Saturday 12 September 2009

Background

This letter is, first of all, a personal letter written fromPaul to his colleague Timothy; but it is also likely that it wasread out publicly to the gathered Christians in Ephesus, whereTimothy was working (in modern-day western Turkey). In thispassage, especially at the end, it has the flavour of part of aservice of worship. Verse 17 is a doxology - words which invokehonour and glory to God. You can imagine the reader getting to theend of verse 17, and everyone joining in the 'amen'.

This doxology comes as the conclusion to Paul telling the story ofhow God changed him. It is because Paul sees this as such aremarkable example of God's goodness and generosity, that aftertelling the story, he is moved to give this strong exclamation ofpraise.

The story starts at verse 12. Paul tells of how Jesus appointed himto serve despite his previous violent and blasphemous behaviour. Heis struck by how remarkable this is, and goes on in these verses towrite of himself as the 'foremost' of sinners (verse 15).

This may seem an extreme view of himself, but Paul certainlycarried a strong sense of his guilty past. Elsewhere he writes ofhimself as "one untimely born" in describing his Christian rebirth,and consequently says he is "least of the apostles" (1 Corinthians15:8-9). He seems to have felt that it was utterly remarkable thatGod had taken him and used him to preach Jesus to the Gentile(non-Jewish) world. All this is possible because Jesus "came intothe world".

As a result, Paul sees his own astonishing story as an example ofwhat Christ can do. He sees himself as a difficult case, whichrequires Christ's patience. This display of mercy and patiencemeans that others can now look at Paul and be sure that God canhelp them. If God could help such a violent and ignorant man ashimself, then no one is beyond help.

To Ponder

Paul is convinced of how deep his own need of Godwas. How do you feel about your own needof God?

What kind of changes in your and other people'slives have you known, which would inspire you to praise God as Pauldid?