What Does 1 Timothy 1:12 Mean?

(12) **And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me.**—Better rendered, *who hath given me strength within.* The ancient authorities here are divided; the majority omit the first word of the verse, the connecting “and.” With or without this word, the sense is much the same; for on the words, “the gospel . . . committed to my trust,” the Apostle pauses, overwhelmed with the flood of grateful memories which such a thought let loose. “How I thank God,” wrote St. Paul, “who hath strengthened me within, with this power to bear witness to my Master!—*me* of all persons, who was once a blasphemer of His royal name! What an example I—your teacher, the founder of this Church of Ephesus—am of the transforming grace of the gospel—of its sweet, mighty power to forgive sins.” It was the thought of the great love, passing understanding, of the tender, pitiful mercy which suffered so wondrous a trust to be committed to the charge of such a sinner, that called forth the ejaculation of deep thankfulness we read in the twelfth and following verses. If we ask more particularly respecting the exact way in which Jesus Christ “enabled,” or “strengthened St. Paul within,” we must think of his strange power of winning men to his Master’s side; we must remember his miraculous gifts over disease and even death; and last, but not least, that strength of endurance, that brave, sweet patience which made his life of suffering borne for Christ so beautiful, so touching, an example for men. **For that he counted me faithful.**—The All. seeing, knowing from the beginning that St. Paul would continue steadfast and true, selected him as “His chosen vessel” to bear His name and the glad news of His salvation into many lands. It is observable, however, that *this very faithfulness, this unflinching steadfastness, *which seems to have been the reason why the Lord chose him for his great work, St. Paul, in a well-known and remarkable passage, refers to as a gift of grace which he had obtained in mercy of the Lord (1Corinthians 7:25).