1 Timothy 1:12-20

1:12-13 | Paul relates his past to highlight God’s mercy and forgiveness (Acts 8:3; 1 Cor. 15:9). No sin lies beyond the scope of God’s forgiveness. God forgave a persecutor like Paul and enabled him for ministry. This should give everyone hope (Ps. 86:5; 103:3; 1 John 1:9). God’s forgiveness also provides the basis for people to forgive themselves.

1:14-16 | No one expected that first-century Christianity’s earliest great enemy – Saul of Tarsus – would turn to Christ and become Christianity’s greatest missionary (Acts 9). As the chief of sinners in the past, Paul’s salvation demonstrates three things: (1) that God is merciful and longsuffering (Ps. 103:8); (2) that His grace can reach even its most strident opponents (Gal. 1:13-16); and (3) that the good news of Christ has the power to transform lives and hearts. False teaching communicates none of these things.

1:17 | Overwhelmed by God’s grace, Paul breaks into a doxology (a short expression – often an outburst – of praise and worship to God based on who He is and what He has done for His people) and gives God all honor and glory (Rom. 16:27). No one deserves or earns salvation; it is all about God and His grace (Rom. 11:33-36; Eph. 2:8-9).

1:18-20 | Paul concludes this section with a challenge (to wage the good warfare) and a warning (do not be like those who have suffered shipwreck). The false teachers rejected God’s truth and consequently had a shipwrecked faith (2 Tim. 2:17-18).

1:20 | Although Scripture says little about Hymenaeus (2 Tim. 2:17-18) and Alexander (2 Tim. 4:14-15), their blasphemy was clearly ruinous to them and damaging to the church. For Paul to have delivered them to Satan means that he excommunicated them (1 Cor. 5:5), removing them from fellowship in the church and subjecting them to the malevolence of Satan. Paul’s purpose for this extreme measure was to correct the errors of their ways.