13th February 2026

By the time the apostle Paul was writing his first letter to his young protégé, Timothy, he was advanced in years and Timothy, who had been the apostle’s right-hand man for over two decades, was now in his late thirties. So, it is with a sense of great privilege that we come to this letter which once passed between these two mighty gospel labourers, but also with a deep sense of reverence, as the words we read were written by an apostle under inspiration of God, and are to be received as Christ’s own words would be.

Paul returned to the city of Ephesus following his release from prison in Rome, to find the church there, during his long absence, had plunged from the heights of a grace-centred faith community, into a storm centre of controversy. The apostle no doubt proceeded to deal with this descent into apostasy personally, but, feeling compelled to depart for Macedonia to preach the gospel there, he instructed Timothy to remain in Ephesus and put an end to teachings that were completely devoid of any apostolic authority (1 Timothy 1:3). In particular, there was an unhealthy obsession with the law of the Old Covenant, leading to its misuse as a legislative code for Christians, in addition to pointless speculations about various genealogies found in the Torah (vv.3-10). As a result, the church had become awash with lots of strange ideas, none of which were consistent with the gospel and the great truths of the Cross, upon which that church had been founded by the apostle Paul himself (v.11). This all led to constant strife and speculation, with an ‘unlawful’ focus on works, rather than on grace: the law being used as a springboard for many arguments that were causing division.

When we come to verses 12-17, often viewed as an aside or a digression, we find, rather, a key component of Paul’s argument. All the law can do is condemn the sinner, but we are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this marvellous paragraph, Paul bears his soul. He simply cannot forget his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road that led to his conversion. Though he could regard himself as, not only a sinner, but the ‘chief of sinners’, because he was a persecutor of the church, the grace of God was poured out upon him abundantly, with the attendant graces of faith and love wholly grounded in his union with the Saviour and manifested by Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (vv.12-14). Overtaken by God’s mercy in Christ, the apostle is able to see that everything that has been accomplished in him, by him, and through him, all that he has achieved, and his current standing as a great apostle of the church, he owes entirely to the grace of God (vv.15-16). The gospel is not about works but grace. Yet the Ephesian believers were turning the gospel on its head. What was being preached there by the false teachers is not the gospel that saved Paul. The apostle’s hope rested, not on the Torah as a path to salvation, or a route to righteous living, but on the fact that a saviour had come, and he had come to save sinners as Paul himself was (v.15).

Do you ever wonder if God’s mercy is extended to you? He saved Paul, the ‘chief of sinners’, so no one need doubt the power and extensiveness of the gospel of grace. We must never be guilty of obscuring or masking the great truth of God’s amazing grace in Christ. ‘Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen’ (v.17). 

Local congregation:
Grace Communion Peterborough
Farcet Village Hall
Main Street
Farcet
Peterborough
PE7 3AN

Meeting time:
Sunday 11.00 am

Local congregational contact:
Richard Dempsey
Email:  richard.dempsey@btinternet.com
Local church website: GRACE COMMUNION CHURCH PETERBOROUGH – Landing Page

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church