1 Timothy 1:15-17 English Standard Version
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul uses an expression of sinfulness which in the world was not true. There are many men that came before Saul (Paul’s former life) that were much worse than Paul. The expression of “I am the foremost” can be looked at several ways but the only one that counts is Paul’s view of his former life. The same has to be said of each of us.
If we choose to see the sins of others to be greater than our own we have not taken our sins seriously enough to desire forgiveness. We need to make it personal. “I did it. I chose wrong. I am guilty.” Nowhere in those confessions is there room for “I’m not so bad.”
The point of seeing ourselves in that light is that we need to see that Christ can save anyone no matter how “bad” they are in life. It isn’t about us, it is about the lost. “I was” is just as important as “I am”.
If we cannot express our past conditions in terms of serious personal sin the lost will assume that we were always “Mr. Goody Two Shoes”. “I was lost and now I am saved” while true is not convincing to a soul that feels they are beyond redemption. Paul was a strong witness of change. Many saw what he was before his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. We did not see him and only have his word for it.
I knew the people who witnessed Christ to me.