1 Timothy 1.14-Paul Emphasizes That The Lord's Grace Was Infinitely More Than Sufficient As Expressed By Means Of Faith Resulting In Love Which Are In Christ Jesus
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 16, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:14-Paul Emphasizes That The Lord’s Grace Was Infinitely More Than Sufficient As Expressed By Means Of Faith Resulting In Love Which Are Because Of His Union With Christ Jesus
Lesson # 25
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 1:12.
This evening we will study 1 Timothy 1:14.
1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. (NASU)
“And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant” is composed of the conjunction de (δέ) (theh), “and” and the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun charis (χάρις) (ha-reece), “the grace” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος) (ker-dee-oce), “Lord” and the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), “our” and the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb huperpleonazo (ee-pear-play-owe-nah-zoe) (ὑπερπλεονάζω), “was more than abundant.”
The conjunction de is “emphatic” or “intensifying” since it introduces a statement that advances upon and intensifies the preceding adversative clause in 1 Timothy 1:13 that Paul obtained grace.
This is indicated by the fact that in the adversative clause in verse 13 Paul writes that he obtained grace from the Lord and now in verse 14 he says that this grace overflowed to him.
So here in verse 14 he is giving the reader more information about what he means that he obtained grace by clarifying his statement in the adversative clause of verse 13.
He is advancing and intensifying his statement that he obtained grace from the Lord.
The meaning of the verb huperpleonazo is used to describe God’s grace as being superabundant to Paul, which would indicate that the apostle seeks to be emphatic about the Lord’s grace and intensify the idea that he obtained grace.
As we noted in our study of verse 13, the verb eleeo and its cognate noun eleos speak of God’s grace policy from the perspective that it is a reflection of His character and nature.
Paul uses this verb to contrast God’s gracious character and Paul’s pre-conversion sinful character.
We also noted that the other New Testament word for grace is charis, which speaks of God’s grace policy towards sinners from the perspective that it is unmerited favor.
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 1:14, Paul uses the word to describe the Lord’s grace policy in relation to himself.
Charis emphasizes that the Lord delivered him from his personal sins, the sin nature, Satan, his cosmic system, condemnation from the Law and eternal condemnation and blessed him from the perspective that it was all unmerited.
In 1 Timothy 1:14, the noun kurios is applied to Jesus Christ and not the Father.
In favor of the latter is that the title “Christ Jesus” is mentioned later in the verse suggesting that Paul is distinguishing the Father from the Son.
However, it would not be unusual or inconceivable to mention the Son of God with two different designations in the same statement.
Supporting this is that in verse 12, which begins the paragraph, kurios is applied to Jesus Christ.
Also, Jesus Christ is mentioned in verse 15 and in verse 16 as well.
Nowhere is the Father mentioned anywhere in the paragraph.
Thus, 1 Timothy 1:12-17 emphasizes Jesus Christ throughout suggesting that the Father is not being referred to in verse 14 with the designation kurios, “Lord” but rather the Son.
In verse 14, Paul applies the noun kurios to Jesus Christ because he wants to emphasize the following about Him: (1) His equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His victory over the sin nature and Satan and His kingdom.
In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42).
However in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).
In 1 Timothy 1:14, the verb huperpleonazo is intransitive and means “infinitely more than sufficient” since it expresses a comparative idea because pleonazo already has a strong sense and it expresses the idea of something that cannot be measured.
The comparative idea indicates that the Lord’s grace “more than” solved Paul’s pre-conversion problem with his sin nature and his sinful conduct that flowed from this sinful nature.
It expresses the idea of infinity in the sense that the Lord’s grace policy towards him was “infinitely more than sufficient” to deal with his sinful conduct and nature prior to his conversion.
This grace was “infinite” in the sense that it was “immeasurably great, indefinitely or exceedingly great, unbounded, unlimited, endless or immeasurable, inexhaustible.”
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 1:14, this verb huperpleonazo refers to the activity of the Lord Jesus Christ in imparting “immeasurably great, indefinitely or exceedingly great, unbounded, unlimited, endless or immeasurable and inexhaustible” spiritual benefits to Paul when he exercised faith in Him.
These blessings more than solved the problem with Paul’s sinful pre-conversion character and conduct.
The verb huperpleonazo is in the emphatic position in verse 14 emphasizing that the Lord’s grace policy was infinitely more than sufficient to meet his need, i.e. his pre-conversion problem with his sinful nature and conduct.
1 Timothy 1:14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. (NASU)
“With the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus” is composed of the preposition meta (μετά) (meh-tah), “with” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις) (pee-steece), “the faith” followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun agape (ἀγάπη) (ah-gah-pee), “love” and the genitive feminine singular form of the definite article ho (ὁ() (owe), “which” and the preposition en (ἐν), “in” and the dative masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ” and the dative masculine singular form of the proper noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) (yee-soose), “Jesus.”
The noun pistis in 1 Timothy 1:14 means “faith” and speaks of Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ resulting in justification and his post-conversion faith that resulted in his obeying the command to love one another as Christ loves.
This is indicated by the fact that he is speaking in the context of his pre-conversion conduct towards the Lord and His church and is seeking to contrast it with the Lord’s gracious conduct toward him.
This contrast implies that Paul is contrasting his pre-conversion conduct that dishonored the Lord with that of his post-conversion conduct that honors the Lord.
The conjunction kai is not only joining the concept expressed by pistis, “faith” and that which is expressed by the noun agape, “love” but also it expresses result.
The word expresses that the two ideas are directly related to each other in that love flows from faith.
In other words, faith in the Word of God will result in the believer loving his fellow believer and all men as the Lord loves all men.
Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. (NET)
The noun agape in 1 Timothy 1:14 means “love” and refers to Paul obeying the Lord Jesus’ command to love one another as He loves (John 13:34).
The word does not refer to the Lord’s love toward Paul.
Rather, it refers to Paul’s love toward the Lord and his fellow Christian and fellow human being since the context is presenting an implied contrast between Paul’s pre-conversion character and his post-conversion conduct.
This contrast is indicated by the fact that Paul is contrasting his pre-conversion conduct towards the Lord with the Lord’s gracious character and conduct towards him.
Both the noun pistis, “faith” and agape, “love” are the object of the preposition meta, which functions as a marker of means of something that is expressed.
This indicates that the Lord’s grace was expressed in the life of Paul by means of his exercising faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ resulting in his exercising the love of God towards his fellow Christian and all men.
The phrase “which are found in Christ Jesus” contains the figure of “metonymy” meaning the Lord’s grace policy toward Paul expressed itself in his life by means of faith and love which are because of his union and identification with Christ.
It indicates Paul’s eternal union and identification with Christ is the reason why he now walked by faith in the Word of Christ and obeyed the Lord’s command to love one another as He loves.
His faith and love were the direct result of being in union with Christ and identified with Him.