But for this reason mercy was shewn me, that in me, [the] first, Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal.
The words here look back at a life of violent opposition and forward to everyone who would ever come to Christ. Paul says his rescue was not only for himself. God meant it as a public display, so that no one later could think they were out of reach.
Mercy Given for Others' Sake
Paul does not treat his conversion as a private matter. One writer points out that God aimed this mercy at people Paul would never meet.
This was not only a question of mercy in saving the foremost of sinners. There was also a purpose of grace toward others. Nothing could be stronger than the way Paul puts it. How the Lord will use the story of his conversion to win the hardened Jew in a day to come! And how He turns it to good account for any miserable sinner now!
Where the Chief Was Found
"The foremost" is Paul's own verdict on himself. The man it describes is not who you would expect.
We might expect to find the chief of sinners among the openly evil and vile... But no. Here is a man whose conduct was beyond blame. As to "righteousness under the law," he was "blameless" (Phil. 3:6). And yet writing under divine inspiration, he could declare himself to be the chief of sinners. So it seems we must look for the chief of sinners in places thought to be holy. He is not among murderers and thieves, not in prisons and jails.
The Whole of His Patience
What did Christ put on display? One writer answers from three words Paul used of himself a few verses earlier.
We said "all the patience," because that is more exact than the older English translation. Does anyone ask what all the patience was? Paul's own life at that time explains it. He sums it up in three telling words: "a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent" (1 Tim. 1:13).
Set against that, the patience has no ceiling — because the hostility did have one.
Grace was greater than the sin. The patience of God was more perfect than the persistence of man's hostility. Man's hostility was limited by how small man is. God's patience has no limit in His nature except His own sovereign will. The chief enemy, the most active and the most stubborn of all, was the best and most powerful witness that the grace of God abounded over sin, and that the work of Christ was perfect to put sin away.
What Makes Him a Pattern
Older translations say "pattern" where the ESV says "an example." What makes Paul a pattern? Start with who moved first.
First, it was Christ who sought him, not he who sought Christ. On his way to Damascus he was full of hatred toward Jesus of Nazareth. He aimed all the force of his determined will at wiping the name of Christ off the earth. Christ went out from the glory itself to meet His persecutor, and by His grace brought him down at His feet. As a pattern convert, he is a huge encouragement to every sinner on earth who feels his guilt — an encouragement to trust the heart of Christ, whose patience can never run out while the day of grace lasts.
Yet no one should conclude that a quieter conversion is a lesser one.
Others may not look like such clear "black and white" cases of conversion. Yet the same principles are at work in every case, whether we see them or not... Every true conversion is just as real as Paul's, even if its circumstances are less striking. His served better as a pattern because it stood out so clearly.
No One Beyond the Reach
The pattern ends with a question anyone can ask: how did such a man get to heaven?
The chief of sinners is in Heaven. How did he get there? By the blood of Jesus alone. And more than that, he is Christ's "pattern" man. Anyone may look at him and see how they too must be saved... The grace that reached the chief can reach all. The blood that cleansed the chief can cleanse all. The title by which the chief entered Heaven is the title for all. No sinner this side of hell's door is beyond the reach of the love of God, the blood of Christ, or the testimony of the Holy Spirit. That is true of the person who has drifted away from God, and of anyone else.
Summary
- Chief — Paul's "foremost" points not to criminals but to a religious man, blameless under the law, who turned his zeal against Christ.
- Mercy — God gave him mercy "for this reason": not to stop with him, but to reach others.
- Patience — Christ displayed the whole of it, measured by Paul's own three words: blasphemer, persecutor, insolent opponent.
- Pattern — his conversion is the model for every later one, and its first mark is that Christ sought him, not the reverse.
- Eternal life — the title by which the chief entered heaven is the title for all; no sinner this side of hell's door is beyond that reach.