And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord,
who hath enabled me, for that He
counted me faithful, putting me
into the ministry; who was before
a blasphemer, and a persecutor,
and injurious: but I obtained
mercy, because I did it ignorantly
in unbelief.
1 Timothy 1: 12-13
Ignorance can carry a person just so far, for after having come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ sin must stop, and to carry on in sin is to have the hand of God removed from you and no longer any sacrifices for you, that is, God will just let you wallow in your sin and consequences for sin (Hebrews 10:26). Praise God! God is merciful, for if you repent, that is to re-ped, turn back from your ways 180 degrees, God will be merciful to you and He did for Paul. No, God will not always take away the consequences but God will take you through the consequences, that is His promise. Peter reminds us: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have know the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them" (2Peter 2:20-21). This is serious things to all of God's children to develop such a close relationship with Jesus Christ that you will not, or in the least have a check upon any sin that attempts to overcome you, that you will choose to remain faithful in spite of anything that may come to you.
Well, this means we must have a correct doctrine in regards to Jesus Christ, for if we have a wrong doctrine, a wrong understanding then that Jesus Christ is not the Jesus Christ taught in Scripture. As has been pointed out: Jehovah Witnesses say Jesus is "a god," a created being so designed by God to be our Savior, and I have attempted to show you the error in their Christology. The Mormons say that Jesus is "A God," just another god, among three other gods, and that man is also just a god, and say they have some warrant because they teach that the early Church was apostate. There was some, Arius, for one, Arianism teaching what Jehovah Witnesses believe, and others who taught Gnosticism, where Jesus is just another god, and even a brother to Satan, and we find that Hinduism which has three separate beings as God: Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer, three separate gods, just as do the Mormons, which smacks of Hinduism. I have given some very early Church fathers theology in regards to Jesus Christ, and I will give some later early Church Fathers Christology: "Therefore, He is not only man, but God also, since all things are by Him.....If Christ is only man, how is He present wherever He is called upon? for it is not the nature of man, but of God, to be present in every place. If Christ was only man, how did he say, "Before Abraham was I am?" For no man can be before someone from whom he himself has descended. Nor can it be that anyone could have been prior to him of whom he himself has taken his origin. Yet, Christ, although He was born of Abraham, says that He is before Abraham. How can it be said that "I and the Father are one," if He is not both God and the Son?" (Novation, c.235).
The doctrine that Paul was reminding Timothy to hold fast to is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, Jesus Christ lives as a sinless man, and that Jesus Christ is God, not a created being, but God and this was the understanding of the early Church. The early Church was not apostate, as the Mormons teach, and as Mormons teach that God has a body, that man way around when the world was created, (Mormons, Doctrines and Covenants: 130:22; and 131, 132). Do not be fooled, God came to earth by sending His Wisdom to be clothed in flesh to pay the debt owed to Him by man, a debt that man cannot pay, so He paid the debt to Himself by Himself. God is a merciful God, but God is Just, therefore His justice must by administered. Paul continues: "And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (1Timothy 1:14-16). Have you been saved? Can people see that you are a changed man by the saving grace of God? If so, then your life is a pattern for others to see, and this is a deep responsibility, but one of blessing for you are following the will of God to be His witness.
The wicked is driven away
in his wickedness; but
the righteous has hope
in his death.
Proverbs 14:32
Be God's pattern for salvation
Richard L. Crumb
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