefly. Chiefly. What did they have going for them? They had the Word of God. That doesn't say that the worst thing about them was. No, the best thing about it, the most prestigious thing that they had going for them, they had the Word of God. All right, now come back to 1 Timothy again, and look at that verse in that light. Same word. We have no right to put anything wicked and evil on the definition of the word protos, that I can see. All right, verse 15 again then, in that light. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners, of whom I am the leader. I am the head of the line. I am the first to be saved by such grace. And that I'll admit, my land it took the grace of God to save that rebel, who was trying to stamp out every instance of the name of Jesus of Nazareth. So God saved him by grace. But the verse does not imply that He was the worst, the most wicked, the most vile, but instead He is the head of a line of sinners, who would be saved like He was. And even though I may never have persecuted someone, even though I may not have put people to death, yet I was just as great a sinner in God's sight as Saul of Tarsus was, and so were you. Every one of us were sinners, just as vile in God's sight, because the picture in Romans 1, and then another one in Corinthians, is not pretty at all. And Paul says, such were some of you, and such were some of us. But oh the chief, the most prestigious, the head of the line was saved first. And now here we come, here we come down through the ages. Now come into verse 16, and it just makes all the sense in the world. Now I don't use commentaries, never have, but once in a while somebody will give me one, and then all I do is go back and check and see whether they totally disagree with me or what. But you know what happens so often? They skip over verses like this. They just literally ignore them, that they're not there. And I know why. See they don't want to stick their neck out like I'm doing today. Because when you stick your neck out and say, hey this is the way it really appears in Scripture, they're going to be the traditionalists, are going to disagree. Well that's their privilege, I don't mind that a bit. But I have to teach it the way it just thrilled my heart. Alright now verse 16, then Paul says, How be it for this cause, now watch it, now I'm a stickler for language you know. How be it for this cause, I obtained mercy, that in me, what's the next word? First. And first has always meant the same thing. It means at the head of the line. That in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering for a, what's the next word? Pattern. And what's the pattern? The first. You don't make a bunch of things, like if you're cutting cloth, or if you're cutting lumber, you don't make a bunch of things and then decide maybe I better draw up a pattern. No, the pattern comes first. And then that's what's followed in whatever you're doing. Alright, you see the connection now? He is the chief of sinners, He is the sinner saved by grace, that's the head of the line, He's number one. And all other sinners saved by that kind of grace, especially Gentiles, will be following after Him. Alright, read it again now then. For a pattern to them which should, and what's the next word? Hereafter. Hereafter, it's not retroactive. He doesn't say back to Pentecost, but He said from that point onward, from His conversion on the road to Damascus, from that point on, God is now going to be calling people into the Body of Christ, which again is a Pauline revelation. You know, you watch all the rest of Scripture, I don't care whether it's the four Gospels, or the Book of Acts, or you go with the Old Testament, there is no such thing in any of that Scripture of the term, the Body of Christ. It is strictly a Pauline revelation. Now when I say Pauline, I'm talking about what was revealed to this Apostle. Alright, now look at the verse again then, so we don't miss the point. That it's a faithful saying, that He was the chief of sinners, not the worst, but He was at the head of the line, and since He was to play that role of being the Apostle of the Gentiles, yes, God extended mercy and grace that in Him first, He might show forth longsuffering for a pattern that everything else would fall into, to them which should hereafter, from that point on, believe on Him, that is on Jesus Christ, and by believing have what? Life everlasting. See how plain this all is? Alright, now with that, I think we can come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and now maybe this term, Master Builder, will, I trust, make a little more sense. And like I said, He's always defending His Apostleship, that He was the One that brought the Gospel to the Gentiles. He was the One that had revealed to Him all of these things. Now, in one of these programs this afternoon, I'm going to put all the verses on the board, the references, that include the word, mystery. You know, I'm always saying how that Paul is always referring to the mysteries that were revealed to him. I'm going to put them on the board. There's a string that long. And he is the only one that claims to have had revealed the mysteries. But now back in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3, verse 10, once again. I know we're spending almost the whole half hour on this one verse, and that's the way I like it. "...according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder." Now what's the other word that is tied to wise, that Paul has just been drumming into our minds these first three chapters? Wisdom. Wisdom, you remember? Chapter 1, 2, always, always comparing the wisdom of God as over against the wisdom of this world, and how that the wisdom of this world knows nothing of the wisdom of God. All right, here he comes again. He's still sticking to that term wisdom. "...now as a master builder with wisdom," is the way it could have been put, "...as a master builder with wisdom, I have laid the foundation." Now you all know enough about buildings. The foundation is the heart of your building, isn't it? Whether it's a home, or a business building, or a commercial, or whatever. If you have a rotten foundation, you're going to have a rotten building in short order. But when the foundation is solid, and the foundation is secure, the rest of the building is apt to be the same. All right, now he's making that same analogy, that unless our faith rests upon the foundation, which He laid, which is Christ crucified, buried, and risen from the dead, and unless that is our foundation, my, we're hopelessly lost, and the world just can't accept that. You know, they call it exclusivism, and it is exclusivist, because there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. It is Jesus Christ plus nothing, and faith in that finished work. And so that's the foundation that this man claims now then, to be laying for the benefit not just of Israel, but of Jew and Gentile alike, but it's going to end up primarily for the Gentile, because the Jew is just going to reject it. And so don't lose sight of this fact, that this man who claims in Romans 11 verse 13, that he is the apostle of the Gentiles. And now to this Gentile church he writes, I have laid the foundation, and that foundation is Jesus Christ, yes, Jesus of Nazareth. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. 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