A Trustworthy Saying (1 Timothy 1:12-17)

What makes a saying trustworthy?

The English language has a huge range of sayings that people use in various situations. We can say things like, ‘Many hands make light work’, ‘It’s always darkest before the dawn’, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, and ‘Easy come, easy go’ for example. However often we might use these sayings, how many of them are actually trustworthy? By ‘trustworthy’ we can mean ‘worthy of our trust.’ In other words, we might use these sayings in our conversations with each other, but can we actually trust what they are telling us?

Five times on the New Testament the Apostle Paul uses the phrase, ‘a trustworthy saying’: 1 Timothy 3:1, 1 Timothy 4:8,9, 2 Timothy 2:11-13, and Titus 3:4-8. We have another of Paul’s ‘trustworthy sayings’ in this week’s New Testament reading, 1 Timothy 1:15, which says, ‘Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’ (NIV). In just a few words, Paul points us to the heart of the gospel, what is central to the good news of Jesus. People can see Jesus in various ways, for example as an example of how to live, a teacher of a moral ethic, or a shepherd that guides us through our decisions in life. Paul points us to what is unique about Jesus and what makes him different from every other religious figure or moral teacher. Jesus came to save sinners.

Paul knew that this saying could be trusted because of his own life experience. Verse 15 continues with Paul saying, ‘of whom I am the worst’ (NIV). This isn’t hyperbole or some false humility from Paul. He knew he had done some really bad things in his life. Before he became a Christian, he was known by the name of Saul and lived as a Jewish Pharisee. He dedicated himself to wiping out the people who were following Jesus as his disciples. We can read about Saul in Acts 8:1 as the disciple Stephen was being murdered and then from the start of Acts 9 as Saul persecuted the early Christians. However, on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul and radically changed the course of his life. After meeting the risen Christ, Saul changed from being committed to wiping out the followers of Jesus to dedicating his life to preaching the good news of Jesus’ victory over death, the new identity that we can have as God’s children through faith, and a life that is lived in the love of God which is expressed through love for others. Paul knew that he could trust that ‘Jesus came to save sinners’ because he knew he was a sinner, and Jesus had saved him from guilt, hatred and destruction to live a new life of faith, hope, peace, joy and love.

We can trust this saying from Paul as well. We can often think of ‘sinners’ as bad people who deliberately break God’s commands, do the wrong thing, or disobey either religious or civil laws. However, we all experience sin in our lives and sin makes its mark on everything that we say and do. Sin shows itself in our personal flaws, our failings, and our weaknesses. To see ourselves as sinners isn’t about beating ourselves up, putting ourselves down, or feeling like we are useless or worthless. Identifying as a sinner is about honestly admitting to ourselves and to others that we get things wrong, both by accident and on purpose, because there’s something wrong with us that we can’t fix.

What makes this saying so trustworthy isn’t just identifying as sinners, but as sinners whom Jesus has saved. Christians often talk about being saved as being forgiven for our sin. While forgiveness is a vital aspect of being saved, the word ‘saved’ means so much more than that. It can also mean healed, returned to full health, rescued, restored, kept safe or delivered from danger. Paul doesn’t say that Jesus came just to ‘forgive’ sinners but to save us in a broader sense. He means that Jesus rescues us from the power of sin in our lives. He heals us of the brokenness that sin causes in us. Jesus frees us from the guilt, shame or regret that we can carry. He restores us as God’s holy people, bringing us into a new relationship with our heavenly Father and with each other. Jesus delivers us from the sin that can harm our bodies, minds or spirits and makes us new again as God’s dearly loved children whom he loves. As sinners whom Jesus came to save, we have a whole new life to live now and forever in the freedom, peace, joy, hope and love he gives us by trusting this saying which points us to Christ’s life, death and resurrection for us.

In writing that this is a ‘trustworthy saying’, Paul is telling us that in all the ups and downs, joys and heartbreaks, successes and failures we might go through during our lives in this world, we can trust that Jesus came to save sinners, including us. We don’t find the peace, joy, hope or freedom that this saying brings when we try to convince ourselves or others that we’re good people, that we have it all together, that we’re OK or we’re doing fine. We discover the power behind this saying and that it can be trusted when we admit to ourselves and to others that we’re flawed, broken, messed up or failures – basically, that we’re sinners. That’s when we find the renewing power of God who comes to save us by finding us, embracing us, taking everything about us that’s wrong on himself, and raising us up as new, whole and good people through faith in Jesus. That’s when we find that this saying is completely worth trusting: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, just like us.

More to think about or discuss:

• What are some sayings you’re familiar with or know? Do you find them trustworthy? Why or why not?
• In what ways do you experience sin in your life? How can Jesus save you from that sin by rescuing you, restoring you, healing you, or protecting you through his life, death and resurrection?
• How might it make a difference in your life to trust that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners? How might it make a difference in your relationships, especially with those whom you have wronged, or who might have wronged you in some way?