Paul, the apostle, calls himself the chief of sinners. In the King James Version, he does not say in the past tense that he was the chief or chief of all sinners, even though he certainly had a wicked past. And yet, when it comes to categorizing himself, to label himself and to give himself a name, he uses the present tense.
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00:00:28.000Paul, the apostle, calls himself the chief of sinners in the King James Version. He does not
00:00:35.120say in the past tense that I was the chief of sinners, even though he certainly had a wicked
00:00:40.220past. And that's precisely what Paul is calling to people's attention. He's not speaking of present
00:00:48.260sin, although he is still a sinner, he's speaking of past sin. He's speaking of the worst things
00:00:54.640that he's ever done over the course of his life. The fact that he was a blasphemer, persecutor,
00:01:00.580and an insolent opponent. That he was persecuting the very church of Jesus Christ. And yet,
00:01:07.740when it comes to categorize himself, to label himself, to give himself a name,
00:01:13.680he uses the present tense not that i was the chief of senators but i am
00:01:20.860and paul does not make this statement as a new believer as i've already said he makes this
00:01:30.380statement and the dating of this writing arguably a decade or more after faithfully serving christ
00:01:38.900we can actually trace a chronological progression, and this is interesting to do, of Paul's statements
00:01:45.740about himself throughout his epistles in the New Testament. Now, there's some contention with this
00:01:51.860in the dating of various New Testament books, but I think that this is probably accurate and
00:01:56.740generally true. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 9, Paul says, I'm the least of the apostles.
00:02:04.280In Ephesians chapter 3 verse 8, written a few years later, he says, I'm the very least of all
00:02:10.880the saints. And then here in 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 15, written even still later, Paul says,
00:02:17.560I'm the chief of all sinners. And notice that Paul begins chronologically by saying, I'm the worst of
00:02:25.580the best, right? The least, but of the apostles. So top shelf, but bottom rung. I'm the worst
00:02:35.200of the best. But then, you know, he's gaining in his humility. He begins to defend himself
00:02:40.760or describe rather himself by saying, well, I'm not just the least of the best, the least of the
00:02:46.580apostles, but I'm the least of the Christians, not merely the apostles, but anyone who bears
00:02:51.580the name of Christ. All those saints, all those born again by grace and faith in Jesus, not just
00:02:56.740Peter and James and John, but of all the saints, I'm the least even of them. But then later on,
00:03:03.240as he's writing to Timothy, the language shifts from being the worst of the best to being the
00:03:09.180chief of the worst. He's no longer arguing, I'm the least of the apostles or the least of the saints,
00:03:16.040But I'm actually, I'm actually the gold medal prize winner of the wretches, of sinners, the worst of the worst.
00:03:29.880See, the closer a person walks with God, the more they become aware of God's holiness and again, the severity, degrees and depths of their own sinfulness.