Photo by: Lawrence OR
In my last post I referred to the fact that even though the Apostle Paul regarded himself as “the chief (worst) of sinners,” (1Tim 1:15) he said he received mercy because he had blasphemed God and done violent things to followers of Christ while in a state of ignorance and unbelief (1Tim 1:13).
In that post I indicated that while I had not worked out all the details I was sure that Paul did not mean that we could not receive forgiveness for sins that we had done “while knowing better”.
As I’ve thought more about this, one piece of the puzzle may be the way the resurrected Christ appeared to him on the Road to Damascus.
Wasn’t it a “special kind of mercy” that Paul experienced when the Lord appeared and spoke to him out of a blinding light (Acts 9:1-8).
Here we have a merciful “divine intervention” for one who thought he was doing the will of God by killing members of “the Way”.
Paul’s comments about receiving mercy because he acted “in ignorance and unbelief” could therefore reflect a “special act of mercy” rather than implying that those who have sinned even while “knowing better” could not qualify (by a change of heart toward Christ) for the forgiveness of God.
Does that ring true to you (i.e. as jingling rather than jangling :-) ?
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