“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15)
Timothy and his mother Eunice received Christ through the missionary work of Paul and Silas in Lycaonia in 44 A.D.. Seven years passed between Paul’s and second trip to that area, during which time Timothy had grown into an adult. His zeal for the message and boldness in proclaiming it was readily noticed by Paul and so he took Timothy along with him on some future missionary trips. Paul is the author of the Timothy Epistles; they were letters of instruction and encouragement to the young evangelist.
With the threat of Gnosticism* all about Paul felt compelled to write with the purpose of encouraging Timothy to guard and preserve the gospel message concerning Christ. In using the word ‘trustworthy’ Paul is saying that Christians can rely upon the fact that Christ came to save those who had sinned. Since according to Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Christ must have come to earth to redeem all of mankind. Jesus Christ is the one true and supreme revelation of God to man. He was the Son of God, yet was God in the flesh. Our God is a triune God; consisting of three in one. That would be God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Now I don’t pretend to understand all that; however, I have chosen to believe it by faith. We don’t necessarily need to understand something to believe in it or place our faith and trust in it. Out of our faith and trust should grow reliance. We can trust as fact that Jesus Christ came into this world of sorry and grief to save it from itself. A man cannot save himself. His knowledge and resourcefulness are limited by the finite capacity of his own mind. God knows our limitations and sent a remedy for our sickness. It is to our benefit to cultivate our own personal relationship with God so that the Bible, which is full of “trustworthy” sayings, may permeate our heart, mind, spirit and soul. Otherwise, what was the purpose of Christ coming at all?
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!
* Gnosticism - Gnosticism was a second century heresy claiming that salvation could be gained through secret knowledge. Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "to know." Gnostics also believed that the material world (matter) is evil and that only the spirit is good. They constructed an evil God and beings of the Old Testament to explain the creation of the world (matter), and considered Jesus Christ a wholly spiritual God. [www.christianity.about.com]
