Paul brings further clarity and correction to the false teachers in Ephesus, who had wrongly taught the purpose of the law and our relationship with it. Paul reveals that rather than make us perfect, the law reveals our imperfection, and reveals God as the only righteous one. It is only through Jesus that the law empowers us for healthy, right living rather than bondage. Paul uses his own life as an example of how Jesus is able to save even the “chief of sinners,” while the law would always be unable to do so. In 1st Timothy 1:17, Paul pauses in his letter to Timothy, and exalts God in poetic praise. In this we are reminded that the glorious realities of the gospel are not information that we move coldly past. Rather, the gospel is eternal power (Rom. 1:16) that calls for daily remembrance, which fuels worship, no matter our circumstance.
though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 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. 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. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.